View Full Version : Condylactis gigatea
Anyone care to share opinions on the husbandry of this critter? Ever kept one with a Maroon Clown?
heedicus
01-20-2003, 8:45 AM
I have kept one for a year or so,
I loved my lil guy, he planted himself right in the middle of everything and was always really extended. Never had one with a maroon clown. I did have em with a pair of percs, they of course never hosted.
t
here is a bad pic of mine
Corax
01-20-2003, 11:40 AM
The reason I'm asking is that I've been reading and a few webpages suggest they do not require intense lighting...
I'd love to get feedback from anyone that has kept one in less than reef level lighting conditions...
makai
01-21-2003, 12:20 PM
whats up ravencad,
I have quite a few posts with my Condy Anemone
(Condylactis gigantea) and my clown reactions. Most of them are in reef keepers. I look back now and laugh at most of 'em.
I'll give you a brief rundown......
It all started with the purchase of the condy...
of course i picked the biggest one at the LFS. Disc diamiter is about 5-6" and the tenticles are just as long. I put him in the tank in a cave like hole in a piece of LR. It hasn't moved yet. Had a clarkii and a perc in the tank at the time. The perc was suffering from cyanide poisning.(i'm assuming) He was moving slow and i knew he was going to die. He dissapeared one morning and was nowhere to be found... The next day my anenome spit out the bones in a cacoon like wrap.
I bought the anenome for my clarkii after reading they would be the best choice. My clarkii would not even look twice at it and still avoids it. About a week after my perc clown death i was at the LFS and saw a maroon clown in perfect condition, and he was still in the shipping bag. About 1.5" and cheap. (under $10)
Dipped him, popped in the tank and a day later he was stinging himself. He would swim away only to rush right back and get stung again. About 2 days of this and he was in. I was so excited because i've been waiting for this relationship to take place in my living room for a while. (three anenomies later)
My maroon never leaves the condy's side. If my clarkii or my solon wrasse comes close they are chased away with some force.
As far as lights, don't laugh, this anenome is was doing great with my two 36" ZOO MED coral life flourecents....
Now all it does is get bigger with my 48" power compact smartlight........
sorry for the long post
:(
That's exactly the kind of post I was hoping for =) Nice and informative!
Tell me though... Have you ever kept one in NO lighting? Do you feed the enemone directly?
Those are the only types of lights i've used...
I'm 26 and on a tight budget, yet sometimes i feed my fish before myself:)
Brine shrimp, crill, and flake are brought to the anenome by the maroon...its funny, they say that only happens in captivity...any way, maybe the clown is stashing its food. I call it feeding because the condy just wraps it up and eats it. I also feed it silversides every other day, one or two...the thin long ones.
I actually put it into the mouth area and then thats it. It closes up quick with a little tingle to my hand, but nothing to cry about.
Boogiechillin
01-21-2003, 5:55 PM
Originally posted by makai
It closes up quick with a little tingle to my hand, but nothing to cry about.
Use a pair of tongs for this. Your skin is too thick for you to actually feel the sting of the nematocysts firing when you touch the anemone, but the toxins can make you nauseous. This varies between people, but some folks find themselves getting increasingly sick after successive stings in a short period. We've had people post in the past that described being literally too sick to move after a good carpet anemone sting.
Also, I'd replace the silversides with something else. Nothing wrong with silversides, but the bones and scales mean that the anemone is going to spit out a good deal more waste than it would with a completely digestable item, like shrimp or krill. Less mess, less threat to water quality.
As for the condy lighting issue, it's tough to tell in the long term. Condys are your best bet in a low-lighting situation, but I've always advocated having sufficient light for *any* anemone (along with Fenner, Scott Michael, Tullock, and Wilkerson). That said, some folks (notably Ron Shimek) argue that lighting isn't nearly as important as a well-rounded diet, and food can probably compensate to some degree for lower lighting levels.
I concur on the tongs and the sickness... A local shop had a gal (customer, didn't bother asking permission) that decided to stroke the carpet anemone to see what it felt like.. She became quite ill and made quite a mess if you catch my drift..
I think I'm going to give the condy a shot cuz I can always move it over to my bigger tank with better lighting if it doesn't do very well at first...
btw, on the maroon feeding the anemone... I've always heard that it isn't feeding, but hiding its own food in it's favorite spot which just happens to be the anemone... I hafta concur on this cuz my maroon (moron?!) clown does the same thing with his food, cept he has no anemone... The Coral Banded shrimp has figured this out and it sits there stealing dood's food! Now, you tell me which species is the brighter one in that odd couple? hmm? =)
Where I work...my *$^%(%&$ boss told us to let the condy's sting our arms.
I was fine, but when the other kid let the condy sting the inside of his arm....well....he still has scars..and this was months ago. :D The kid deserved it though..But, just letting you know that they do pack a punch
We had them under normal lights, and they did fine for months, then we had them under no lights, (boss' bright idea :rolleyes: ) and they started to die, go figure.
heys guys and gals,
i will take your advice and buy me some tongs......
funny though, i've always handled my condy with a bare hand and never once felt a bad sting or even nausea.....
although, my immune system is pretty strong and the skin on my fingers are like shoe leather from years of machine shop work. Don't work at the machine shop any longer and hands are softening up so i will be watching out....
thanks......
by the way everyone......wrasse died this morning:confused: :mad: :(