Maxi-Mini Eating Fish

[belsenj]

Nature at it's finest!

[albertthiel]

Nature at it's finest!

 

I guess you can call it that indeed

 

Albert

[northeastern]

hate to hijack but its always good to avoid unneeded threads.

 

 

I have a geometric pygmy hawk, thing is 1" and will never really pass 1.5". He skoots around all day. If I added a maxi mini to my 10 gallon would he be in danger? the pygmy hawk is by far my favorite but boy would I love a mm.

[jedimasterben]

hate to hijack but its always good to avoid unneeded threads.

 

 

I have a geometric pygmy hawk, thing is 1" and will never really pass 1.5". He skoots around all day. If I added a maxi mini to my 10 gallon would he be in danger? the pygmy hawk is by far my favorite but boy would I love a mm.

Please see the posts above.

[JamesHL88]

Regardess, still a bummer to lose a fish that way.

 

No. It sucks to lose a fish to a power head or parasites.

 

Watching a coral or anemone stuff its face with one is quite possibly the most entertaining way to lose a fish.

[northeastern]

Please see the posts above.

 

 

I did... It seems like a lot of back and forth. Which is what I've seen in my researching. some people say if the fish is healthy your good. others say if your unlucky your unlucky.

 

Reports of a MM eating a healthy sixline makes me feel like a pygmy hawk would be a goner. What I'm really looking for is examples of small tanks with MM and small gobys I suppose.

[jedimasterben]

No. It sucks to lose a fish to a power head or parasites.

 

Watching a coral or anemone stuff its face with one is quite possibly the most entertaining way to lose a fish.

At least you won't have to worry about feeding it that week, that's how I always see it!

 

I did... It seems like a lot of back and forth. Which is what I've seen in my researching. some people say if the fish is healthy your good. others say if your unlucky your unlucky.

 

Reports of a MM eating a healthy sixline makes me feel like a pygmy hawk would be a goner. What I'm really looking for is examples of small tanks with MM and small gobys I suppose.

A healthy sixline wrasse? Those fish are way too powerful, they'd be able to get away no problem. Anemones are very sticky to us, but not to healthy fish, as they have their slime coat to "grease them up" so they can get away.

 

[albertthiel]

hate to hijack but its always good to avoid unneeded threads.

 

 

I have a geometric pygmy hawk, thing is 1" and will never really pass 1.5". He skoots around all day. If I added a maxi mini to my 10 gallon would he be in danger? the pygmy hawk is by far my favorite but boy would I love a mm.

 

Here is some descriptive text taken from "Saltwaterfish.com"

quote

The maximum size of these Maxi-mini Carpet Anemones get to be 6-8 inches. They will not host clownfish. Its diet can be supplemented with small feedings of meaty foods once a week. Anemones will not tolerate poor water quality.Anemones are solitary polyp organisms which are supported internally by water. Anemone species are differentiated by the color, shape, placement, and length of the tentacles.

 

These Cnidaria feed off of zooxanthellae within their bodies and need a strong light source in order to survive. They will also take in food by using their tentacles to slowly move the prey to their mouths which is a slit in the center of the body.

 

This single opening also serves as its way of expelling waste. Anemones use tiny stinging cells in their tentalces called "nematocysts" in order to stun their prey. The nematocysts within these tentacles are also used as a defense mechanism. The nematocysts can also disturb human flesh and should be considered dangerous, especially to those that have known allergies.

 

Anemones found in the wild usually have found a crevice to hide their foot, or base, leaving only the tentacles exposed.

 

Some Anemones are shipped in little or no water. Float them for half an hour, discard any water in the bag, then release the Anemone directly into the aquarium. You can also choose to drip acclimate in a bucket by themselves.Anemones have nematocysts, a.k.a. stinging cells, and can be dangerous to the touch. These creatures can cause injury or death. By purchasing this item you agree that you understand this is a dangerous creature and that Saltwaterfish.com is not responsible for any injury or death that may occur.

unquote

 

Not sure if this helps but I noticed that there are lots of links found on these anemones when doing a search.

 

Here is one pic from Aquatic etc... but as you well know they come in various sizes and colorations :

 

 

Albert

[northeastern]

I've done a good amount of research on them. Although that picture is probably the best I've seen.

 

It seems that the general belief is that a healthy fish will normally not fall prey but it is a risk, one I dont think I'm willing to take... But who knows I may not be able to resist myself.

[albertthiel]

I've done a good amount of research on them. Although that picture is probably the best I've seen.

 

It seems that the general belief is that a healthy fish will normally not fall prey but it is a risk, one I dont think I'm willing to take... But who knows I may not be able to resist myself.

 

IME if the tank is large enough I don't feel that healthy fish will get captured/stung but in smaller aquariums with less space to move and strong currents it could happen I guess.

 

Go for it if you feel you want to try it out ... trying this and that and more is how I learned about this hobby starting in the 80's ....

 

Albert

[Goby Angyl]

Pardon me, but doesn't throwing fish into a container with something that evolved to gobble up fish generally increase the chances that it will catch and kill one of those fishes, healthy or not? What's with all the spit and vinegar!? Keeping a predator in close quarters with its natural prey, in my humble opinion, leaves open the possibility, however slight, that the prey will eventually be eaten by the predator... Tanks, especially smaller tanks, don't allow fish to maintain a proper distance and cuts down on available space. If a fish needs a minimum of 20 gallons and then you throw in something it has to avoid, the tank is suddenly smaller. And there's the possibility that more energetic fish that dart around with no way to burn off energy might one day accidentally dart right into the anemone. The tank could be overstocked, the fish could be in too small a tank, the anemone could be too large for the tank or the fish, it could be a bad mix of the wrong species, maybe just a freak accident on the part of the fish (like getting spooked and stunning itself just right on a rock and getting caught in the anemone). Maybe more than one of the above or God knows what else is at play in this particular scenario. Why mush we say that all the animals must have been sick...

 

It could be any number of things and most of the time speaking in terms of absolutes when we're talking about animals just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Please don't throw too many stones, I've got a raging headache and reading all the bickering kinda threw me into rant mode. It's aimed at no one.

[MikeTR]

Just saying.. had 3 maxi minis, 2 rock flower nems, and an RBTA in a 14g biocube with 2 clowns and a royal gramma. Everyone stayed alive. I moved them out so I could quarantine some bangaii's.. Well needless to say even when the bangaii's were on their last fin.. struggling to stay upright (poor guys) in the back of the tank, and I physically put them in the MM nems, they still darted out 3 or 4 times before finally getting eaten.

[patback]

Pardon me, but doesn't throwing fish into a container with something that evolved to gobble up fish generally increase the chances that it will catch and kill one of those fishes, healthy or not? What's with all the spit and vinegar!? Keeping a predator in close quarters with its natural prey, in my humble opinion, leaves open the possibility, however slight, that the prey will eventually be eaten by the predator... Tanks, especially smaller tanks, don't allow fish to maintain a proper distance and cuts down on available space. If a fish needs a minimum of 20 gallons and then you throw in something it has to avoid, the tank is suddenly smaller. And there's the possibility that more energetic fish that dart around with no way to burn off energy might one day accidentally dart right into the anemone. The tank could be overstocked, the fish could be in too small a tank, the anemone could be too large for the tank or the fish, it could be a bad mix of the wrong species, maybe just a freak accident on the part of the fish (like getting spooked and stunning itself just right on a rock and getting caught in the anemone). Maybe more than one of the above or God knows what else is at play in this particular scenario. Why mush we say that all the animals must have been sick...

 

It could be any number of things and most of the time speaking in terms of absolutes when we're talking about animals just doesn't make sense to me.

 

Please don't throw too many stones, I've got a raging headache and reading all the bickering kinda threw me into rant mode. It's aimed at no one.

I think you are giving the "predatory skills" of an anenome too much credit. Although you do make perfect sense in saying adding themlimits space, and too many will stress a fish out. If you actually WATCH a fish for an extended period of time you will notice most all fish know what to stay away from and what is fine to swim into. You also need to take a fishes slime coat into account. A healthy fish could most defiantly get burnt, but unless it is a tiny,tiny fish, their slime coat will normally give them enough reaction time to get away before it is grabbed onto. That's is, unless they are sick.

[jedimasterben]

Even the slime coat of a healthy tang (which have very, very thin slime coats in comparison to most other fish) should give it more than enough leeway to let it escape even the stickiest of anemones.

[albertthiel]

Even the slime coat of a healthy tang (which have very, very thin slime coats in comparison to most other fish) should give it more than enough leeway to let it escape even the stickiest of anemones.

+1

[belsenj]

I have also witnessed my damsel, dottyback and clown Stay AWAY from my Maxi Mini.

 

When I feed the tank, they don't go any where near that Maxi Mini - they know better, just saying. That portion of the tank is off limits to them and they know it. I can feed the MM first with a turkey baster, but the fish will wait. They JUST WON"T GO NEAR IT.

 

It may be possible that certain fish just do not know better. These fish may very well be from another part of the great oceans and are not familiar with these type of nems. Without looking into what part of the world your fish are from, it's just a hunch.

[albertthiel]

I have also witnessed my damsel, dottyback and clown Stay AWAY from my Maxi Mini.

 

When I feed the tank, they don't go any where near that Maxi Mini - they know better, just saying. That portion of the tank is off limits to them and they know it. I can feed the MM first with a turkey baster, but the fish will wait. They JUST WON"T GO NEAR IT.

 

It may be possible that certain fish just do not know better. These fish may very well be from another part of the great oceans and are not familiar with these type of nems. Without looking into what part of the world your fish are from, it's just a hunch.

IME that anemone is not one that fish will cohabitate with and yes IME they will stay away from it. As long as the fish have enough space in the tank to swim around and stay away from the Maxi Mini they should IMO be OK and you should not have any problems. Just keep an eye on what the Mini Max does as I have seen instances where it starts to move around ....

[RainbowTurtle]

Don't blame the anemone, it is doing what it does. The fish were sick or dying and they got too close.

That's actually not true when it comes to these particular anemones. They'll eat your fish more commonly than the large carpet will. I don't know why people seem to think these guys aren't fish eaters when that's what they eat in the wild. They've only been in the states for five or so years and not enough is known about them here, but my biologist friend in Vietnam has an all MM tank (which is gorgeous btw) and I talked to him about this yesterday. He said if it is on the larger side 5+ inches, it will kill and eat fish. If it's eating full sized silversides, it will eat you fish. Weird thing is he said it happens very randomly. The fish might bother it one day and you'll see absolutely no feeding response and on another, they'll eat almost anything they can stick to. They are VERY sticky. If you keep them, I'd suggest keeping them in a species tank. I will see if I can get ahold of lab studies done on these so we can get some definitive answers about this fairly new popular species to share on here. Lots of people are trying to apply other nem rules to these nems and they are not the same behaviorwise at all. Light needs aren't even the same. They prefer medium light medium flow. Not high light like almost all the rest. I believe you CAN light acclimate them to a higher light though if you donut very slowly. I really believe I have been informed correctly, however regardless of which info is correct on these little guys, I think it's time to squash expensive misconceptions don't you? Anyone else find studies on these or have kept them for more than five years (bare minimum preferably ten or twenty) please help us out here? Thanks in advance.