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

It is very easy to care for. I don't do anything different for it. It gets fed when my fish get fed...I don't spot feed it, but I do toss pellets above it, and if the fish don't get all of em, the Tube does. Contrary to EVERYTHING I've read, mine has never been aggressive. I have had it next to (touching) Acan Lords, War Coral, my prized Aussie Golden Torch, and a couple Blasto Wellsi mini colonies. It has never hurt anything. I have seen a Chromis (viridis) hding beneath it's tentacles, and nothing. I'm sure if it is not getting fed at all, you might have a problem with it trying to feed. I did have it eat a Chromis once, but the day prior, that same Chromis was breathing heavily and cowering at the bottom of the tank...so I don't think the Tube killed it necessarily. It has never stung me.

It was interesting to read the mucus possibly contamination the sand. I run bare bottom, and the only sand I have is in a 6x6 tupperware container, housing the Tube. The only algae I have in the tank is in that container, on the sand on the the Tube (outer covering).

 

I've read about this happening before. I want to say it was over on RC. They have been known to do it from time to time. Its basically occurs when thier tube is too big for them to pull or move & they want to move anyways. It isnt necessarily a sign of something bad, but they are extremely vulnerable till they plant back in and make a new tube. By vulnerability I mean to livestock as well as to postential illness. Don't quote me as the expert, but like mentioned I do remember reading it somewhere. Ill look and see if I can find it.

 

I have seen where seller will offer to remove the tube before sending the anemone to you. So while it is obviously a dangerous time for the tank and anemone it would seem to be not bad very often for the nem. Good luck on it staying in place.

 

One of mine did the same thing. I just put it back in the substrate and it is doing GREAT!!! They have been a beautiful addition to the tank and have caused absolutely no problems!!!

 

This is how it was sold to me removed from its tube. However in placing her i set her into a perfect hole in my dsb between my aquascape where she took instantly.

 

Forum:

This week she seems to have retreated a bit she looks thinner is this normal! I have been feeding her rottifers and frozen blood worms.

I have been cutting back on full lighting this week due to water conditions which can be contributing to her thiness is that possible.

E

 

i have had a tube anemone leave its tubes. one would do it often. at times i would find it at he other side of the tank. the other two seem to stay in their tubes and stay put.
they move by leaving their tubes and swelling up and float, they can actually get pretty high in the water column. its a crazy site, caught it doing the move one time. they build a new tube in a matter of a few days its really fast. you can remove the old tube, it won't go back to it. just feel the tube be sure its empty.

 

UPDATE:

Well it has been a couple months since this first happened. I have sice done some digging...literally. I burrowed around in its tupperware container to find 1 tube with 3 ends. It seems to be retracting into one tube end (exposed above the sand), going beneath the substrate in the tube, and re-emerging from one of the other 2 ends. The tube beneath the substrate literally looks like a "Y". I did not get any pictures of the tube once it was uncovered as it was disintegrating from my touch so I covered it quickly. The tube seems fine. It moves from end to end every few days, and seems to move more frequently when I do maintenance (hands in tank). It eats pellets and mysis daily.

I am curious to see any other experiences in the home aquarium or instances found in nature that replicate this.