New Stichodactyla Gigantea Anemone

[Parker]

Wow that thing is huge!

If small neighborhood pets start to go missing we know where to look!

[Der_Iron_Chef]

lol, no kidding.

BTW...it attached right away, and its tentacles are definitely "sticky" (ouch) and it was able to eat some mysis last night. The tentacles also move randomly on their own, regardless of flow.

As you can also see near the end of the video, its mouth is closed tightly...which I'm presuming is a good sign

[Delphinus]

It's a beaut, Drew.

All indications I can see seem positive. The flow seems good, your description is what I have sort of used as a suggestion to others regarding flow - ie, you want to see the "skirt lifted up" occasionally. Another way to think of it is, any slime or goo that comes to rest on the oral disk, should be washed away by the current rather than let it settle indefinitely on the anemone.

If you have any frozen cyclops-eeze, you should try shooting some towards the carpet with a turkey baster. At least mine react like crazy, really coming alive for it (looks like a bowl of spaghetti gone berserk). Although I would caution against feeding too much for the first couple of weeks, go gently and ramp up slowly. Although having said that if it's eaten mysis already, it could be ready to eat, you have to sort of observe and use your own judgment. It's just that too much food (right off the bat) is probably worse than not enough food, so it's a bit of a delicate balancing act. Observing carefully though does tell us whether they're ready for more or not .. you'll just know. I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense here .. sorry..

[digital-audiophile]

Nice score Drew! That anemone is a really sexy creature!

[Monti-Man]

Looking good Drew. Glad it is happy and i am glad you got the vortech working we'll. Mine has oddly moved back on the rock by about 3-4 inches and is now in less flow than what it was. I am going to assume it has a clue to what its doing. And to top it all off i am not there to see what its doing...lol
The stress of this hobby.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

It's a beaut, Drew.

All indications I can see seem positive. The flow seems good, your description is what I have sort of used as a suggestion to others regarding flow - ie, you want to see the "skirt lifted up" occasionally. Another way to think of it is, any slime or goo that comes to rest on the oral disk, should be washed away by the current rather than let it settle indefinitely on the anemone.

If you have any frozen cyclops-eeze, you should try shooting some towards the carpet with a turkey baster. At least mine react like crazy, really coming alive for it (looks like a bowl of spaghetti gone berserk). Although I would caution against feeding too much for the first couple of weeks, go gently and ramp up slowly. Although having said that if it's eaten mysis already, it could be ready to eat, you have to sort of observe and use your own judgment. It's just that too much food (right off the bat) is probably worse than not enough food, so it's a bit of a delicate balancing act. Observing carefully though does tell us whether they're ready for more or not .. you'll just know. I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense here .. sorry..

You're making perfect sense You'd better, anyway, since you're my local Gigantea expert (lol, no pressure).

Originally Posted by digital-audiophile

Nice score Drew! That anemone is a really sexy creature!

Tell me about it! My clownfish certainly thinks so.

Originally Posted by Monti-Man

Looking good Drew. Glad it is happy and i am glad you got the vortech working we'll. Mine has oddly moved back on the rock by about 3-4 inches and is now in less flow than what it was. I am going to assume it has a clue to what its doing. And to top it all off i am not there to see what its doing...lol
The stress of this hobby.

It *is* stressful, isn't it? It nearly ruined my entire weekend! And who knew getting a giant stinging anemone out of a plastic bag would be so hard? Holy crap...that thing attached to the bag like a mofo.

[Zoaelite]

Saw that up at golds, amazing peice! Really wanted one of those blue ones but they got sold faster than Dennis can bag em.
Levi

[Newtoreef]

I have 3 of them in my 140 yes they do take up alotta real estate. That is a fine green specimen you have there. I would be more concerned with water parameters than flow. I cut up a piece of frozen shrimp into 3 and feed them that once a week. They will eat any dumb fish that trys to use it for cover. I lost 3 neon gobies in 1 night. All I have for flow is a 1200 quiet one on a sqwd. They tend to wander. I have a big red one that likes to tour the tank and takes up 3rd of my tank when it decides to spread out. And if it goes for a walk and gets caught in your powerhead it will take out everything in your tank. Thats why I went to a sqwd. Other than that enjoy, truly amazing creatures.

[Delphinus]

Those sound a little like haddoni me. For one, I've never seen a red gigantea, that would be cool if they did exist though. The really bright red ones we see available occassionaly are haddonis. Haddonis are fish eaters for sure, they'll eat anything that blunders into them - fish, snails, etc. The 2 gigantea I keep haven't shown anywhere near that kind of superglue stickiness you get with haddonis and seem to be more interested in planktivore-sized food than anything larger. In fact I had a mandarin who would sleep underneath one of the carpets, never was an issue for him though.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

Well, I've had my Gigantea for 9 days so far. It has PRETTY much stayed put, except for moving up the rock a wee bit. It hasn't flattened out as I see other Giganteas have done, but it's still "sticky" and its tentacles seem to be longer now than they initially were. I may also be imagining things, but it seems to have darkened a bit, which is a good thing....right, Tony? Compare the two videos and let me know what you think!

Original Video [June 8, 2008]:


New Video [June 16, 2008]: