Ball/strawberry/orange ball anemones

[Rastareefer]

So, I started my tank with some live rock from my LFS, a couple of days into cycling I notice a few tiny, clear anemones growing. A few days later, where before I counted 4-5 I was now looking at 10-12, so started looking online to find out if this is something I should be worried about.

 

For obvious reasons I convinced myself I had aiptasia (they do look pretty similar when small) and went to war. Burning them off with a lighter, then introducing a filefish to find the ones I wasn’t seeing. He wouldn’t eat them, and when I returned him to my LFS, I showed the owner some pictures and he told me that’s not what aiptasia looks like.

 

Turns out I’ve been exterminating a small colony of ball anemones. There are 5-6 left that I can see (so probably another 5-6 at least inside nooks and crannies) and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with them? 

 

What sort of care requirements do they have? I’m assuming not many since they’ve not only survived a full cycle but they managed to do so while I was actively trying to burn them alive. I’m keen on keeping them (partly out of guilt and partly because I planned on buying a BTA anyway) but do I have to be concerned about them taking over the tank? If it comes to it, I’d consider moving my existing corals to a second tank and making this an anemone tank but I’d prefer not to, at least for now.

 

Is there anything I can do to help them grow and flourish? Feel kinda guilty about trying to exterminate them.

 

Photos attached, sorry for the poor focus but they’re small and it’s hard to get any sort of detail using a phone camera.

 

Any advice/experience would be welcome, also if anyone knows whether clowns can host them or not that would be something I’d like to know. 

 

Thanks! 👌👍🏻

[WV Reefer]

18 minutes ago, Rastareefer said:

So, I started my tank with some live rock from my LFS, a couple of days into cycling I notice a few tiny, clear anemones growing. A few days later, where before I counted 4-5 I was now looking at 10-12, so started looking online to find out if this is something I should be worried about.

 

For obvious reasons I convinced myself I had aiptasia (they do look pretty similar when small) and went to war. Burning them off with a lighter, then introducing a filefish to find the ones I wasn’t seeing. He wouldn’t eat them, and when I returned him to my LFS, I showed the owner some pictures and he told me that’s not what aiptasia looks like.

 

Turns out I’ve been exterminating a small colony of ball anemones. There are 5-6 left that I can see (so probably another 5-6 at least inside nooks and crannies) and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with them? 

 

What sort of care requirements do they have? I’m assuming not many since they’ve not only survived a full cycle but they managed to do so while I was actively trying to burn them alive. I’m keen on keeping them (partly out of guilt and partly because I planned on buying a BTA anyway) but do I have to be concerned about them taking over the tank? If it comes to it, I’d consider moving my existing corals to a second tank and making this an anemone tank but I’d prefer not to, at least for now.

 

Is there anything I can do to help them grow and flourish? Feel kinda guilty about trying to exterminate them.

 

Photos attached, sorry for the poor focus but they’re small and it’s hard to get any sort of detail using a phone camera.

 

Any advice/experience would be welcome, also if anyone knows whether clowns can host them or not that would be something I’d like to know. 

 

Thanks! 👌👍🏻

They are pretty common hitchhikers. Usually they disappear as fast as they appear. 

[Rastareefer]

31 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

They are pretty common hitchhikers. Usually they disappear as fast as they appear. 

Might try feeding them some mysis and see if they decide to stick around?

 

I quite like em, just wonder if they might be a bit of a hazard to my fish, done a little research and despite technically being mushrooms rather than anemones, they’re still pretty effective predators. 

[WV Reefer]

6 minutes ago, Rastareefer said:

Might try feeding them some mysis and see if they decide to stick around?

 

I quite like em, just wonder if they might be a bit of a hazard to my fish, done a little research and despite technically being mushrooms rather than anemones, they’re still pretty effective predators. 

They are pretty little things. 😊

 

I’ve never seen people have an issue with them. 

[LazyFish]

Some of them flouresses a bit. I had some with a very thin rim of green on the disk edges and around the mouth that showed under blue lights but the natural color under white light was a pinkish foot and disk with clear arms and white balls. They are non photosynthetic populations seem to increase with broadcast tank feedings I never tried direct feeding of them individually. The arm tops the balls will kind of stick to your finger if you touch it but you cant feel it. They have a prety mild sting but sometimes can be irritating to corals if touching them . I get them on the walls of my aio section mostly second chamber with pineapple sponges in my nuvos.

[Rastareefer]

6 hours ago, LazyFish said:

Some of them flouresses a bit. I had some with a very thin rim of green on the disk edges and around the mouth that showed under blue lights but the natural color under white light was a pinkish foot and disk with clear arms and white balls. They are non photosynthetic populations seem to increase with broadcast tank feedings I never tried direct feeding of them individually. The arm tops the balls will kind of stick to your finger if you touch it but you cant feel it. They sting probly prety mild sting can be irritating to corals if touching them l. I get them on the walls of my aio section mostly second chamber with pineapple sponges in my nuvos.

Good to know, thanks!

 

Mine are still young (biggest is about 1-1.5cm across) but they do get some blue/green/red fluorescent colouring when under blues as well, can’t wait to see them grow. 👌👌

[Clown79]

They are harmless. I have tons of them.

[Rastareefer]

8 hours ago, Clown79 said:

They are harmless. I have tons of them.

 Nice! I’ve started feeding them small pieces of PE mysis and they’re grabbing it up. 😁😁