Would a S. Gigantea or H. Magnifica eat snails/clean up crew?

[sugartooth]

Hello,
I wanted to find out if sand sifters are safe with Gigantea or Magnifica?

I wanted to get some large Nassarius snails, spaghetti worms, etc. for the sandbed but want to make sure it's safe for all of them. (would the anemone get hurt eating snail?)

Thanks again for your input!

[garygb]

Not likely to be a problem unless for some reason the snail could fall directly into the tentacles.

[sugartooth]

Thank you for the response. Is it life threatening if the anemone would happen to swallow a snail? What do you do in that situation?

Or, are you saying the likelihood is so small it shouldn't be a concern?

[garygb]

I once had a turbo grazer fall into a LTA. The anemone spit the shell up a day or two later, the snail was eaten of course.

[GSMguy]

Gary M's Gigantea eats Big Bristle worms. it wont bother the anemone.

[delphinus]

I had a haddoni carpet that would eat the occasional snail. That's a sticky species.

Magnifica and gigantea won't eat clean up crew, generally speaking. If you go and drop a, say a stomatella snail in them, who knows, maybe they'll swallow it, maybe not.

Magnifica is riskier in other ways though. If distressed or in a defensive position, can release a cloud of .... something (not sure what, maybe shed nematocysts, maybe chemical) that can kill off a tank. Although snails and whatnot are probably not so much at rick, but non-commensal fish would be.

[sugartooth]

Thanks everyone for the input. It's very much appreciated.

delphinus, thanks for the additional info on the magnifica. I am going to consider the majority opinion on keeping the environment to 1 nem and 1 pair of clowns only w/clean up crew and sifters. Perhaps down the line I may introduce some zoanthids and ricordea florida.

Unfortunately, the magnifica I was getting didn't make it so never shipped to me.

[garygb]

I think a dedicated tank, with no mushrooms or zooanthids would be preferable with H. magnifica.

[Reef Mongoose]

I have a H. Magnifica in my mixed reef tank, no problems with it for the 8 months or so that I have had it. It has not eaten anything that it should not have (I have a ton of sand sifters too, including nassarius snails) and has not released any "something". That said, I could come home today and find my whole tank full of "something" but as long as my Magnifica is alright I really wouldn't care. I happen to really like this type of anemone and built my reef around him. On a side note, am I to understand that you have a Magnifica and a Gigantea in the same tank? Cause those are two anemones that can get really really big, hope you have them in a real big tank. Either way, good luck with them.

[Reef Mongoose]

sorry, missed your other post, I would definatly not try to have a Magnifica shipped to you. They really don't ship well so I would see if you can find one at a lfs, that way you can look at it and make sure that it is healthy.

[sugartooth]

Thank you gary and Reef Mongoose.

Mongoose: No, I wasn't planning on putting the two together in a tank. I had wanted a gigantea initially, then gave up looking for one. I then had a chance to purchase the magnifica from Diver's Den. So I took it, but they cancelled my order because it was damaged they said.

Then, I found gigantea from them, so I got them and expecting them tomorrow.

I have 2 Elos system 70 that I wanted to put one anemone in each for a clown and nem only tank.

When they got bigger, I wasn't entirely sure if I would put both in the 750, or get them a different home.

Thanks very much for the input, it really helps shape what I do during these stages.

[Reef Mongoose]

ahhh very cool, good luck

[Flighty]

Some magnificas are very much shrimp eaters. It took me a couple of expensive skunk cleaners to realise what was going on.