Please help :(

[Anemonee]

Morning!!

I woke up this morning to see my RBTA looking super sad. I know they close and open and so all sorts of odd things but this looks scary. It spit out it’s food over night, as one of my emerald crabs now has it and I can almost guarantee that when I come home for lunch, it’ll look fine. I’m just worried. So any advise or help would be awesome! Thanks in advance!

Tank info:
30gal
It’s about 8mo old
Parameters are always stable
Just did a water change a week ago
I have two emerald crabs, two clowns and a watchman goby
I’ve had the anemone for about 4-5 months now and I’ve seen it fo so many things I don’t know what’s alarming and what’s normal.
I feed it small cut up bits of shrimp and brine or mysis shrimp (whatever I have for the fish)

[DaReefTank]

Maybe its changing the water in it im guessing. Mine does this sometimes


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[Anemonee]

Well that makes me feel a bit better. Like I said, I’ve see t do so many funky things I don’t know what should alarm me and what is normal. I’m learning that these creatures are very interesting little things haha thank you DaReefTank!!

[Anemonee]

Already closing up and inflating a bit.
They are a mysterious creature, for sure.


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[aznflyfisherman]

What lighting are you using n how long do you have the lights on? The tentacles are really short n somewhat starting to be more space out to me.

[Anemonee]

The light goes from 5:30 to 5:30 and I have t5s (one white light one blue) but want to (and feel I need to) upgrade before the year ends. Have any suggestions of what I should get?


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[aznflyfisherman]

I like leds, more programable n controlability n doesnt have heat issues. How big is your tank? Depends on your budget, prefer AI or Echo tech, ibam using ai hydra52 on my 29g cube but thats an over kill.

[Anemonee]

Ok, I have a 26gal bow front tank. And am extremely jealous of your tank. So beautiful. I’d rather not spend an arm and a leg but realize that the hobby isn’t cheap. I also have a Coral that seems to be a little sadder than normal so that’s why I’ve been thinking of an upgrade. I want it to be happy and want to eventually get more corals.


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[aznflyfisherman]

Thanks...For that tank i recommend ai hydra26 hd or hydra52hd. Maybe you can find a use one to save? The reefbreeder nano wifi is a little cheaper as well.

[Anemonee]

I’m looking at the ai hydra 26 hd and it’s not too badly priced brand new. I could swing that. Thanks!!


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[Anemonee]

What’s your opinion on the prime HD?


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[Kinetic]

Looks bad. Emerald crabs are evil. Easily could've gotten to the anemone and ripped it open for food. Seriously.

If it gets bacteria infection, you can try doing a ciproflaxin treatment.

[Anemonee]

It looked a lot better than it did this morning at lunch an hour and a bit ago. I’m planning on getting an ai prime HD in the next bit hoping to perk it up. But I agree my emeralds are feisty little creeps and I’m hoping he didn’t rip it away from my Anem, although I’ve seen it try before. I’d be willing to return my little emeralds before I put my Anem at risk


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[Kinetic]

Looking better.

Emeralds are terrible. There's countless people who have bad experiences with them (I've been plagued by emeralds), yet some still claim they are reef safe. Totally false. 100% not reef-safe. They might not do as much destruction as others, but they will eat coral tissue, polyps, rip things apart, kill snails, even catch fish that are small enough. My emerald grabbed one of my anthias and tore the fin right off. I happened to be watching because I saw the emerald come out and wave it's claws around. I tried catching that guy for months without tearing out my rock, and eventually pulled my entire rockscape out to get him.

[Anemonee]

That’s my only concern. Is if I try and catch them, they’ll hide and I’ll have to move everything around to find them. I have seen my goby go after them both when they get too close to “his area” in my rock hahaha but they grab at my clowns when they get too close and go bananas when I clean the outside of the glass, reaching for whatever I have in hand.

It’s funny, I wanted to get a pistol shrimp for my goby but was worried he’d go after my clowns in defence of the goby. Little did I know my issues are my two current inhabitants.


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[Silfer]

From your pictures, as suggested you really need a lighting upgrade. 2 x T5 tubes just isn't that much light, which you can see from the stubby, spaced out tentacles. It's basically eating itself to survive, but that won't last forever.

**Just saw you have a 28g bow front, the prime would be ideal.

As for the crab, I always had success taking a glass and propping it on the sand bed at an angle against a piece of rock at night and putting a chunky bit of food in the bottom of the glass. Crab goes in > can't climb out.

[Anemonee]

Thank you for the info, Silfer!!

When I first started my tank, the lfs guy that I go to for advice told me that the two t5s would be ok for the Anem and low light coral. From my research, I had a very good feeling he wasn’t lying but wasn’t totally accurate with how important my lighting is. I’ll be getting the prime this week or next (they’re out of stock where I can get them currently). I’d be very sad to see it die so I hope it’s not too late.

I also love your crab catching idea. The only thing that I enjoy about my emeralds is that they clean my live rock. Other than snails, what could I use to clean the rock for me if I choose to return the emeralds?


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[Anemonee]

So excited to set this up!! Thanks for all your advice!!


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