Carpet Anemone from MarineDepotLive

[Kimber]

Anybody ever bought the blue carpet anemone from marinedepotlive? It comes with the disclaimer that it's either very difficult to keep or is a delicate shipper, and therefore does not have the arrive alive guarantee. Naturally, I'm a little hesitant to spend $110 without hearing about others' experiences.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

There is no way I would ever buy an anemone over the mail, especially a larger anemone. A dying anemone can take weeks to die. I don't trust anybody to take 110 dollars lost versus dump it off to a customer, knowing that if it died on the customer, there is no need to replace it.
Minh Nguyen

 

[madrefkepr]

I would agree with Minh. $110 is an awful lot to spend on something unseen, especially an anemone. Marine Depot seems to have a very good reputation, and I think I would trust their judgement. I think the disclaimer speaks for itself.

 

[Kimber]

Dang. I can't seem to find one of these beauties at any LFS. Anybody know of one anywhere in the Pacific Northwest? I'd be willing to take a road trip, since I have people all over the place that I could visit at the same time.

 

[texman]

I would be very wary about trying this anemone. I have tried twice and have reviewed this and other boards. I think that the chance of this animal surviving for any extended period of time is very low, despite what some of the retailers and books may tell you.

 

[naesco]

Kimber there is a reason there is no guarantee. Follow texman's advice.
Choose something else.
You don't want to be responsible for bringing in this creature only to hav it die in your tank, right?

 

[reefin101]

Kimber-

I was just in Bellevue Washington...there is a new fishstore called 'Saltwater Fish' across the street from the Bellevue BMW dealership. Look up the location of the BMW site and you will find your choice of anemones. I took a look in and it looked impressive. Give that a shot.

 

[kimberw]

Are some of you folks trying to steer me away from carpet anemones in general? Or just mail order? It seems that lots of folks on this board have had long-term success with them. I have had my own long-term success with a BTA. Probably not as hardy, but I do have anemone experience and knowledge.

 

[texman]

I think that there is a huge difference between BTA's and carpet anenomes. I have had a BTA which had every single tentacle pulled off by a nasty maroon clown, and then a large rock fell on top of it and stayed there for a few days. I think that a BTA is almost impossible to kill, whereas a carpet anemone is almost impossible to keep alive. Every time that I have seen a post of someone with a carpet, they report on its demise a few days or weeks later - at least the honest ones do.

 

[Bill2]

Like always, there is an rxception to the rule. I've had mine well over a year. i think the kry is getting them over the initial stress. Hard to do when it's shipped twice in a week.

 

[delphinus]

Stichodactyla haddoni isn't always necessarily impossible to keep, but the more fantastically coloured ones might be. In the last year or two I have seen so many blue saddle carpets popping up all over the place whereas before it was unheard of. Where did this sudden cache of blue carpets get found? I hate to be a cynic but how do we know that some of them might not be dyed. When they're dyed, it takes an animal already on shaky ground and makes its chances for surviving that much slimmer.

Like any anemone, a happy and well-adjusted carpet can be the easiest animal to care for. A stressed out anemone is a miserable thing and can easily succumb (i.e., die). Guess what? All anemones are stressed out after being collected frpm the wild, shipped, and subjected to the retail process. Thus many, many don't make it through the first year. It's a very sad phenomemon. It's a horrid statistic. DON'T buy an anemone unless you absolutely for sure know what you're doing!

Carpets, in general, can be problematic for those unaccustomed to them. For one, they get big. Secondly, and certainly not least, they eat fish. (At least S. haddoni does...)