I joined a new office and the other doctor who owns the saltwater tank was out. I walked by to see one of the new large anemones apparently trying to eat one of the other smaller anemones. After calling the fish guy, he said to try to rescue the little guy by knocking him loose from the large one. Now the little one looks like he oozed some white gooey stuff and looks kind of dead. The larger one totally retracted, but since I figured he was hungry, I fed him a frozen/thawed fish. I heard if they die, they can kill all of the other fish and anemones. Any suggestions?
Anemone eating anemone?
- Thread starter docpat
- Start date
First off WELCOME 
to RS!
I would watch them both closely and if you see any further "degrading" I would pull it out. The discharge could be a sign of damage or just it expelling yesterday's leftovers.
I'm of the mindset that I don't usually try to "intervene" in the tank and just let things happen.
to RS! I would watch them both closely and if you see any further "degrading" I would pull it out. The discharge could be a sign of damage or just it expelling yesterday's leftovers.
I'm of the mindset that I don't usually try to "intervene" in the tank and just let things happen.
I have no idea, new to the whole fish thing, but the large one has a pinkish base and long semi thick tenticles tha sort of curl toward the end. The small one was an orangy/ mauve color that looked like a willowy flower with a hairy round center with a dark purple bulby like base. I'm sure that doesn't help. The staff took a picture of the event on her phone but I didn't get a shot of it. I think we would have been better off letting the big one eat the little one. The big one did take the fish and close up tight on it.
Are you testing the water? Just keep a close eye on them and if they do start "denigrating" remove whichever or both.
Don't try to move either of them. You're fighting a losing battle and odds are the more you move/touch/stress them the less likely they are to pull through.
Anemone are MOBILE animals and go where-ever they want whenever they want. It's a waste of time to try and move them in the tank. If you move one then move it to another tank.
Don't try to move either of them. You're fighting a losing battle and odds are the more you move/touch/stress them the less likely they are to pull through.
Anemone are MOBILE animals and go where-ever they want whenever they want. It's a waste of time to try and move them in the tank. If you move one then move it to another tank.
Wow, the doc I work with has many more anemones in the same tank. One other fairly large white one, and 3-4 small ones. The newest hungry guy is twice as large as the other large white one. BTW, would an anemone eat a general starfish and a cowfish ~1.5 inches large? We weren't sure if someone ate them or if we had a fish theif as a patient. Do people steal starfish and cowfish? The tank is in the waiting room.