Color changing anemone?

[Hiren]

Hi everyone,

I don't usually post for help, but rather tend to lurk and use search more than anything else. But I can't for the life of me find any references to anything like this.

The other day I bought an S. Gigantea anemone from local LFS after watching it for about two weeks in the holding tanks. It has a very healthy feeding response and is a great shade of light blue on the tips of its tentacles. It is about 6" across right now, but hasn't fully laid out in the tank as of yet while its acclimating. I'm aware these are some of the toughest critters to keep in our aquaria, but I couldn't resist the challenge, nor the natural host anemone for my Percula clown.

During the day, the tips of the tentacles are a bright sky blue. At night after lights out, the tips of the tentacles immediately turn a bright rosy pink. I can get some pictures of it in the daytime and post them, but I'm not sure the pink coloring will come out with my camera.

Has anyone heard of a color change this drastic based on environment or lighting conditions? My girlfriend and I both agree it is not an illusion of the light or the bowfront of the glass. The anemone is right up front attached to a rock (it seems to love its spot so far) and when I shine a bright flashlight on it the rosy color is constant. Also, the oral disk and tentacles exhibit much more activity right after the lights go off - I believe that is due to the drastic change in lighting. (The lights just flip off). The color change seems to be immediate - if there is a transition it is extremely short (measured in less than ten seconds). Tonight I'll watch more closely.

Here's my tank stats:
92gal bowfront corner
2 250W 14500K Hamilton MH
20gal sump
2 Koralia 3 powerheads along with 650gph return (after headloss)
Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate all at 0
1 hosting A. Percula
Have been feeding Mysis and chunks of silversides - to which I get a great feeding response.

After 3 days in the tank, there has been no evidence of "crashing", limp oral disk or inverting of the mouth. The mouth is slightly open, but this looks normal according to the research I've done so far.

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Anyone have experience keeping S. Gigantea and can point me to some reliable reference material? One reason I suspect these are very difficult to keep is because of the contradicting material available on the species and the ever-ready-to-post internet junkie that likes to advertise failure. I'm hoping to overcome that challenge.

Pics forthcoming!

[dobejazz]

Congrats on your new anenome. I have no clue on the color change though

[motorslave]

Is th foot (or was the foot) the same color as the ret of it? If so it could be that it was died. Its an unofortunate practice that sems to have been showing up more again in the hobby. Just guess.

[Elegance Coral]

Motorslave, I hope you're wrong. I have to agree though. This disgusting practice does seem to be coming back.

What color are the verrucae? Are there purplish, blueish spots on the under side of the oral disk? I hope that what you are seeing is just caused by the photosynthetic proteins under different lights. All of my anemones appear to change color as the lights go out.
I would really love to see a pic, if you can get one.

[Hiren]

Hi guys and thanks!

I was hoping you'd pop on here Elegance - I'd been following your H. Mag thread. I think I read somewhere else that you were looking at a S. Gigantea in the future as well.

The verrucae are there - bluish/purplish coloration. This anemone is definitely not dyed. I now suspect a bit of bleaching because the color is not uniform on the tentacles. Only the tips of the tentacles appear sky blue (a beautiful hue) during the day and rosy red at night. The rest of the tentacles are white and the oral disk near the mouth is an off-white creamy color. The foot itself is blue.

If it has bleached, it doesn't seem to be bothered by it so far. From what I can see the anemone seems to be happy and content. It hasn't been puffing up and then purging like I've read alot do, it has a healthy feeding response, the tentacles are vibrating and perky.

I'm at work right now so I don't have access to my pictures, but I'll get some posted as soon as I can.

PS - Elegance if your anemones appear to change color at lights out, then you've answered my main question and this seems to be either a normal response or the way our eyes perceive the pigment under different lighting conditions. Not only that, but I would take it as another indicator of health from the descriptions you've given of your anemones in your threads.

Maybe I'll start an S. Gigantea growth tracking thread.

[Hiren]

Some pictures...

These are the best I can do at the moment. Enjoy!

I think this anemone is a bit young and looks pretty bleached in the pictures. It has a bit more color in person. But... I do think it's bleached and I've been feeding it to ensure it gets enough food to nurse it through. If the color holds - it's going to look great when it gets bigger!

[Elegance Coral]

Originally Posted by Hiren

Hi guys and thanks!

I was hoping you'd pop on here Elegance - I'd been following your H. Mag thread. I think I read somewhere else that you were looking at a S. Gigantea in the future as well. Owww Yaaaa! I will be getting one as soon as I have room for it. If I find one colored like yours, I will just die.

The verrucae are there - bluish/purplish coloration. Just checkin. I wanted to make sure this was a Gigantea and not some other carpet. This anemone is definitely not dyed. I now suspect a bit of bleaching because the color is not uniform on the tentacles. Only the tips of the tentacles appear sky blue (a beautiful hue) during the day and rosy red at night. The rest of the tentacles are white and the oral disk near the mouth is an off-white creamy color. The foot itself is blue. I agree. Unfortunately, it is bleached. Has the creamy color faded or gotten darker in your tank? How long do you run the MH's?

If it has bleached, it doesn't seem to be bothered by it so far. From what I can see the anemone seems to be happy and content. It hasn't been puffing up and then purging like I've read alot do, it has a healthy feeding response, the tentacles are vibrating and perky.

I'm at work right now so I don't have access to my pictures, but I'll get some posted as soon as I can.

PS - Elegance if your anemones appear to change color at lights out, then you've answered my main question and this seems to be either a normal response or the way our eyes perceive the pigment under different lighting conditions. I have two LTA's that appear brown under bright 10K lighting and bright glowing green under actinics. The Haddoni is bright green under 10K MH and a yellowish color under actinics. The Magnifica has light yellow tips on light colored tentacles under 10K MH, bright yellow tips on darker tentacles under actinics, and appears almost brown at night. Not only that, but I would take it as another indicator of health from the descriptions you've given of your anemones in your threads.

Maybe I'll start an S. Gigantea growth tracking thread. I think you should. He's got some recovering to do. I would love to fallow allong to see how well he does. Good luck. You have a rare and beautiful anemone there.

[Hiren]

Thanks EC!

Well, we've answered my main question, which is why the anemone looks different after lights out.

I think I'll go ahead and start an S. Gigantea tracking post to track its recovery from bleaching, growth, and activity. You're right - these are rare animals and the apparent coloration of this guy is pretty rare for the species from the research I've been able to do.

I'll start gathering up my pics (I've been taking a ton of them) and post some choice photos so we can track how this guy does.