Is 60 degrees too hot for strawberry anemones?

[C-Rad]

I've got a lot of nice strawberry anemones that I've had for over a year. I haven't been able to get them to reproduce, and in fact they seem to be declining in numbers very slowly. I've tried increasing feedings, but that hasn't helped. I keep the tank at 60 degrees, which I thought would be plenty cold for them, but since nothing else has worked I thought I would knock the temp down to 56 and see if that helped. It has only been a couple of days, but already the strawberry anemones look a lot better. They were always open, but now they are open more, as if they are stretching to be taller and more open. I'll let you know over the next few weeks if they start to reproduce, but they seem much happier at 56 than they were at 60.

 

 

Here's a bad FTS. I've got them on scallop shells (5" diameter) attached to the back wall. I want them to grow to cover the shells, and eventually the wall.

 

Has anybody had them reproduce well at 60 degrees or more?

[Jamie]

I've noticed something similar with my coldwater zoanthids. They wouldn't even open at 59-61. I moved them to my basement a week or two ago, and they are way happier, even though only a little cooler at 57-58. Maybe 60 is just a little too warm? I collected them at 53 degrees, so it would be a reasonable hypothesis. Regardless, I will definitely be buying a more powerful chiller next time, and keeping the tank down in the mid to low 50's.

[Jacobnano]

Eeek maybe I should lower my tank temp. I am thinking 56 or 55. Hmmmm.

 

 

Edit: Also, your tank looks really nice. What do you feed the gorgs???

[C-Rad]

your tank looks really nice. What do you feed the gorgs???

I feed the tank both frozen cyclopeeze and frozen rotifers. I think that the smaller rotifers are best for the gorgonians, and the larger cyclopeeze are for the strawberry anemones, but I'll bet that the gorgs eat both.

[Jacobnano]

So the strawberries won't eat mysis or am I over-estimating their size?

[C-Rad]

So the strawberries won't eat mysis or am I over-estimating their size?

Sure they'll eat mysis, in fact, I suspect that they LOVE getting that much meat in one meal. I have only fed mysis a couple of times because I had fish in my tank that would eat most of it before the anemones could get it. The fish are gone, so maybe I'll go back and try that again. I also hate spending money on prepared food at the LFS, so I don't want to buy mysis (I'm making a net so I can collect my own plankton and not have to buy cyclopeeze either!).

 

I should have mentioned that I've started feeding mysis sized pieces of grated frozen scallop to the anemones every week or so. I have frozen scallop around because that is what I feed my octopus, so I put the grater in the freezer for a while and then quickly grate (on the smallest size) a couple tablespoons worth of scallop. The shreds look like mysis, and provide a lot of food for pennies, although I worry that the nutrition isn't complete (no shells, etc.) but I want to try things to see what makes these strawberries reproduce.

[escaudio]

Those are beautiful!!! Did you collect these yourself?