baby anenome?

[Bob the kracken]

I'm almost ready for cuttlefish eggs, and i just noticed what apears to be a tiny sea anenome. should i get rid of it or will the cuttlefish stay away from it. it's in the side so I don't think they would have any trouble avoiding it.

 

[Animal Mother]

I would remove it. Those things have an amazing ability to snatch anything near their tentacles and draw it in and baby cuttles won't stand a chance escaping it if it grabs them. Joe's Juice works great.

 

[DWhatley]

AM,
Have you used Joe's Juice on anemones in general or aptasia (I know they are a form of anemone)? I love the stuff for aptasia but was not aware that it would kill other anemones and would like to know if that is the case. I keep a condylactus anemone tank and have flower anemones in another. I have not had aptasia in either tank but would like to be forwarned if that is a problem (I know mushrooms are fine with it).

 

[Bob the kracken]

I know nothing about anemones, and I have no idea what type mine is. what exactly does aptasia mean.

 

[DWhatley]

Aptasia are a small, very invasive stinging anemone. It looks something like an ugly, mean feather duster (IMO) and is a real problem if not elminated. I was able to capture two (usually you cannot remove them by hand) and created an "undesireables" pico tank just to see what they would do. In about a month, without feeding, there were over a hundred. The tank survived and propagated for the better part of a year before they started dying out. I am attaching a picture from another forum. The aptasia are enlarged in the top photo, the bottom photo is of small, harmless feather dusters. The immediate difference is the white solid shell of the feathers (the crowns are usually a light pink or white). The aptasia have no shell or housing and are tan in color and have a spikey appearance. They are easily controlled (if you only have a couple) with Joe's Juice (leave on for an hour inspite of what the bottle says). Unfortuantely, by the time you see them there are likely to be others unseen that will keep showing up from time to time (Joe's will kill all of them that you can see but the more you see, the more there are that you don't see). Once you have elminated them, a single peppermint shrimp will keep them under control (double check with Thales or Cuttlegirl on the safety of keeping a peppermint with young/baby cuttles - definitely not when they are tiny).

http://images.search.yahoo.com/sear...jpeg&no=5&tt=99&oid=6989b6ffc678a996&ei=UTF-8

Thales, are peppermint shrimp known to have any problems with cuttles? I know they can be aggressive in numbers and it occured to me that I have one in the tank that housed the young cuttles that died rather mysteriously (I have two young dwarfs in the same tank now with no problems). The pep was about 1.5 times the length of the cuttlefish and I found both dead in the AM with no apparent problems the night before (peps are nocturnal feeders).

 

[Animal Mother]

AM,
Have you used Joe's Juice on anemones in general or aptasia (I know they are a form of anemone)? I love the stuff for aptasia but was not aware that it would kill other anemones and would like to know if that is the case. I keep a condylactus anemone tank and have flower anemones in another. I have not had aptasia in either tank but would like to be forwarned if that is a problem (I know mushrooms are fine with it).

I had a bunch of curly Q anemones take over my Angler's tank and I used the Joe's Juice on them a few days ago. They haven't popped out since, so I'm pretty sure they're toast. Just remember to turn off anything that creates water circulation so the juice doesn't fly around the tank. This was when I found out just how reactive they are to anything in their presence. I didn't even touch the tentacles with the tip of the syringe, and they would reach out and wrap it up. On a side note, my Angler is much happier

 

[Paradox]

Joes juice will kill any coral. Its basically kalkwaser paste with a very high PH. Ive used this with aptasia and it works great. Ive also used peppermint shrimps when I have no cephs in the tank.

I would imagine any peppermint shrimps would become cuttle food pretty quickly.

 

[DWhatley]

Paradox,
As long as the peps might be come food and not the other way around. They can get pretty nasty in groups but have not had a problem keeping only one unless the one in my 15 gallon tank was agressive at night (the Mercs just wave him away). Ken (the diver I webmaster for) does not like them much. He collects them because of the demand and no shortage of supply but has seen them attack and kill small fish (convicts) in a rather grusome fashion. I like to keep one in a tank if I can (not with the dwarf lion though, too expensive to feed as it is since he will ONLY eat live shrimp - spoiled brat).

I suspected Joe's Juice of being pickleing lime (kalkwaser) and something but I have never witnessed a PH swing nor had any undesired deaths (hence my expectation of an additional "something" that helps neutralize the lime). At least twice I squirted a mushroom (once badly because the plunger stuck) and although it reacted immediately by closing up, by the next day it was normal with no obvious ill effects. I have not used it near other anemones (I have flowers in one tank and condys in another), more by chance (no aptasia) than by design. I will note that the rocks that have come with the critters was not aquacultured rock but that may be cooincidental.

 

[Bob the kracken]

well then mine isn't an aptasia. its about an inch across, and the tentacles are completely clear accept for the tips which end in little pink spheres. other than that it's pretty non descript.

 

[Animal Mother]

Sounds like a Corynactis species. underwater-photos.com - Featured Photo No. 35 - Club-Tipped Anemone

 

[DrBatty]

Definitely Corynactis. They come in a lot of live rock and can spread VERY quickly. There while the true Corynactis Californica gets bigger, I think the tropical types from Indo and the like stay pretty small [that has been my experience with them, anyway]. As far as I know, they are closer to the mushroom family than the anemone family.I don't think they are harmful, but you probably want to stay on the safer side...in which case:
Joe's juice works great [from what I hear, never tried it myself], but I usually just inject a small amount of lemon juice into the aiptasia - it's usually enough to stun them to the point that you can peel them off the rock.

 

[AD2U]

well then mine isn't an aptasia. its about an inch across, and the tentacles are completely clear accept for the tips which end in little pink spheres. other than that it's pretty non descript.

Sounds like it is a pink tulip anemone. They look like aptasia but not harmful like aptasia and much more prettier. They are green with pink tips. I have a bunch in my 25 gal reef tank with alot of other corals and anemones and they don't bother anybody. I could be wrong.

 

[sindas]

i'd get it on a rock frag and sell it cheap on ebay. or send it to me for my new reef tank

 

[Animal Mother]

Not worth selling, or buying. If you own enough live rock or buy some decent coral pieces, chances are you will get at least one.

 

[Bob the kracken]

whatever it is i just squirted it with joes juice but it was still stuck to the rock, possibly because it was growing out of a cave, (the guy at the pet store said it was deffinitely an aptasia, but he could have just been trying to sell me something) so I tried to scrape it off, but ended up sort of scrambling it. then I put a crab on it and it ate what it could get to, probably thinking something along the lines of "O THANK YOU BENEVOLENT LORD! FOOD FOOD FOOD."