Seabae Question

[KimmyB75]

Quick question about my Seabae nem. Typically the little fella anchors itself at the base of the rock and substrate and typically only occasionally moves when it feels the need to. When it does move, it's not to far away. Well, the other day, I had to do some moving of rock to take out an a-hole damsel that was tormenting everyone in the tank. NEVER ONCE did I mess with the Nems rock since it is one solid hunk. No holes for jerk face to dart into. Well when I had to disturb the tank, the nem detached and is staying in the same area but has yet to attach to anything. It will attach to the surface of a rock or side of the glass, but does not seem to care to bury its foot. Then it falls over when it shrinks in to close up after lights go out at night. It still expands and closes at night. it still allows my skunk cleaner to host it, the mouth is closed, color is still nice and medium tan, foot looks nice and healthy with no signs of tears. its still sticky. I am already planning a water change this morning, because I am about 2 days past due. Water pressure has been low so RO/DI system is taking longer this morning to get that water going. I usually do not test water till after water change. No need to test water when I know it's dirty and about to be changed unless there is a major issue requiring a before and after reading.

 

 

Oh, substrate I am using is small grain Araganite and is pretty deep in the nems area. Most of the tank is a 2" - 2.5" bed. His preferred back triangle corner roughly 1/8th or a little more of the tank is about 5-6" so the bed is varied in deepness.

[seabass]

I'm concerned about it.  That doesn't sound like healthy behavior.  Is it still eating?

 

Sebae anemones tend to be one of the more difficult host anemones to keep, and are best kept by experienced reefers.  They require weekly feedings and usually do better under strong lighting.  Even though they are considered a host anemone, I'm not sure that they host most clownfish (I think they'll host Clarkii clownfish).

[KimmyB75]

It turned back over again like it is looking for a better spot. It was doing great till I disrupted the tank going after that blue devil damsel demon spawn of Satan. It's still eating weekly and is still sticky. I think it flipped over when I was cleaning the glass with the glass sponge and it was moving. I may have accidentally been the cause of the flip over. I will add a pic of how he looks. I will NEVER again be suckered in by the cheek pretty damsels again unless I have an A-hole specific tank.

 

[KimmyB75]

Here is a couple of pics. It's not great quality since it was taken with my cellphone. It's on the move again. Maybe after the water change today the house should be pretty peaceful so it can settle back in its place. The pig rock in the background is the rock it prefers to stay at.

[seabass]

With it not being attached, there is a risk that it will get sucked into a powerhead or intake.

[KimmyB75]

Just now, seabass said:

With it not being attached, there is a risk that it will get sucked into a powerhead or intake.

I'm more worried about the power head than the intake. The intake is just an HOB and its on the opposite side of the tank. The tube on the intake is pretty long and holes are pretty small so it would be a challenge to get sucked into it. The power head guard on the side is pretty tight grid and I have it high up to help prevent accidents, but they still can happen and I have been watching like a hawk. No anemone sushi! As much as I would like to dig a hole back in its favorite spot and bury it back where it was, maybe it moved for a reason. Should I try to put it back where it was or leave it alone since it is still in the general area?

[seabass]

You could move it to another area, but don't bury it.  I'd probably leave it be and turn off the powerhead (the HOB should provide enough flow in the meantime) until it takes hold again.

 

On a side note, they can easily grow to more than a foot and a half in diameter.

[KimmyB75]

Yeah, I saw that only AFTER I was suckered into getting it by the "Big Box" sales associated that told me "oh your Frostbite Clown will love it" and "it's about as big as it will get". LIES!!! All of the!!! When fully extended it is now about 8" in diameter. Thought about a BTA, but they get big too. I may be looking into doing a trade for a rock anemone or a Hammer Coral. The Frostbite ignores it, but my Skunk Cleaner loves it. Thought about a mated pair of domino damsel, but the blue a-hole ruined damsels for me lol. If I do rehome it, I want to make sure it is healthy enough that it does not die a week after the new home gets it., but I also don't want to wait to long that it could have done better somewhere else. It looks as if I has finally found its favorite spot on its own after 4 days. Maybe it got lost lol? It's slowly starting to attach. Maybe I was being to impatient. Eventually when we sell this house, we are wanting to build another on about 5-10 acres. I have been given the thumbs up from the hubby that I can to a build in wall tank and I think I want to go big with a 220 separating the living room and dining room. Never again will I purchase a home in an HOA lol. Different topic for a non-fish forum hahaha!!

[KimmyB75]

The bad thing is, If I had not gotten it the poor thing may not have survived much longer in their tanks. There was just maybe a handful of scattered aragnite for a sand bed, i maybe 3 lb piece of rock and the Seabae was so bleached it was snow white with almost florescent purple tips. It was all stretched out laying on its side, but would still eat. It had came in that day which was what probably saved it. Since I have had it, It has turned a nice tan almost brown and still has purple in the tips, but the tan makes it not as bright. They are not as pretty when tan, but white is not healthy. I will take health over aesthetics.  

[KimmyB75]

I think I just got to worried to fast. I sometimes forget that this Hobby is slow and sometimes painful to have to just wait. It's starting to move back in place by itself. The foot looks like it's already preparing to burrow.

[KimmyB75]

Last question, This was sold as a Purple tip LTA. I found on line that it could be a Seabae. Is that 2 terms for the same animal or is that 2 different animals? I was trusting more with what I found online vs what I was told by the sells associate due to my distrust for their misinformation. May also explain some of the peculiar behavior perhaps. 

[seabass]

IIRC, LTAs have a reddish foot.

[Clown79]

1 hour ago, KimmyB75 said:

Last question, This was sold as a Purple tip LTA. I found on line that it could be a Seabae. Is that 2 terms for the same animal or is that 2 different animals? I was trusting more with what I found online vs what I was told by the sells associate due to my distrust for their misinformation. May also explain some of the peculiar behavior perhaps. 

Sebae anemone often are white with colored tips, similar to condylactis.

 

Many stores where employees don't specialize in SW label things incorrectly, especially anemones where identifying them is difficult.

 

LTA is a different species to the sebae.

 

https://m.liveaquaria.com/product/626/?pcatid=626

[KimmyB75]

Ahh ok! Thank you for the link! 

 

 

OHHH I think I found the culprit to it not acting right. Since I was working on making water for a big 50% change, I didn't really do any top off this week. I did not realize how much evap actually occurs till I just decided to on instinct do a spot check on Salinity. HOLY COW!!! I went ahead and topped off to lower salinity back to 1.025. It didn't look like it was as low as it really was. Still going to do the 50% change today, but had to get that Salinity down from 1.032. I did do it slowly so it wouldn't send anyone into shock lol.

 

That is one thing I do like about the Seabae. He is the first to show it if anything is off.

[KimmyB75]

Nem update: water change and salinity levels back to normal. This looks like a happy stretched out Seabae!!