Shrinking Sea Anemone?

Question

I bought a new sea anemone today and it's been in my tank now for about 4 hours and has shrunken to half the size it was when I first bought it earlier. Is something wrong? If so how do you get it to 'perk up"?

Answer 1

Did you acclimatise it before you introduced it to the tank?

If so, then just give it time to adjust and settle in, you can't really do anything to make it perk up, it'll do it when it's ready.

As long as your water parameter readings are correct, and your lighting is adequate for an anemone then you shouldn't have any problems.

Answer 2

Anemone are pretty much all water.  What are the readings in your tank?

Anemone will do this often if the water in your tank is different than the water in the tank they came from.

Be sure your water tests are where they should be, the lighting and temperature suit your anemone.  It could be it is just getting used to yur water.

Also, if you do not have a mature tank, it could be having problems since there may not be enought mature bacteria in your tank to house him.

Answer 3

A lot depends on the type of anemone, but acclimation process for anemones a bit longer than that of say fish due to their sensitivity to changes in chemistry (salinity, pH, etc) and lighting levels (did this anemone come from a tank where it was under MH lighting and now it's under PC's?, etc.) Monitor it for a day or two would be the best bet and watch for signs that it's in meltdown. If that should happen, remove it from your tank asap.