carpet anemone issues

[jernst]

I recently got a carpet anemone. Initially it attached to the substrate and fed when i gave it a fish. The next day it started rolling around. it's been about a week and sometimes it attaches and looks great but most times it's just rolling around. At night it tends to compact and sort of look inside out. Sometimes it a totally closed like a ball but most times it's open but not attached. it won't feed when i give it a fish but when i feed the corals it's tongue comes wide open like it's feeding.

My nitates are 2.0, my phosphates are 0 to .25, no ammonia or nitites. My calcium is 450 and py KH is 10. Any ideas?

 

[Steve L]

When nems move they usually don't like the lighting an/or water flow where they were. How long has your tank been set up? Anemones aren't for beginners and need a well established tank that's at least a year old with pristine water conditions, and even then they don't always survive.

 

[bullet]

Nems will close up tight as a knot at night or if something is bothering it

 

[DaveK]

How long have you had the tank set up? How large is it? and what kind of lighting and filtration do you have?

Anemones require excellent quality water, a well established tank, and excellent lighting. Carpet anemones and generally considered more difficult that some of the others.

 

[jernst]

My tank is 75 gallons. 110 lbs of live rock. been running for 5 months. my water parameters are all good as per my first post. my main concern is he doesn't seem to want to eat except when i feed my corals.

 

[reefer gladness]

Your tank is pretty young to be keeping a nem, especially considering this is one of the more difficult nems to keep.

Carpet nems bury their foot in the sand and like a relatively deep sand bed (3-5 inches) sheltered by rocks. Also as mentioned previously, they require very strong lighting and frequent feeding. Not a good sign if it's tentacles are not sticky. What are you trying to feed it?