Keeping my nem clean.

[W Churchill]

So how should I keep my nem clean. No idea which variety I have, I've had him for about 4 months now, he's grown, he doesn't move much anymore, guess he's found his sweet spot, he eats well once a week. He's white with purple tips and measures around 9" in diameter.

However he has allowed himself to grow algae, presumably as a source of food, he might be happy but I'd like him white again, instead of a creamy colour.

I guess they are kept in the dark to sort of bleach them, to look good before we buy them, I don't wanna do this to him, but how do I get him white again.

 

[lcstorc]

Generally a white anemone is a bleached and sick anemone. The fact that it has colored up in your care means you are nursing it back to health. Depending on the type of nem it could gain even more color and be even more spectacular.

 

[BigAl07]

Darkness doesn't "bleach" them at all.... sometimes it's from stress or too much light.

Algae may be a bad thing or nothing at all. But don't try to clean it. Let nature take care of itself. Honestly for the most part the less you mess and worry the better off our tanks are.

good luck and enjoy your tank

 

[rmlevasseur]

Don't misinterpret Al's words. Keeping a nem in the dark will in fact bleach them, but only if you are defining "bleaching" as expelling the zooanthellae and thus turning white. He is correct that stress can also cause this to happen, regardless of whether it is caused by too much light or too little light, or any other stressor for that matter. If your nem is darkening you should be proud and happy that you are able to keep a healthy anemone. I wouldn't change what you are doing.

 

[BigAl07]

Thanks Robert. I didn't make that clear at all!!

Yes darkening is a good sign indeed

 

[cbrownfish]

I assume that you are not referencing some visible algae on the exterior but a darkening of the tentacles via zoox.....correct?

It is very common for folks to buy pretty "pink" anemones or pastel colored LPS corals (bleached) and end up with a red anemone or a dark/brown coral (the darker color representing health). As stated, darkening caused by zoox building up in the anemone/coral is often a good sign. This is a natural part of photosynthesis for marine organisms.

 

[seafansar]

What they said, and it sounds like you have a condylactis. If it's foot is orange, than I'm pretty sure it's a condy.

 

[yungreefer2410]

lets have a pic of it

 

[W Churchill]

lets have a pic of it

I'm slowly putting my stuff on the web, a long way to go yet and at this moment I haven't added a lot of stuff including this nem, but he does make an appearance on my front page, I hope it's clear enough to tell what he is. he doesn't have an orange foot though. This pic was taken when he was a little whiter.

Take a look

 

[Amphibious]

Your Anemone looks healthy, leave him alone. You may prefer white but Mother Nature knows the perfect color for best health. You can't "clean" an Anemone, by the way.

Dick

 

[BigAl07]

Your Anemone looks healthy, leave him alone. You may prefer white but Mother Nature knows the perfect color for best health. You can't "clean" an Anemone, by the way.

Dick

Very well put Mr. Amphibious

 

[Witfull]

could be condy, or sebae.

 

[seafansar]

Yeah, now I vote sebae.

 

[cheeks69]

It's a Heteractis crispa aka Sebae Anemone. Your fortunate that the Anemone recovered as in the vast majority of cases these Anemones that are bleached white don't recover and die within the first couple of months.

However he has allowed himself to grow algae, presumably as a source of food, he might be happy but I'd like him white again, instead of a creamy colour.

Well either it recovers it's zooxanthellae or it dies, which would you prefer ?

 

[BEELZEBOB]

how big is your tank and what type of lighting do you have?

and IMHO buddy, you should be more concerned with the happiness of the living animal you chose to buy.

Not what you personally think looks cool.

 

[W Churchill]

Well thanks for all that guys, I won't be trying to clean him, I realised the algae growth was a natural thing, I just didn't realise it was an essential thing, it's good to know he's doing OK.

One more question if you don't mind. It is a Sebae, I've looked and compared it to the pictures available on the internet. However there is one thing that stands out from all those photos I've looked at; my nem's tentacles are just as long but generally fatter than those in the photos, now my initial thought is that straggly tentacles don't look as healthy to me, but what do you guys think are my nem's fatter tentacles good or bad, or is it just a personal characteristic rather like blondes and brunettes.

 

[cbrownfish]

IME anemones can morph as they see fit, sometimes simply responding to the conditions of the environment. My RBTA had longer thin tentacles when I got it and now they are fat and more robust. Why? I don't know exactly. My old Condy would expand to large proportions sometimes in order to create a bigger surface area and absorb more light. Anemones are strange but beautiful creates, that have odd behavior and habits.

A few things that can represent trouble or poor health --

1. Gapping mouth (stressed anemone).

2. Spiral tissue being spewed out of the mouth (dying anemone).

3. Bleached condition (light starved, lack of zoox).

4. Really short stubby tentacles (starving anemone, target feed ASAP)

 

[BigAl07]

3. Bleached condition (light starved, lack of zoox).

Bleached can also come from too much light (either new bulbs or change of light all together).

Anemone (And all photosynthetic corals) can vary the amount of light producing organisms inside their body to adapt to different light conditions. The problem is the animal can have a "knee-jerk" reaction when it goes from a dim-lit environment into a bright one. It suddenly starts making more food (through photosynthesis) than it can handle and can (through desperate measures) expel large amounts of it's photosynthetic partner. This usually spells the end because once it expels a certain amount the odds of the rest taking over are slim to none. This doesn't apply to THIS post but it's information for someone else just in case they are researching this topic

 

[cheeks69]

my nem's tentacles are just as long but generally fatter than those in the photos, now my initial thought is that straggly tentacles don't look as healthy to me

This is correct ! Usually an indication of insufficient light.

Here you can see my BTA under 130w of PC lighting and look at the tentacles.