Seabae Anemone IOTM feb. 09

Seabea anemone COTM

Common Name: Sebea Anemone, Leather Anemone
Scientific Name: Heteractis crispa
Family: Stichodactylidae
Location: Indo pacific
Tank: Reef , porous rocks with sandy substrate
Temp: 75-80 degrees
Light: High (Use of metal halides highly recommended)
Temperment: Agressive
Colors: White, Pink, Green, Purple, Brown,
Care level: Experience required ( Difficult )
Size: can grow to large sizes ( Pic above 1'6" dia.)
Care: Sebaes like high light and moderate water movement. Specimens will usual find the best spot in tank that suits there needs. Caution should be used when placing new sebaes cause there movements might sting other corals. Feeding of this invert is necessary and should be fed 1 to 2 times a week. Feed krill or silver sides ( will also eat small portions of mysid shrimp, clams, oyster eggs, brineshrimp and most meaty foods ). Caution sebaes will eat tank mates be carefull on what you decice to house with.
Interesting notes: Sebaes are a highly mobile anemone and like most anemones will find best suitable location. They will use there foot or base to attach to a hard surface ( usually under or behind something ) and use that area to retreat to or rest. The more you feed sebae the more it will grow. I have noted that my sebae will grow very large when hungry and also remain large after eating for a few days. There tenticles are used to attach near by swimmers and drag there bodies to there oral disc or mouth.
They do sting there prey and sometimes do not eat them.
Clowns/hosting: Some clowns will host in anemone and research should be taken into account if this is desired goal. I currently have a maroon hosting in mine. Although there is no guarantee that clown will host it is still nice to try.
Thoughts: Some research has lead me to realize how difficult this creature is to keep. Although I have kept mine for almost 2 years now I would not recommend this to most. I was very lucky and very uneducated when I purchased mine. I have lost many fish to this wonderful creature over the years and have now realized I must keep in specimen only tank. Although price maybe cheap in the long run they can ruin more then they are worth. I do house other coral with my sebea most zoas, mushrooms and a candy.
Closing: When thinking of purchasing anemone research is key, here is a site that may help Anemones. There are many anemones that are much easier to keep but if you find yourself with a sebae you may find a very interesting friend.
Thanks for reading Randy

 

remove it. ASAP

 

no love for the seabea. o well it was a fun write up anyhow.

 

Quick question, Ive been reading on here about all white anemones being bleached and not healthy. I have a sebae, it is really white, but the tips still have the purple dots on them.

mine must have found a good spot because he hasnt moved in months, besides an inch or two back and forth. I spot feed him usually once a week. And he seems to be doing well. I have had him for almost 6 months and it was completely white when I got him. Does it stand a chance?

 

mine was also pure white when I got him. It now floreses green when antics are on. I would say if it started to show color after a couple of weeks you are on the right track. if starts to shrink and grow more white then get it out.

 

Great write up! Cool pics too.

 

Yea mines being pretty white since I got it, not shrinking though. What should I do to get some color into it?

 

If they are bright white like that (pink/purple tips or not) they are bleached and unhealthy. I have two seabes, what you have to do is feed them a nice meaty treat every two or three days for a few weeks until you notice them starting to turn brown. This brown color is them building up the zooanthelle. This is good. White is not good.

This one shown is pretty big, over 12" across. I bought FRESH shrimp and scallops from the grocery store and fed it a half of shrimp or one scallop about 3 times a week until it got some color, now I feed it the same, one piece, but once a week.

My other one is small and has a much smaller mouth so I feed it brine shrimp or very small cut up pieces of shrimp or scallop.

Here's mine when I had only had it about two weeks, still pretty white.


Here it is a couple weeks ago, I've had it for about 4 months now.

 

FWIW, I too had no knowledge about the sebae, or, for that matter, the salt water hobby, and I made my first purchased after the cycle, a sebae clown and sebae anemone.
That was January 1994!
All my tanks are lit with normal output fluorescent lighting so you can't say I have strong lighting.
I also did not feed my anemone or corals either for that matter, but have recently started feeding rotifers to the tanks occasionally.
I lost my original sebae at about 10 yrs old when I was on holidays and the AC failed, causing a meltdown that cost me a lot of corals also.
I replaced it and the second one does just fine under the same conditions.
I also have a crocea clam and a squamosa in the same tank. The squamosa has grown from a 3" size to a shell length of 12.5" now, and with the mantle extension it is huge.
I was a long time getting clams because I was told they wouldn't survive in my systems, but I'm glad I finally broke down and bought them.
If I had started the hobby more recently, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of the sebae anemone as I probably would have taken the "word" as the gospel, when in fact it does not appear to be so.