Corynactis

[Mayja]

I flipped over a piece of liverock and saw this little squishy red dot. I poked it and it flinched. Eep! Sorry little bud! I put the rock back down (this time facing up so the squishy wouldn't be buried) and continued with my evening.

Before lights out, I checked in on it. It grew tentacles! Clear ones with round tips on the ends! Now, I couldn't get a picture of this thing because fully extended it is no bigger than a dime... probably smaller. But, I Googled it and it's a tropical version of the PseudoCorynactis (scroll down to see a pic - way bigger than mine) or Strawberry Anemone!

I read that these are usually found in cold water, but they have a cousin of sorts that can be found on live rock in tropical climates.

The one question I really cannot answer is whether this little guy should stay in the tank. Anyone else have experience with these? It's so cool looking!

 

[LSUFireGal]

I have a couple in my biocube. My son loves them, so I left them. They haven't spread or caused any problems for me. I used aiptasia x on one that was too close to my frogspawn and it went away so I imagine if they started causing a problem I could just get rid if them. But for now "Spike" and his friend are safe.

 

[Oxylebius]

Pseudocorynactis, commonly called a ball anemone/ball Corallimorph. They're not pests IMO, they don't cause any issues. They're mostly nocturnal, extending their feeding tentacles at night to catch any zooplankton or pods that might happen by. Not a whole lot is known about their care. I have several in my tank, have had them for about 4 years now. They may move a little from time to time, especially if they are in direct light, mine usually like to be in a shaded areas. I haven't had any issues with them and my SPS corals, or with my fish, the fish just stay away from them. From time to time I have placed a small piece of krill on the end of a wooden skewer and have feed them, they take the food, and then color up nicely. Mine have red centers and white balls on the tips of the tentacles.

New species are still being identified and studied in academia, it seems that some species tend to cause harm to inverts and fish in the wild, but like I said, I haven't had any issues with the ones that I have, which I've had for over fours years now. The fish and inverts (hermits and snails) stay away from them. Good luck. Feed them some bits of food and see how beautiful in color they get. If you want to read more about them in folks tanks, check out this link: http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6...nk-160692.html

 

[SantaMonica]

I've been wanting these for a long time. Bought the cold-water ones by accident once; lasted about a day.

 

[DianaKay]

I pull out a rock to remove some GBA that I spotted on it & found this on it near the sandbed level.
I thought there was only 1 but after a little magnification I see there are several....

Now, after this finding of several, should I dip the whole rock? Aren't these about the same as Aiptasia?
There may already be lots of them in my tank. Geezzz, what we find when we aren't even aware!!

 

[Snid]

It sounds like Aiptasia-X can easilly get rid of them if they start becoming a problem. I'd say leave them be unless you really don't like them, as I think they are cute, unlike Aiptasia. But that's just me...

 

[Oxylebius]

They won't spread or cause havoc like aiptasia does. I would leave it, let it be. It is a nice little anemone. I still have some in my tank, had them for many years without issue.

If you want more info, I posted a write-up on them here: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums...rynactis-pseudocorynactis-paracorynactis.html