--UPDATE 5/4--Tube Anemone Evacuates - Leaves Home Behind!

So today, while feeding I noticed my Tube Anemone had "retreated" into his tube. This is quite normal, so I thought nothing of it, other than, "guess he gets no food today". After I had finished feeding, I went about my normal maintenance routine, changed out GAC and GFO, and modified my ATO. This took me about 30 mins or so. I turned the pumps (Return and Vortechs) back on and finished cleaning up. I noticied shortly thereafter, out of the corner of my eye, my Tube Anemone was out...of his tube entirely! He was about 2 inches further over, the tube clearly vacant. I have been looking all over the place and cannot find another incident similar to this one...at least no one documented the witnessed sight.

I am curious as to what led him to pack his bags and ditch the home...in this market nonetheless!

 

I've heard something about some LPS detaching themselves from their skeleton. I'm not sure why they would do this it seems to be they are greeting the grim reaper with open arms. I don't have any exp. with tube anemone's but my buddy who owns the LFS does, I can give him a call this afternoon while at work and see what he thinks.

I hope your 'nem can settle down somewhere and start a new tube or if he is just a goner. Not sure why corals detach, makes sense if they are trying to retreat from danger but at the same time can they recover? I feel like if my frogspawn detached from it's base it'd be d-e-a-d! Good luck, will let you know what LFS friend says

 

interesting...didnt even know they could do that...learn something new everyday!

 

Cool. A Tube Anemone is not like LPS corals with soft tissue...say, if the soft tissue of a Euphyillia detaches, it will die. A Tube Anemone, while similar to anemone's are not a true anemone. They have a "foot", but it does not hold on like normal anemone's would. It's tube serves as a conduit from what it latches its foot onto, normally below a substrate, to the water column. I know they reproduce asexually, but all the pics I've seen has 2 heads coming out of the same tube...never seen one leave like a hermit jumping from shell to shell.

 

Not the same thing; LPS detaching is polyp bailout and due to poor conditions (parameter issue).

I'm willing to bet Andy has a handle on his parameters, otherwise the rest of his tank inhabitants would be showing signs worse than this guy.

 

sorry to hear he jumped ship (tube)! I have one and he does recede into his tube at times. I have read about them leaving their tubes in a few different places. It seems they will build a new tube over a period of time, just keep them in a low flow area. Here's a thread from RC that might help a bit: Tube anemone - without tube - Reef Central Online Community

 

From WetWebMedia:

"Locomotion:
They can move, and may, by pulling out of their tubes and basically allowing current to scoot them about. This can be a dangerous time to themselves and other company. By exhaling strongly through their oral cavity, a tube anemone may easily tear it's body or sting something else."

TubeAnemones

 

Interesting...thank you.

 

Welcome!

From what I see, it's not a bad thing, just make sure nothing can harm the anemone in it's vunerable state, and make sure the anemone isnt drifting too close to anything you value. :

At any rate, pretty cool. I saw a beautiful pink one at my LFS, but dont know enough about them to care for it. Is it easy to care for? Do you feed it often? Is it aggressive?

 

Lol ya his tank is B.A. I wouldn't even question his water quality. Maybe the
'nem is just looking for better real-estate, hope he can latch down and restart. The one my friend has in his mother colony tank is beautiful. One of my fav additions to watch, even though it's smaller