Yesterday my boyfriend went to purchase this BEAUTIFUL 8" full Green Carpet Anemone. We saw it a week ago and have trying to hold off because of it's price but couldn't resist. All was good and jolly until the LFS owner scooped...err, let me rephrase that because he didn't exactly scoop it out, instead he kind of quickly shoved his hand in and out and almost rough handled it. I have never seen someone detach an anemone so aggressively. He also brought it out of the water, which I heard could stress it.
This beautiful gleaming anemone shriveled up once in the bag and stayed that way on the ride home (we figured it was stress, he'd adjust in the tank) but once he was placed in the tank...he began acting strange. First, because in the store he was sitting in sand, not on a rock, my boyfriend tried setting him in sand. He turned himself upside down and just sat there. We waited a bit, then decided to place him on a rock. He attached to it. We waited, and waited. He never grew back full like he was at the LFS. He shrunk to 4" and everted his mouth with his "tongue" hanging out. Bryan tried feeding him but he grabbed the food, then just threw it up and dropped it. I thought maybe we should reposition the rock so we turned it away from the current a bit. He began to puff up a bit, but not a dramatic change.
The Carpet is still sticky to the touch, which I hear is good news. I'm suspecting that he is in shock or harmed by the rough handling. The only thing is that the LFS doesn't guarantee it's fish...which is absurd. I have never seen that sign before, but Bryan saw it the other day. All my other LFS's from big names like Petsmart and PetSupermarket to smaller specialty saltwater stores have guarantees. I'm seriously perturbed by this. We invested $60 on this gorgeous anemone and from the moment it was detached we have had zero enjoyment and 100% worry because of it.
I have browsed FAQ's on every site imagineable not exactly finding my answer to the problem...the best I have come up with is that he was mishandled improperly and could take a few days to liven up again. I just feel so bad because we were truly excited and he was in AMAZING health and the little bugger looks so pathetic.
I realize anemones go through moods and change shapes a lot (from melted to "raise the roof" within minutes and under lighting conditions) but this has remained constant and we REALLY don't want to lose him.
I intend on confronting this owner with our problems as soon as the store is back open, probably on Monday. I see no possible way that we could have done ANYTHING to harm the anemone because his disposition has not changed from the time we left the store.
Does anyone have any experience with this behavior or anything problem solving solutions? I wish you could see how brilliant and vivacious he was before this...it's breaking us up inside. Thanks ahead of time and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
(Happy Holidays, btw )
This beautiful gleaming anemone shriveled up once in the bag and stayed that way on the ride home (we figured it was stress, he'd adjust in the tank) but once he was placed in the tank...he began acting strange. First, because in the store he was sitting in sand, not on a rock, my boyfriend tried setting him in sand. He turned himself upside down and just sat there. We waited a bit, then decided to place him on a rock. He attached to it. We waited, and waited. He never grew back full like he was at the LFS. He shrunk to 4" and everted his mouth with his "tongue" hanging out. Bryan tried feeding him but he grabbed the food, then just threw it up and dropped it. I thought maybe we should reposition the rock so we turned it away from the current a bit. He began to puff up a bit, but not a dramatic change.
The Carpet is still sticky to the touch, which I hear is good news. I'm suspecting that he is in shock or harmed by the rough handling. The only thing is that the LFS doesn't guarantee it's fish...which is absurd. I have never seen that sign before, but Bryan saw it the other day. All my other LFS's from big names like Petsmart and PetSupermarket to smaller specialty saltwater stores have guarantees. I'm seriously perturbed by this. We invested $60 on this gorgeous anemone and from the moment it was detached we have had zero enjoyment and 100% worry because of it.
I have browsed FAQ's on every site imagineable not exactly finding my answer to the problem...the best I have come up with is that he was mishandled improperly and could take a few days to liven up again. I just feel so bad because we were truly excited and he was in AMAZING health and the little bugger looks so pathetic.
I realize anemones go through moods and change shapes a lot (from melted to "raise the roof" within minutes and under lighting conditions) but this has remained constant and we REALLY don't want to lose him.
I intend on confronting this owner with our problems as soon as the store is back open, probably on Monday. I see no possible way that we could have done ANYTHING to harm the anemone because his disposition has not changed from the time we left the store.
Does anyone have any experience with this behavior or anything problem solving solutions? I wish you could see how brilliant and vivacious he was before this...it's breaking us up inside. Thanks ahead of time and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
(Happy Holidays, btw )