Ritterii or carpet?

[maro1]

Hey Guys, I have kept RBT anemones for a few years and would like to try another species.

what would be best to try Ritterii or carpet?

I have a 300 gal tank MH lighting.

What are the requirements for the two?
Mar

[vaporize]

if you really have to go with those two, go for Haddoni carpet, it's the easier carpet (comparing to gigiantea).

Avoid magnificant/ritteri at all cost, you need ultra high flow and ultra high light (1000W MH). Take Anthony Calfo's advice (not mine) ;)

[john37]

do you really think that you'd need that much lighting?

[vaporize]

With a 90% death rate, I won't even bother with them. Or you can always try to buy them and see it slowly die over time (can be as long as 10 months before they totally waste away).

they are readily available thou :D

[maro1]

How are the mertens carpet compared to the Haddoni carpet.

and what is neede for success with a carpet?

Mar

[keefsama2003]

Good luck finding mertens i have been searching for a while and had a few leads but they either dont come in very often or they go so quickly you never get a chance to see them.
only thing with haddoni is they are fish eaters.

[shutiny]

I agreed with above. I have all three species of anemones in my tank. For me, the gigantea is the most difficult one. Mertensi and Haddoni are much easier than H.Magnifica. HTH

[maro1]

what are the things you most need to be concerened with in Keeping a haddoni Healthy?

Mar

[R33f3r]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8413963#post8413963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maro1
what are the things you most need to be concerened with in Keeping a haddoni Healthy?

Mar

Finding a healthy one to begin with (tight mouth and no foot damage, sticky). Lots of light and lots of food. Pretty easy IMO to care for a haddoni. IME, just as easy as a BTA.

[maro1]

What do you feed and how often and how far from the light is it?

Mar

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8414707#post8414707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by maro1
What do you feed and how often and how far from the light is it?

Mar

Haddonis will readily accept pieces of silversides and shrimp. Carpets in general like fleshy foods. Some people feed theirs once a week, once every two weeks or 4 times a week. It all depends on how fast you want yours to grow. The more you feed your Haddoni the more rapid its growth rate will be.

All carpets in general are sand dwelling anemones. That means they will be on the sandbed. Hopefully that answers how far away from the light they have to be.:)

[OrionN]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8414879#post8414879 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 55semireef
....

All carpets in general are sand dwelling anemones. That means they will be on the sandbed. Hopefully that answers how far away from the light they have to be.:)
S. haddoni is a sand dwelling, while S. mertensii are rock dwelling. S. gigantea can be one either sand or rock. Often they stay on the sand /rock interface in aquarium.

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8415055#post8415055 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by OrionN
S. haddoni is a sand dwelling, while S. mertensii are rock dwelling.

Oh yeah thats right Mertens are rock dwelling. I just remembered Phender's thread about fragging his carpet.

Pictures in the wild indicate the Giganteas prefer the sand though.

But yes, Haddonis are sand dwelling.

[plancton]

don't scare me guys, I just bought a h. magnifica. The lfs guy which is my friend and doesn't do things for profit, told me they are not hat difficult and that he has kept many with good results.

You just need to get a healthy one that was shipped right he said. The magnifica he sold me had been in his store for 1 week, arrived healthy and remained visibly healthy, he told me that it even ate flake food when he was feeding the fish.

I am keeping it with t5 at the topmost part of the tank, so far it looks really good and my ocellaris love it.

I have 8x39 t5 with no individual reflectors, but they are very close together.

I also own 2 bta in the same tank, and they love the conditions, and the light is bright enough, one moved to the middle-bottom cuz the light was to bright, and the other one remain on the top but partially hidden, as if to much light for it.

[OrionN]

Your H. magnifica will walk all over the place looking for more light and more flow. Keep all your PH cover because they often get kill by PH. It may even block the overflow and cause a minor flood. I will likely kill a few coral walking around. My H. magnifica is about 4 inches below a 400 W. MH.
Good luck.

[mwood]

Let me ask this question. I've read that a gigantia and a ritteri are very difficult and that they need high light and high alternating flow. Are they hardy with high light and good flow, or is the survival rate still bleak even with good flow and light?

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8571751#post8571751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plancton

I am keeping it with t5 at the topmost part of the tank, so far it looks really good and my ocellaris love it.

I have 8x39 t5 with no individual reflectors, but they are very close together.



T5s that have individual reflectors put out 300% more light. :thumbsup:

Let me ask this question. I've read that a gigantia and a ritteri are very difficult and that they need high light and high alternating flow. Are they hardy with high light and good flow, or is the survival rate still bleak even with good flow and light?

They are still very difficult to keep even with high lighting and the right amount of flow. It doesn't take much for your H. Magnifica or Gigantea to go down hill.

[plancton]

say, in the future I wanna build a very large tank and be able to keep an h.magnifica. Do you really need 10 000 watt MH?, Or you can go with 400w?

[Ron Popeil]

400w would do fine.

[OrionN]

H. magnifica would do just fine with 400 W MH. The problem with them is getting a healthy one and they require very clean water and high random flow. Mine only inches below the water surface right under a 400 W MH. They are, without a doubt, the clownish hosting anemone that require the brightest light.

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8622494#post8622494 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plancton
say, in the future I wanna build a very large tank and be able to keep an h.magnifica. Do you really need 10 000 watt MH?, Or you can go with 400w? Don't go by the watts per gallon rule. Its practically useless. I would say one or two 400 watt fixtures would be enough.

[Reef4Fun]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8622494#post8622494 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plancton
say, in the future I wanna build a very large tank and be able to keep an h.magnifica. Do you really need 10 000 watt MH?, Or you can go with 400w?

no, it is 10000K not Watt, a 250W or 400W either one would be sufficient, but you do need it to be at least a 10000K (they come in 6500K, 10000K, 20000K) I have 2, 150W 10000K bulbs, and everthing seems to be doing great, but if I were able, I would have gotten a 250W (my light fixture does not take anything larger than 150W)

[delphinus]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8580807#post8580807 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mwood
Let me ask this question. I've read that a gigantia and a ritteri are very difficult and that they need high light and high alternating flow. Are they hardy with high light and good flow, or is the survival rate still bleak even with good flow and light?

*Generally* speaking I would say yes. Both species are demanding but their needs are reasonably well known. Thus, once adapted to a life in captivity they (both species) seem to be reasonably hardy, barring individual circumstances (injury, bad piece of food, tank disaster). Having said that, the problem appears to be obtaining a healthy specimen to begin with that is capable of making the transition into a life of captivity. They seem to be in the minority of those imported. S. gigantea in particular seems to fare *very* poorly through that transition.

[cagri]

From my experience key to keeping ritteri has been light. As soon as I switch my light to lower K light, he starts walking . As long as I keep it at 10K high Par light like XM, he is happy, and stays put. He receives medium to low flow and 10 inches from my 10K 250watt lights. He gets fed once a week, and he is as happy as can be. He has not moved an inch for the last 8 months.

Once established, they are very hardy, it survived through a tank move when I lost %50 of my corals, including some fish. I event lost a rose anemone, but ritterri survived.

Having said all that, I would only recommend ritteri to experienced anemone keepers with good light and good water quality.

[plancton]

why did your tank crashed?, I might need to move mine as well, I don´t know how something bad could happen.

[delphinus]

Ah .. forgot to mention, but you just reminded me of something.

My ritteri HATES being moved! Everytime I've had to move it, where some handling is involved (impossible to avoid when you have a 24" anemone), it releases some kind of invisible fish death. Don't know if it nematocysts that sting a fish's gills, or just slime that coats their gills, but either way, non-clownfish fish suffocate to death.

Although I've seen a few smaller specimens, to me it seems that ritteri's get ridiculously large. I know the original poster said his tank is a 300g, so I didn't mention this, but I guess it bears mentioning to anyone else reading this thread to be prepared for their eventual size if you intend to consider this species. And to give you an idea how fast they can grow, mine grew from a paltry 5" at time-of-purchase to well over 18" within *about 2 months*. And it continued to grow beyond that as well. Craziness.

[55semireef]

That is mad growth there. Wow.

[cagri]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8627814#post8627814 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by plancton
why did your tank crashed?, I might need to move mine as well, I don´t know how something bad could happen.


I tried to move the tank and my house at the same time in the winter. Water got too cold. Corals did not like 60s that much. To be honest I was not quite prepared, I learnt my lesson the hard way.