well, if amber's office would ever announce the photos they picked and send me my amazon gift certificate, i'd have the darned thing. they're supposed to decide "in january", so they only have a few days left...

I wouldn't hold your breath if I was you

Hope this one turns out well, and can't wait to see your other biotope back up and running. I'll have to stop by one day. Jack some of those mini carpets

fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap

o, did you say something???




thanks! i'll make sure the pups are keeping guard for ninjas

Popping popcorn now.
Lani, you got some butter we can add?
I'll share.

Oh yeah, we're cookin' now!
Bring on the drama babeh!!!

he understands^^







eh, you'd be doing the same thing if that were hasselhoff



thanks lan lan. you think the strawberries would eat it??

Buttered Strawberries?
Somehow that just doesn't sound right.
I prefer dipping them in chocolate, but to each his own.

need to see it again richie??

hahaha, big new mod

back on topic for a while....

WANT:

WOW, I'd want those too!

U got any pics of those Buttered Strawberries?
(looks innocent, sidles off...)

Just for record,

I've read that metridiums have very poor track records in captivity, and I've never been able to keep em alive for more than six months. Ironically, they're one of the hardiest anemones in the wild, enduring brackish conditions and heavy pollution - they're one of the few animals you still see on docks in olympia (the farthest south you can get in Puget sound).

I think they need some secret kind of food, that only happens in really big tanks, kind of like dendronephthya, but that's a guess, I don't know about that for sure. I don't recall ever seeing one at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, but I might just be forgetful.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/ItemD...&ddid=55261

well, thats poopy. i had just been asuming that their ridiculous hardiness in the wild would translate to captivity. ugh.

i'll probably still try them at some point if i get the chance, i just won't put too much money into getting them.

way to ruin my day jamie

lol



OMG!!!!!!

Now that Jamie mentioned it, I don't remember seeing these at the Oregon Coast Aquarium either-- and they have just about everything. It's just as wierd that Steve Weast didn't include these in either of his systems, as far as I can remember. I don't think there's much to keeping these guys, really. It may not be that much of a significant achievement since they are thought by some to be able to live for centuries, but I have some that I've kept without problems for well over a year now. They seem mostly particular about flow, and if you have a wide range of flow strengths/directions in the tank (including at the very surface) they will simply move about until they find a spot that suits them. They don't open up all of the time, so the main trick is to feed them whenever you catch them in the mood. Small foods like frozen brine seem to be good enough-- sometimes they even seem to enjoy a knock or two on the intake sponge (apparently feeding on the microfauna and bacteria-laden detritus that are loosened). I wouldn't give up on Metridium, they're one of the most unique and interesting temperate anemone species.

hmmm...interesting.

the national zoo had some at one point, but they were down to just a couple that weren't open last time i was there. seems you may have had some luck though.

I do have quite a few different flow regimes, quite strong in the upper portions of the tank since the returns from the chiller and the koralia are both at the top of the tank, slower in corners and along the front depression.









in other news...

noice! Someone had to buy them!

All my experience with metridiums involves them starting out happy, then opening less and less, and shrinking until they disappear. I did, however find out recently that I had ammonia in my tank - and it's possible it's been there for awhile, so maybe that was the problem Now that it's fixed maybe I should try again. For the fourth time. Or maybe not, I've certainly killed plenty of them. I could just give it a rest.

we'll see. If I can figure out how to get them off the rocks at barview without crushing them I may give it one more shot.

Anyways, back to your tank.

yup, that big purply one has been there for a while - since you bought yours i think. i just didnt want to spend so much on shipping for just one nem. but two nems is a completely different subject

hmmm...well, maybe time to give someone else a shot?? your tank is a tad bit heavier on the bioload than mine, might have some effect. who knows...never can tell with these things.



yeah...on to my empty tank. LA says the purply beadlet is 4" across fully open. I'll bet they're estimating a little high, but given that my biggest nem is the red one that *might* be 2" when open that things gonna be HUGE in the tank compared to everything else. I really hope beadlets arent my coldwater version of BTAs...

hahahahhaa

OMG THEY SHIPPED THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

...i hope all the ice doesnt slow them down or they'll be sitting til Monday

lol nice

THEY'RE HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

^^

Love to see pics when the time is right.

How do they look?

not bad...a little deflated, but open


we'll see how they look in an hour or so when the temp equilibrates...

they were still open when i put them in. surprised they're not less thrilled, considering the temp dropped 12* in the last 45 minutes.


heading back to work, though...we'll see how happy they are when i get home tonight.

grats on the additions.

thanks!




I have to say, from what little I've been able to see of it, this one:


looks freaking AMAZING. Column is peachy-orange with steel blue verrucae, along with the crazy kaleidoscope oral disk/tentacles.

Other one looks just like my red guy, but redder column and instead of being bumpy, it's striped.

so i guess you guys are waitin on pichers?

o...ok.......



















































o...you wanted pichers of the new ones?














































red one...memory card filled up before i got many of it:






and kaleidoscope:








and a couple with flash so you can see the column:

Wow.

Agreed.

you obviously picked the good A. equina - the one I got has no blue verrucae

and everything looks great. Yeah, I think these intertidal nems couldn't care less about temperature changes. They were supposedly keeping the equinas at tropical temps - mine was 64 when it got here, and I just dumped it straight into the tank - no problems. Just a surge of fresh water after being kept in a particularly warm tidepool.

it is a horrible guessing game they have...wish they'd show pics of the columns and stuff in divers den too. but hey...i wont complain

they didn't mind the temp difference at all - 72* in the bag, 60* in the tank. I let them float for 45 minutes or so, and they stayed open the whole time until I poked them getting them out of the bag. They were half open again before I could walk out the door. Pretty amazing




on the "still needs convinced of the ID for some of these darn nems" front...solid red one has no verrucae - very smooth with subtle stripes from foot to tentacles. kaleidoscope has very apparent verrucae, very similar to my old red nem, but grey on the outside with a blue dot in the middle. dunno if that makes any difference, but it's interesting to note at least.

hey, those are pretty nice.
what were they listed as?

both listed as Actinia equina

lol, that avatar makes me laugh every time

holy shizzle, those are nice.

and MUCH nicer in person



both ate like pigs tonight on cyclopeeze. seems they wouldnt mind if i'd tossed in some mysis or silverside pieces for them. kaleidoscope had all its tentacles shoved in its mouth stuffing cycloppeze in as fast as possible.

also, confirmed ID on the new red guy - definitely A. equina. When it was feeding, I noticed it had blue spots between each tentacle, and bright blue acrorhagi = A. equina

Yup, very nice blur.