Purple tipped Sebae Anemone (bought at Pet Zoo)

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Promised Alan I would post a pic of the beautiful (but huge) purple tipped Sebae anemone that I bought from him this weekend.



Another pic taken of my "Anemone Wall" with the flash but showing my Majestic angel.



Full tank shot.



Hope you like.

Thanks again Alan & Terry. Always enjoy doing business with Pet Zoo.

Anthony

[Chaloupa]

Gorgeous!!! What a nice "wall"!

[EmilyB]

Purple tipped sebae? Tony?? Christy ?? Is this the one that turns into the old lady stockings....

[OCDP]

Nice Sebae ! Man I hope that thing doesn't go wandering off in your tank...

[christyf5]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

Purple tipped sebae? Tony?? Christy ?? Is this the one that turns into the old lady stockings....

yep thats the one


Great anemone wall, Anthony. Aren't you worried about keeping so many different anemones in the same tank? I thought the rule of thumb was "clones only"? (just wondering).

[Delphinus]

It's not a sebae Anthony ... it's a ritteri. (H. magnifica).

Hate to tell you this but it's a mere baby!!

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Tony,

are you sure? I thought a Ritteri would have a bright pink foot/base? Mine is yellow.

At the the local sw shops, when I discuss this type of purple tipped anemone, we thought what was sometimes shipped as Purple LTAs were actually Purple tipped Sebaes. I have a small one (2 months) & a medium/large one for a while now (8 months) and they've been doing fine. I've been doing research on Sebaes & only the brown with purple tips ones have decent survival rates.

I'll continue doing research on both species, but I think I'm going to either need a bigger tank or find this one a bigger home. Dang. My wife's not crazy about it but I like it.

Anthony

[Delphinus]

Reasonably certain. The tentacles are uniformly cylindrical with blunt ends (not a 100% ID, sometimes they can taper, but it just has a "classic" ritteri look to it, if that makes any sense). Plus it seems to be happy perched on top of a rock in the current and not wedged into a crevasse.

Colour isn't a good way to confirm ID because it can be fairly variable. My ritteri has a tan base, pinkish oral disk, which blends into yellow tips on the tentacles (mostly you just see the yellow though).

The column will tell you more. A sebae (H. malu or H. crispa) will be long and narrow and attaches very weakly, relying more on the verrucae as holdfasts, whereas a ritteri will attach on the bottom the pedal disk (similarly to a BTA) and rarely makes use of the verrucae. Plus the column on a sebae (H. malu or H. crispa in this case) usually has a "raw chicken skin" look to it because of the verrucae being so prominent and raised.

It's actually a very nice looking anemone. But just be warned it has a capacity to get very large on you. Also if it can "sense" any path upwards it will try to migrate up. (i.e., if it can touch a tank wall, don't be surprised if it tries to climb up on the glass and perch near the top of the tank.). What I've found works well is to have a halide directly overhead, and have it sit on top of a rock with nothing higher within "touching distance". Then it will "think" it's on the top of the reef and thus not want to wander because it's where it wants to be. Plus the halide will help keep it in place since they are light hungry. As long as it thinks it's as close to the light as possible it should stay put.

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Yeah, after more research on H. magnificas, this one does behave more like one than it does a Sebae anemone (as I originally thought). In the LFS, it was on the glass up near the top. I have it on a rock with a large hole to stick its foot into up against the back glass. This was to give it the option of staying on the top rock or moving up onto the glass in the back. Either option would be great for me, since it is then a bit more isolated & has a bit more room to expand.

Never really considered getting one of this species before but it was sent to the LFS as an x-lg purple tipped sebae & that's what we all thought, but I think you guys are right. I'm glad I posted a pic here.

I was also under the impression that Magnificas/Ritteris had knobby tips but apparently some do & some don't. Anemone identification is sooooo hit/miss eh.

Thanks for the heads up.

I'll keep a close eye on it & if it does not do well in my tank, I'll look to getting it into another, more suitable home.

Anthony

[Chin_Lee]

wow thats already huge..... and how much bigger does it get???? (for the sake of clarity, i'm referring to the anenome )