Long tentacle anemone extravaganza

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I just bought an lta that was about 3 inches in diameter at the lfs and since I have put him in my tank he has seriously gotten at least four times larger in like three hours. He must be happy.

 

[lando]

How big is your tank and what type of lighting are you using?

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I've got a 50gal with 65 watts of pc and 30 watts of no flourescent.

 

[lando]

Please do not take this the wrong way, but...you do not have enough lighting to keep a LTA. Currently you have less then two watts/gal. These animals rely on light for most of their nutrients. You will need at least 5 or 6 watts/gal. (MH is best for them) in order for this animal to survive. The anenome will slowly starve to death if you do not up-grade your lighting very soon. The best thing you can do it to bring it back to the LFS until you have sufficiant light for it. the reason it has expanded so much is because it is trying to absorb all of the light it can, not becuase it is happy. What color is your anenome? Lando

 

[philly]

i agrre with lando

 

[stresco]

Lando is correct. That animal will starve to death within a month if you dont take it back or get a seriouse light upgrade.

 

[Turkish]

Just out of curiousity, would I be able to keep an anenome in this tank?

55 gal. 4x54w T5.

 

[lando]

You could keep a bulb tip anenome with that lighting.

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

I have looked around at some different livestock online stores and most of them say moderate lighting for an lta. I have also seen a lot of fish stores with anemones under moderate lighting. So what's the deal?

 

[lando]

Less then two watts per gal is not moderate lighting. Over four watts per gal would fall into the "moderate" category. Most LFS do not set up their tanks for the live stock to thrive, only survive, until someone takes them home. Trust me, your anenome will slowly starve to death without the proper lighting. It should actually be the responsibility of the LFS to ensure that the animals they sell are going to be properly cared for. It is too bad that many of them would rather make a sale instead of doing what is best for hte animal. At the very least you should look at upgrading your lighting to PC. A 2x96 watt would be much better. It is also a good idea to remove the glass hood on your tank, this will allow for better light penetration. Do you curretly have any LR to get te anenome closer to the light? HTH...Lando

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

Yes I do have live rock. I thought that lta's like to be in the sand though.

 

[lando]

An aneonme will generally put itself where it will be happy. They will find a spot with the right amont of light and water flow. Having LR will allow it to get closer to the light so it can absorb more of it.

 

[Edmonton Eskimo]

If I feed it every couple of days will that help with getting it's proper nutrition?

 

[lando]

This is a photosynthetic animal, it needs light to survive. Feeding it will not help it in the long run. You can survive on water for an extended period of time, but eventually you will die from not having food. The light is the anenomes food and it will die without it. You do not want to let this animal die in your tank. They can release toxins after death and kill everything else in it.