Sabae (Purple-Tipped) Anemone

(Heteractis crispa)

A Home that FINALLY feels like home.

Like most, I saw this anemone in the fish store, and I thought it was beautiful. So, I purchased it and brought it home. Completely ignorant of it's care, I gleefully added him to my reef tank. Well, in retrospect, that was VERY irrisponsible of me, and I wish I'd done more research.

Let me explain. See, while everything's fine now, and it turns out the anemone has provided a good home for the Anemone crab (B-Swift), he initially was struggling a bit, and was probably not the wisest choice of creature to add to my reef. I've learned a lot about Anemone's, so bear with me while I share with you.

  1. NEVER get an anemone without knowing all you can about it. Anemone's all have specific and detailed care requirements. Truly, they should be purchased by advanced aquarists.
  2. An anemone needs a WELL established tank. Most of the nutrition an anemone needs can only be provided in a tank that's been up and running for at LEAST 6 months.
  3. Most Anemone's need LOTS of light. And most people just getting into the hobby haven't learned about the different kind of reef lighting.
  4. Anemones can (and usually do) move about the tank. And they pack a MEAN sting (for you, fish, corals, anything they touch). So if they're not happy with their location, they can literally walk around your tank killing anything they bump. They can also aimlessly walk right into unprotected intakes on pumps/powerheads. Instantly filling your tank with a really bad anemone milkshake.
  5. Most anemone's are bleached when you buy them.The picture to the right that you see of him where he's bright white, is not a healthy coloring for a Sabae anemone. Most of the time, they become bleached during capture (due to stress/malnutrition). In healthy form, they are actually dark red-brown, with purple tips (like in the 2nd picture).
In the above-right picture, was a side by side comparison of the same Sabae Anemone when I first got him versus when he'd been in the tank a while, nursed back to health, and well fed.

Yes...that is the SAME exact anemone...I promise you!

To explain, I need to elaborate (briefly) on bleaching. Anemone's are symbiotic with Algae (specifically, Zooxanthellae). The algae live inside the anemone and provides the anemone with nutrients/food via photosynthesis. In exchange, the Anemone provides the Zooxanthella with a home, instead of the algae being free-floating, which makes it more vulnerable to being eaten.

When the anemone has enough Zooxanthella, it really doesn't need to eat all the time. It can survive mostly on the food provided by the algae. However, when the anemone gets stressed they will expell (kick out) the zooxanthella algae. Thus leaving it white and unfortunately, completely dependent on captured food for survival, which in unestablished tank, is found in insufficient quantities.

At the time, I thought he looked great, but looking back...I can see that he's flattened out, he's only extended (barely) cause he's hungry, and what I thought was nice color was actually a LACK of color.

That said, I had to do a LOT of learning, and very quickly. I took LOTS of steps to help this guy pull through.

So, to get him back on track I had to spot-fed him every other day, with Mysis shrimp. I used a turkey baster, to assure he gets what he needed, until he was healthy again. By feeding him only in the same spot everyday, I'd trained him to stay in a location that was better for his overall health (so he didn't wonder onto the heater, high flow areas, near my corals, or even worse...into the pump intakes).

At first, he was almost always shrivled up. But after about a month of nursing, he'd stay shriveled up less and less, and now he is fully blown up most of the day!

The hosting of the Anemone crab has helped him a LOT! See, not only does an anemone host with algae, but it also allows some creatures to host with it. In my case, my Anemone crab, B-Swift, gives him scraps of food, and in exchange, the crab gets a nice house with a great security system, as an anemone can pack quite a sting. Soon after the hosting, the anemone was already starting to get brown freckle-like spots on him, so he was beginning to show his true color!

To your right, you can see him with his new pal, and loving it. It was at this point that he started staying blown up a lot.

If you look closely, you can see some of the longer tentacles getting brown spots, and an overall light tan-ish hue radiating from the center.

But I must admit, while I'm excited about him getting healthier, and getting good color, I am a little sad, as I think with his bleached (and unhealthy) color, he was just gorgeous.

Another shot with his symbiotic life-mate!
Here he is, 7 months later, still in full health!!

Notice the relative size to the Crab, compare it to the picture above this one. As you can see, it's grown quite large!

I truly hope that anyone considering the purchase of an anemone doesn't make the same mistake(s) I did, and DOES the research. If you buy one, you owe it to the creature to learn how to keep it alive.

Added to the tank on March 21st, 2005 from Congressional Aquarium.


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Last updated 10/14/05