How much sand for a Gigantea?

[Postal]

The gig in question is about 12-14 inches when expanded. I know that haddonis require 4 inches or so of sand. Do gigs require the same or do they need less since they often settle in the sand/rock interface or even on the rocks completely?

Thanks

[jonnybravo22]

as much or as little as you like as long as it has a rock to attach to.

i've been basically bare bottom, it doesnt mind. it wedges its foot in a rock and the oral disc can be on glass or sand.

[Conrad25]

Doesn't matter how much since they,are not sand dwellers.mines totally on rock and barely touches the sand. Also they like major flow, so make note of that and good luck

[BonsaiNut]

Sand is not needed. They want to anchor on something firm and will sometimes extend their foot into sand if they can anchor to a rock there. However they can be completely happy up in rock. As Conrad said - they need a ton of flow.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

One paper I read showed that giganteas living on patch reefs got larger and were in place longer (i.e., were more likely to still be there after 3 years) than those on sand beds. The patch reef giganteas were also larger than those on pure rock beds, but the rock bed ones still stayed in place longer than those in sand beds. (Note that the sand bed ones may still have been attached to isolated rocks, etc).

Incorporating fine-scale seascape composition in an assessment of habitat quality for the giant sea anemone Stichodactyla gigantea in a coral reef shore zone
Ecol Res (2009) 24: 415–422
DOI 10.1007/s11284-008-0518-
http://www.springerlink.com/content/l5t2v262r3r58253/fulltext.pdf

[BonsaiNut]

One paper I read showed that giganteas living on patch reefs got larger and were in place longer (i.e., were more likely to still be there after 3 years) than those on sand beds.

I have read the same paper. Interestingly, there were greater numbers of giganteas in the shallow sandy areas, but they were smaller and disappeared more frequently.

By the way - I don't know if you saw this - but in the paper they talked about how one of the giganteas on a patch reef split into three clones during the course of the study. This is the first formal mention of gigantea asexual reproduction in the wild that I have ever seen.

On a related note, I have another paper that discusses how mobility of S. gigantea in the wild has a potential impact on the ability of hosted fish to reproduce - due to lack of suitable breeding substrate or for that matter, moving into an area that leads to the fatality of anemone and/or fish. In the case of giganteas in sand, the hosted clownfish were unable to spawn.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

yes, I did note the cloning claim. I wonder what spurred it. Maybe a traumatic event of some sort.

In the case of giganteas in sand, the hosted clownfish were unable to spawn.


Interesting. Perhaps with less clownfish (if true), the anemones are more prone to predation, hence shorter anemone lives in sandy areas.

[BonsaiNut]

I have no proof, but based on what I have been hearing about larval anemones and sexual reproduction, I think it is a reasonable hypothesis that larval anemones settle into sea grass beds, grow larger, and then eventually work their way into deeper waters and solid substrate. In the study, the "deeper" anemones were only in 1m of water.

Here is the paper on S. gigantea mobility (http://www.wifeofnerd.com/images/Mobility of S gigantea.pdf), if you want to check it out. I enjoyed the part about how clowns being hosted in an anemone in the sand were so anxious to spawn that they would spawn on any piece of junk that just happened to be swept within range :) We see this in our tanks where they will spawn on clam shells, flower pots, pretty much anything that doesn't move :)

[Cheebs]

Interesting stuff!

My gigantea has been placed up on the rocks for a couple years and has been thriving. I recently moved it to another tank, on the rocks again, and it's still doing great. No sand required!

[t4zalews]

I originally placed mine against a rock on the sandbed...it eventually moved its foot away from the sandbed and buried it into the a crevice in the rock. Hasn't moved since.

[jonnybravo22]

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss35/jonny_bravo22/IMG_7778.jpg

my female clown likes to tidy up the area around the anemone, constantly grabbing sand flakes and spitting them out or swishing her tail around and sweeping away my shallow sandbed. anemone doesnt care, even attaches / sticks to the glass at points when it wants to stretch out.