PDA

View Full Version : please help ID this thing


lynn27
01/14/2010, 01:57 AM
Hello,

Could someone please tell me what this is? It's affixed on the same place of a rock vertically, and it closes and open up depending on water temperature or lighting(?). It's about half an inch big, and has tons of transparent tentacles.

pics attached.

Thank you.

Hephalump
01/14/2010, 02:43 AM
It is a ball anemone, a corallimorphian, closely related to mushroom corals. Some people have reported them spreading rapidly and bothering corals. I personally have a few and they have never bothered anything in the 3+ years I have had them. Cool little hitchhiker.

dots
01/14/2010, 03:07 AM
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/oct2002/invert.htm

They are a Pseudocorynactis. There are two varieties, one is smaller and generally not a problem (Atlantic). Another is larger and more aggressive (Pacific).

I had the first one.....and though not a "problem" per se, they were an eye sore. They would detach and float around like hydroids, landing on my SPS, slighting stinging them.

I found them ALL over the place, even tiny ones on the substrate. I could not find anything that would eat them, but noticed they became more prevalent with going to a non hermit crab CUC.

I would get which ever rock it is on out of there, scrub it.....or just ditch it, for me they were an eyesore.

lynn27
01/14/2010, 03:11 AM
thank you very much for the info!

dots
01/14/2010, 03:14 AM
I can already see three or four smaller ones forming in the first picture, which illustrates what I meant by "all over".

No problem, and welcome to ReefCentral!!

lynn27
01/14/2010, 03:15 AM
Interesting. I guess i have the smaller kind (or at least it hasn't grown out too big yet).
I thought it look rather cute. I have a mostly bare tank, so I thought "something is better than nothing".

Incidentally, 2 out of 5 snails has died in the past 2 weeks. I wonder if it is related.

lynn27
01/14/2010, 03:17 AM
Dots, thanks again. You must have a much better than i do. From the first pic, i only see 1 pic one, can't see any small ones. Maybe i just don't know what i'm looking at.