A Little Sebae Anemone Help, Please...

[Kiel'thalin]

I have had this Sebae Anemone for over a week now. He is attached well and hasn't moved. I have a couple problems. For one he is pretty bleached, he is kinda yellowish not as white as the picture shows (common with this species when purchased?). But, he stays closed during the day and opens up at night. Since he is bleached do I have a problem with him not liking the light? My light is an Aquactinics 5 Bulb T-5 39W Setup running 8 hours a day. Also, is there any trick to feeding this guy? He doesn't seem to like silversides at all no matter how small they are. He just pushes the food to his outer edge to the awaiting nass. snails. I guess time will tell for his coloring to come out, here is a pic:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/127470Sebae_Anemone.JPG

[redvipe2010]

I'm not familiar with T-5 lighting but 39 W doesn't sound like nearly enough. How old is your tank? How big is your tank?

[Kiel'thalin]

Oh, each bulb is 39 watts, so 39x5. The tank is 46 gallon and has been setup for 2 months. I did have another anemone in there (Atlantic Carpet, i.e. Sun Anemone) He was returned for this guy. I am just curious about the care for this species. Do I need to give him some more shade until he colors up?

[redvipe2010]

IMO I don't believe your tank is ready for an anemone. Two months is too soon. Your tank should be at least 6 months old. Shade will not make your anemone color up. They need the lighting and will die without. Since I'm not familiar with T5 lighting I can't say if it is enough or not. Hopefully someone else will.

I strongly recommend that you research your livestock and know the care requirements before you purchase.

Your LFS should have never sold you a carpet or a Sebae. It's much too soon, and not healthy to begin with. But they can, and they will.

[dantodd]

I can't really tell much about the anemone with that picture. Is its mouth gaping? Be sure to feed him something. If he won't take silverside try raw shrimp or scallop or squid or mysis or other fish.... Anything to get him eating.

Your lights sound pretty good, those T5s are reported to put out a lot of light! I'm considering upgrading to T5s on my 72bowfront and would go with a little over twice your lights so I'm guessing you'll be fine. I know that some others here are running T5s currently and can answer even more specifically.

The "color" in anemones is a symbiotic dinoflaggelate called zooxanthellae (or zoox) that is photosynthetic. Anemones need a lot of light becuase they need to maintain this zoox colony. The zoox turn the light into more "food" than they need and the anemone eats some of the extra. When the anemone is in a dark or improperly lit location the zoox begin to die because they can't make enough food to support the colony. The anemone will then expell the dead and dieing zoox which is why they lose their color and look "bleached."

You can acclimate it to the new light by decreasing the amount of time the light is on and/or using window screen material to shade some of the light. Start with 3 layers or so and then when he starts staying out remove one sheet and then let him get acclimated to that new light level. In a month or so he should be coloring up and be able to tolorate the full light cycle.

There is a good FAQ thread at the top of this forum. The thread includes a very good anemone FAQ.


As redvipe said, your tank is really too young for an anemone as the chemistry is not stable yet. Eric Borneman wrote a good article about tank maturity and the importance of waiting to add sensitive animals to a new tank. Here is a link: http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic23945-9-1.aspx
Good luck.

[Kiel'thalin]

Here is an update on my Sebae, he is doing better I guess, finally took some food and is showing a little bit better color. I have had him 3 weeks now. Still not 100%, some days he will partially detach from the sand which worries me, plus he is not very sticky yet. Other than that he has stilled stayed in the same spot, no discharges from his mouth. When I got him he discharged all of his zoo, hopefully he is getting his colony up to par. This is his updated pic:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/127470Sebae_Anemone_3.JPG