AHHHHHH! Stupid Carpet Anemone is eating all my fish!
 

So yesterday I witnessed my larger carpet eat a Fang Blenny. It was slowly pulling it in as the fish thrashed around trying to escape. Today the smaller carpet (split a while ago from the mother) had something. It took me a while but eventually I got it partly open (you can't touch these ones, had to use a stick) and found my clown goby. I was really starting to like this little guy :(

I am also missing another goby.

These are the mini carpet anemones. Don't seem to be many around. They are very beautiful anemones but I don't know if they are worth it since my plan is to keep small fish. Just wondering how common this problem is with carpets?

Oh and the big ones "eaten" list is much longer than that even...It has eaten:

A monti frag that fell on it (spits the skeleton back out a few days later)
Many hermit crabs
A star fish
An arrow crabs leg
A Serpent Stars leg
A mushroom that it moved beside and proceeded to eat
Digi frag

And a partridge in a pear tree...

I am so torn because I love how it looks and would have a heck of a time trying to get it out but it just seems like it will keep eating my fish. I am even scared that if my new mandarin touches it that it will not be strong enough to get away. The mandarin is quite a decent size but this anemone does NOT let go once it touches something.

Really!! I didn't know the minis were that aggressive - are you sure it's a mini? (I know quite a few ppl who keep them in their nanos with nano-fish)

Well I was told its a mini and it stays small (4" across max) and just splits at a certain size. Is there any way of knowing?

This thing sounds mondo aggressive. :( Can you post a picture of the carpet?

The fact that it "splits" is a bit of red flag. It could mean that it is indeed a S. tapetum "mini carpet" but it could also mean S. helianthus which is an Atlantic species (and known to be an aggressive eater). I'm not sure how aggressive tapetum is supposed to be. S. gigantea and S. haddoni and S. mertensii are not known splitters (there are isolated stories of it happening, but generally as exception not the rule).

Just took one even though the lights are out. I am uploading it to photobucket now. I don't think I have Stichodactyla tapetum after looking at many pics on the web.

Yeah so lights are out and its not fully open (after just eating :cry:) but here is one of them.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ith/Nem001.jpg

Any ideas?

I think they look a little different and are usually different colours, mouths, I mean, you may just have meanies!! Do you have pics of yours?


Here are a couple of true S. tapetum's (mini carpets)

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...MiniNems-1.jpg

http://www.saltwaterfish.com/vb/atta...1&d=1166069541

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j1...hotos/4-23.jpg

I've never seen tapetum in person. It doesn't really look like S. helianthus to me though, they're sort of .. not sure how to put it .. "fatter". (Still smallish, but stouter tentacles). Might be worth posting in RC's anemone forum about the aggressiveness of tapetum?

Well, it's pretty, but I haven't seen any S. tapetum's that don't have multiple colours before.

Do you think it may be a large species that is just splitting a lot? Would that mean its unhappy?