H. Crispa moved from where I placed to be on top of rock.

[Nibs]

Hi, my H. crispa has recently moved a tiny bit to the top of this rock which is a couple Inches from where i placed it where the sand bed met the rock. Is this okay for H. crispa to be on rock only it hasn't moved in the past week after it moved

 

[Nibs]

Here is a photo

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi, my H. crispa has recently moved a tiny bit to the top of this rock which is a couple Inches from where i placed it where the sand bed met the rock. Is this okay for H. crispa to be on rock only it hasn't moved in the past week after it moved

If it moved there, then it will move again if it wants to... Don't overthink it

 

[Nibs]

If it moved there, then it will move again if it wants to... Don't overthink it

I shall continue to let it do it's thing and keep begging it nightly to not murder everything whilst I sleep

 

[garygb]

That looks like Heteractis magnifica to me. Also climbing to the top of the rock is even more indicative of H. magnifica rather than crispa. Perhaps another photo would remove any doubt, but I don't believe that is a crispa.

 

[Nibs]

That looks like Heteractis magnifica to me. Also climbing to the top of the rock is even more indicative of H. magnifica rather than crispa. Perhaps another photo would remove any doubt, but I don't believe that is a crispa.

Really? i will try get some better photos tonight, there is no purple to its base at all?

 

[garygb]

There are many color morphs to H. magnifica. I have a purple base morph and a reddish/rust base morph, myself. But there are some with red bases, pale almost white bases, even multicolored splotchy bases. The tentacle shape, way it holds its tentacles, fact that it prefers the top of the rock, etc. makes me think you have a mag.

I have 4 mags and 1 crispa, and I'm pretty sure. But a few more pics, perhaps a little closer, and if by chance you could get one showing the anemone top down, that would be great.

 

[dstockwell]

I bet they move until they are happy

 

[garygb]

Here is just a quick search of H. magnifica images on google, and you can see how diverse mags are.

heteractis magnifica images - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

 

[Nibs]

Here is just a quick search of H. magnifica images on google, and you can see how diverse mags are.

heteractis magnifica images - Bing

Intelligent search from Bing makes it easier to quickly find what you’re looking for and rewards you.

www.bing.com

I think you are correct in your ID. Some observations I've made that would confirm this are the fact the oral disk is not fully obscured by tentacles and that the location is a characteristic of H. magnifica over H. Crispa. After feeding it looks like H. magnifica even more so

 

[garygb]

Yeah, with mags there is typically a clear separation between the rings of tentacles and the mouth. Whereas with crispa, the mouth is less clearly visible and the tentacles grow closer to the mouth.

I love both species, myself. One thing is for sure, magnificas are like magnets for clownfish. You have a wide variety of clowns that would love to call your mag home. Crispas have a pretty long list of clowns that also inhabit them, but the reality is, crispas are often the host when other species are infrequent in a given area. The preferred hosts for several of the common clownfish species are magnificas, or giganteas or E. quadricolor. I find mags to be quite easy to keep. Getting a healthy one at the start is the key. If it's healthy, and I think yours might be from the limited pics, then you have a pet for life. Unsolicited advice: provide full strength seawater, i.e., salinity 35 ppt, (specific gravity 1.026-1.027). Host anemones in general, benefit from full strength seawater. Also, with H. mag you don't have to go crazy with light intensity. It is true they can be found everywhere from the intertidal zone where the light is intense, but they live all the way to at least 150 feet below the surface, too. So they can adapt to very bright light, but they can also be completely happy with simply good reef quality light that's not over the top in intensity. I've had my mags forever, and when I started out, they were under compact flourescents. Then I went to metal halide, then T-5s, which they loved, and now LEDs, which they also love. Lots of good information is available on mag husbandry now, unlike back in the day. I hope you keep us posted and ask all the questions you can think of. I'm a bit of an anemone geek

 

[garygb]

Here's a good facts sheet on H. magnifica:

Heteractis magnifica

animaldiversity.org

 

[Nibs]

Here's a good facts sheet on H. magnifica:

Heteractis magnifica

animaldiversity.org

Thanks for your help, I'm excited to introduce my percula pair to the tank once I'm confident the nem is happy and perhaps a little larger. It's currently at about 175 par as I put it on an isolated island near the sand as I thought it was a H. crispa do yo think this will be sufficient?

 

[garygb]

Your percs will love the anemone. But you're wise to wait for the anemone to be say 2-3 times the length of your clowns. So 3 inches of fish preferably would have an anemone that measures at the minimum 6 inches and 8 or 9 inches would be better. Once it's settled, if you feed it fresh seafood, like human grade uncooked, unpreserved shrimp, scallops, clams and krill, squid, etc., it will grow fairly fast. Another thing I didn't mention, mine very much prefer undetectable nitrates. In the past, these anemones have had to put up with deep sand beds that crashed and all kinds of nonsense. When the nitrates got higher, the anemones started to move around. For years now, I've run a protein skimmer and kept chaeto, not to mention a decent amount of algae that grows on sections of the glass, but is healthy and deep green, so not unsightly, to me. So, the nitrates are fortunately always undetectable now. I've gone through periods of no direct feeding and periods of direct feeding. With regular, direct feeding, they grow noticeably. I also have CB percs that live in mine. I think clowns are actually beneficial to mags. Mags have been shown to grow faster with the presence of clowns. The theory is that waste from the clown directly feeds the mags, as well as, indirectly feeds the mags by providing food for the zooxanthellae compliment.

Sorry, I didn't answer your question. I expect your light level will be fine. If it's not, the mag will "climb" the side of the tank to reach for the light. You might put a few pieces of flat live rock under the rock it's on to raise it up a bit. Mags can make great centerpieces for any display.