"Trimming an Anenome"

[Brucey]

Guys, I would be over the moon if I could ship it to anybody here I could trust ..... just to know it had gone to a good home is the major thing stopping me taking it to LFS ..... I just would hate to think it had fallen into the wrong caring hands. Anyone who wants it, I will ship to, but I have never done ANYTHING like that before and remember I'm in the UK ....... I would need advice on how to package and send it. Thanks for all your thoughts, and yes, it is gorgeous ..... just likes killing coral

[Brucey]

PS, thanx for pulling the pic from RAG for me
Brucey

Originally posted by Maxx
That things a beast! I know Jupiter has lots of experiance w/ anemones and he would certainly be able to care for it. Maybe he has room for it in one of his tanks. Could you guys work something out on shipping?

Whoa! Thanks for the kind words again, Maxx, but I will never touch a ritteri again for a LONG time. Their success rate is really poor. The last one I had (2 years ago) died in 2 days; perfect on day one, dead on day two. I couldn't figure it out so I just decided they are off limits. Virtually all clowns LOVE them, though.

I commend you Brucey for keeping it so healthy and strong for the last year. It's a good accomplishment. If it were me, I'd hold on to it just to prove the the world that ritteri anemones really can live longer than 2 years in captivity

After all this talk I feel like getting myself a ritteri [MUST ... NOT...GIVE...IN!]

[Brucey]

Jups .... LOL. I know what you mean. One day it drives me mad as the tentacles seem to get that extra bit longer and it starts touching my acro's ..... then another day, I love it to bits. To make things even worse for me to lose it, is that I have a breeding pair of perc's in there who adore it and being the silly old sod (well only 36) that I am, I would feel guilty about them losing their home .... I mean, how would I like it. If I KNEW i could pass it onto someone else who would give it the conditions it needs I would have no problem at all, but I'm just not even sure it would survive being removed from it's spot. It hasn't moved an inch in over a year. Two PH on it and a 250W MH about 4 inches directly above. The thing is in paradise.
Oh well, watch this space
Brucey

[Maxx]

Brucey,
you'd pretty much have to ship it w/ "its" rock attached, or at least part of its rock. Don't know how much fun that'll be for you...
Lemme do some asking around about ways to get this beast off the rock.
Nick

[Brucey]

Maxx, Don't worry too much dood / From all I've read I don't think it would survive the shipping anyhow .... Thanks for the effort
Brucey

[wooddood]

i agree with most others i would start an anenome tank and keep that beauty just to see how big it will get.good luck on whatever you decide to do.

[Maxx]

I just posted a thread on the anemone's and clownfish forum over @ RC. Hopefully we'll get some answers there.
Nick

[Gina]

How do you think it would do though having it shipped? I'm not real sure that I would want to risk that either. Maybe you could find someone in the U.K. that would take it. But, if I really liked it that much I too would probably give in and start up another tank for it. Interesting thread....curious to see where the story ends.

Gina

[Boomer]

I agree with Jup and Craig. Me, a rit this big, I would never let anyone have it . I once had a tube anemone this big.there is no way I would have given him to somebody. He died do to a bad batch of salt, after 15 years and is a major reason I no longer have tanks, along with the all the other animals I had in those tanks.

That is quite an accomplishment Brucey

[Maxx]

I dont think that shipping this guy would be such a major issue. Most of the fatalities occuring w/ anemones are because they've been being shipped for many days straight, and really havent had a stable environment for too long. This one is in great health, has been in a stable environment for over 2 years and wouldnt be going to a LFS w/ questionable water/system quality. If it were me I would find a way to keep him too....beg, borrow, or steal another aquarium and find a way to make this happen, simply because these animals are very difficult to keep genereally. But if he decided to ship it ( assuming it could be seperated from the rock or most of the rock w/o damage to the anemone) I think it would ship just fine.
Brucey have you thought of showing this thread to Lou in an effort to show her how many people are amazed that you have kept this animal for this long and this well and how rare it is to keep them for 2 years or more? That might go aways towards helping her understand why you NEED to set up another tank.
Just a thought,
Nick

[Maxx]

Here is a link to a thread on RC that is very similar Brucey.....HTH,
Nick

[Brucey]

Nick, thanks for the link on RC (Very interesting)..... Yes Lou has seen this thread, and no I don't think I'll be able to get another tank ...... even if she did say it would be ok. I really want to keep the chap so we'll see how things progress over the next ferw months. If he grows any bigger it could really become an issue. The Montiopra I managed to FRAG and start off again towards the other end of the tank and the Acro's are doing fine so far ..... so fingers crossed, all will be ok. Watch this space
Brucey

[Maxx]

Excellent!!!! My main concern was for you to be able to keep the monster. You've worked very hard for quite a while to get him that big, I think you should be able to enjoy it.
Glad your keeping him.
Nick

[Maxx]

Brucey,
I told you I had strted a thread over @ RC about your anemone...there is a guy who used to have one that he wound up moving to another tank, and he has some general interest type questions...you would be able to answer them much better than me acting as the middle man...I havent mentioned anything about you deciding to keep the monster, as I figured that the info you would recieve is good to have if ou ever decide to move it at the very least.
Here is the thread I started, you might wanna pop over and check it out....
Nick