Condy HELP!!!

[Drumachine09]

I just bought a condy, along with 2 mushrooms, and 2 lbs of live rock. I am drip acclimating them as we speak, but i dont want to get stung by mister condy. Does it hurt, and how do i handle them?

[Rue]

...no idea! Hotdog tongs?

[Drumachine09]

...no idea! Hotdog tongs?



Maybe! Im a little confused now.

[Rue]

...about the condy...or the tongs?

[Drumachine09]

The condy. Anyone got any input?


Cocoa, i know you have one. What do you do?

[Rue]

...did a little searching...

...can't find much...use rubber gloves (tank-safe)...or risk getting 'stung'...shouldn't be too bad unless you're allergic...

...and that's hard to know...so better use the gloves...

[Drumachine09]

We finished drip acclimating him, and i just bare handed him. Stung just a LIIIIITLE bit, but other than that, it didnt hurt. I figured out the easyest way to get him off of my hand when all tentales are clinging. Just put his base against a rock, and he feels safe so he let go. Ill get pics up later tonight for those who are interested.



Now, what do i feed him?

[Rue]

...likely won't eat tonight...

...shrimp sounds good...use chopsticks to feed it to him (just read it...so I'm not guessing...)

[Drumachine09]

...likely won't eat tonight...

...shrimp sounds good...use chopsticks to feed it to him (just read it...so I'm not guessing...)


I read shrimp, silver sides, brine shrimp, and some other junk. Its all soooooo confusing. Dont know which one. I got shrimp in the freezer, so ill try that.

[Rue]

...wait! It might be too small for bigger pieces...in that case, use smaller frozen foods (unthawed) and direct it at him with a clean turkey baster...

...I've actually fed fish with a turkey baster, it works very well...

[Drumachine09]

I havent fed him yet, and im not going to feed himtonight, because he probobly wont eat anyway. I will feed about 1/8 a peice of jumbo shrimp to him. Ive heard feed cooked, thawed, and unthawed. Which one?

[Rue]

Raw and thawed...

[cocoa_pleco]

SORRY, i just got on. use your hands and gently remove him. You feed a little piece of krill 2X a week with feeders, and stick it in his tentacles and he will grab it

[Drumachine09]

I have joined the condy club!

He seems to be doing fine.


My live rock is pretty killer too. one little mushroom on it, little bits of coraline algea, and some little zooanthids that havent opened up yet again. I think they are zooanthids anyway. Seen a couple bristle worms, and one REALLY small yellow coral thing. I love getting live rock. So much to discover on onnly 1.5 lbs. On saturday (after i get another fifteen bones), i am going to get another 1.5 lb peice. Its Fiji, just incase you are wondering.

[cocoa_pleco]

ive got Fiji too. Ive got TONS of copepods, a little bit of aptasia, lots of that purple stuff, and those featherdusters


what kind of lighting do you have the condy on?

[Drumachine09]

ive got Fiji too. Ive got TONS of copepods, a little bit of aptasia, lots of that purple stuff, and those featherdusters


what kind of lighting do you have the condy on?



Ive got 55 watts on the ten. 15 is 9000k and 40 is 6700k. My next project will be getting the 70 watt metal halide with the 20000k bulb. Then, ill be ready for more expensiveish corals.

[cocoa_pleco]

i still have nightmares about my condy being introduced to the old 10g. i moved him by hand, and he had 4 tentacles stuck to my hand and he wouldnt let go for about a hour

[unleashed]

You've been a bad boy with the condy Dry :14:. You should have done a little bit more research on it before you bought it.


Ive got 55 watts on the ten. 15 is 9000k and 40 is 6700k. My next project will be getting the 70 watt metal halide with the 20000k bulb. Then, ill be ready for more expensiveish corals.

you should go for a 150 halide placed a wee bit above the tank. 70 watts just ain't do it for light intense and expensive corals

[Drumachine09]

You've been a bad boy with the condy Dry :14:. You should have done a little bit more research on it before you bought it.



you should go for a 150 halide placed a wee bit above the tank. 70 watts just ain't do it for light intense and expensive corals

I did do research. Theres just so much conflicting info on the net, that it gets confusing when you here "do this, but NEVER do that" from one page, and then the next page says " Always do that but dont even think about ever doing this." I got the gist of the info, like what to feed it and how to handle it, but i dont really know how to prepare the food (Frozen, Thawed, de frosted, or cooked.) Thats the thing about this hobby. Some things work for some people, and others work for other people. When they put out confilcting info, it gets confusing.

150 sounds a bit pricy. The people on www.coralforum.com and www.saltwaterfish.com said that if i got a 70 watt MH, i could pretty much do anything i want with the tank and not have a problem with growth.

[Drumachine09]

Ok, i fed him a peice of thawed shrimp, and boy did he take that. $ tenticals ripped it out of the chopstick and dragged it to his mouth. I should get a video up of this guy. Its awesome!

[2manyfish]

Always feed raw food that has been thawed first. Never cooked food. You can also soak the food while it's thawing in some vitamins made for saltwater.
I think the 70 watts will be fine lighting wise over that 10g. You're biggest problem will be the corals and condy outgrowing that little tank! :ezpi_wink1:

I would love to see a pic of your condy!! :1luvu:


Oh and BTW, next time use a net to move an anemone around. They will not attach to a net and it's easy enough to kinda guide them onto the rocks with it. That way too you remove the risk of being stung. This works for any anemone not just condys....

[Drumachine09]

Thanks for the help barb.

I read an article on propegating condys, and when he gets big, i will just sell his other half back to the LFS i bouht him from. The lady told me if i propegate him, ill get $4 a condy store credit. The mushrooms i will propegat too. I cant sell them back, because they have a show marine tank that they propegate them from in the first place, but im sure they would take a donation.


You can see my tank, my condy, and my shrooms in this slide show.

http://s162.photobucket.com/albums/t257/drumachine09/?action=view&current=1180499788.pbw

[cocoa_pleco]

my condy is a pig too. Once the krill is even a foot away from him, he reaches with his tentacles and just goes GIMME GIMME!

[Drumachine09]

my condy is a pig too. Once the krill is even a foot away from him, he reaches with his tentacles and just goes GIMME GIMME!


Do you feed dry krill?



BTW, i got another 2lbs of fiji today for a total of 3.5lbs.

[cocoa_pleco]

i feed frozen krill. I take the package out of the freezer, break off a chunk, soak it in boiling water for 3 minutes, then put it in cool water for a few seconds then feed it to him. He sucks out the meat and leaves the shell for ME to clean. lol

[Rue]

...awwwww...I luv the anemone stories...

...glad you guys are enjoying yours...

...yes...I agree on all the conflicting info! Some answers are just SO hard to track down...and they're usually so simple!

[Drumachine09]

Why dont you make your 75 salt?

[Rue]

I know that would be too much work for me at the moment...

...but if I ever get my hands on a Red Sea Max...I might actually go ahead and get my anemone, my clownfish, my pyjama cardinals, and my green chromis...

[Drumachine09]

I know that would be too much work for me at the moment...

...but if I ever get my hands on a Red Sea Max...I might actually go ahead and get my anemone, my clownfish, my pyjama cardinals, and my green chromis...


lol, sounds like a plan!

[cocoa_pleco]

there is way to much conflicting info, like these ive read-

A) condy's are good for medium lught tanks, while some say they need good lighting
B) they are fine in 10g;s, while some say no less than 30g
C) they have to be with certain other fish, while some say almost all fish can go with condys
D)clownfish will not host with condy's, while some sites say clownfish will. the actual truth is rarely with a clownfish host though

[2manyfish]

In the wild condys will sometimes have shrimp that will host with them but there are no clownfish in Carribbean waters so they are not natural hosts for clownfish. In tanks I have heard of a clown, also once a domino damsel taking up a condy but that is the exception.
Condys will outgrow 10 gallon tanks but it will take some time. Medium to strong lighting is recommend they are anemones after all.
If you are soaking the krill in boiling water then you are cooking it. Not something I would recommend. Cooking destroys many nutrients and you want your anemone to get as much nutrition from it's food as possible. Let the frozen krill stand in a bowl at room temp for a few minutes. Soak in vitamins if possible then feed.
I have never heard of propagating condys. They haven't reproduced in the home aquarium yet, but is this article talking about cutting them?? Do you have a link to the article?

Drum, your mushroom and condy look nice but I have to tell you that your condy is bleached. You must take special care to feed the condy extra foods while it is in this state. As it is right now, it cannot make any food from lighting as it has no symbiotic algae within it's body. Thankfully you have a mushroom coral in the tank too. I have found that bleached corals/anemones will often uptake the algaes expelled from healthy specimens over time.

Here is what a healthy condy should look like....

[Drumachine09]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-WV9fq25cI


Theres the propegation video.


How long should he stay bleached? I will be switching to a 70 or 150 watt HQI MH within the month, so thats good though, right?

[cocoa_pleco]

cool vid! odd music for the subject though. lol

[Rue]

...can't remember which anemone I fell in love with...I think it was a rose bubble-tip? Gotta go look it up...

[Drumachine09]

...can't remember which anemone I fell in love with...I think it was a rose bubble-tip? Gotta go look it up...


I wouldnt ever dream of doing a BTA, i hear they are quite difficult to take care of.

[Rue]

...but but but...

...look how pretty!!!...

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/RoseBubbleTipAnemoneColby.jpg

[Drumachine09]

...but but but...

...look how pretty!!!...

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q152/Rue_album/RoseBubbleTipAnemoneColby.jpg



Wow! I love the fluorescent looking colors!

[cocoa_pleco]

thats what my new coral looks like! its a twiggy-looking stem with three holes, and VERY neon orange and green jelly things come out. Its awesome

[Rue]

I could have sworn the bubble-tips were easy keepers? Need to go back and read some more I suppose...

...er, for FUTURE reference that is...

...I love that anemone...:41:

Now we need a pic of your coral!

[cocoa_pleco]

i can try to get a pic. I have the lights off now, so tomorrow it is! The 30% off all corals lasts til monday, so i may get a fox coral or some other one

[Drumachine09]

i can try to get a pic. I have the lights off now, so tomorrow it is! The 30% off all corals lasts til monday, so i may get a fox coral or some other one


Hey, when i frag my shrooms, you could frag your coral. Wanna trade sometime?

[Rue]

...I sense an illicit International Border Meeting...

[cocoa_pleco]

...I sense an illicit International Border Meeting...


i sense i need to make a *cough* bribe

[Drumachine09]

...I sense an illicit International Border Meeting...




She knows too much. Im afraid she is going to have to go on a live long vacation to the bottom of the ocean. Initiate "operation sandy beach"

[Rue]

Woohoo! All-expense paid trip to Atlantis!!!

[cocoa_pleco]

yeppers! we even provide the cinder blocks! talk about a deal, lol

[Rue]

...er, wait just a minute here..

[Drumachine09]

...er, wait just a minute here..




Ummm... free toaster?

[Rue]

...thanks...

...but no thanks...

...I wasn't born yesterday you know...

[2manyfish]

Can't see the video Drum - it's not the link but my computer. Long story short, I messed up my computer and cannot upgrade enough to view youtube. Give me the jist of it will ya?

NO anemone is "easy". They all have very long life spans in the wild and in the home aquarium they tend to live a few short years. They all require clean water and intense lighting. Having a mature stable tank is very important for them too. BUT, there are some that are better suited to captive conditions. The first is the flower anemone (not a hosting anemone). Why? Because it will not outgrow a small tank, ever and it is not a key species and it isn't very popular so they aren't collected as much as others. Condy's are next because even though they can get big, it takes them time and again they aren't hosting anemones. BTA's would be next in line BUT getting an aquacultured specimen is the way to go. That way you don't take a hosting anemone from the ocean, you aren't removing a key species from the environment. BTA's though get big. Nothing smaller than a 55g will do. They grow fairly quickly too. I have found them to be more picky than either condy's or flower anemones. But if they are happy, they will clone themselves and rather frequently too. I had one in my reef tank that split itself 4 times. So I ended up with 5 in there. The parent anemone was quite big and the clones were of varying sizes. I was going to sell some of them as they were taking over the entire tank but then the hurricanes hit and that was that.

Drum, as far as how soon your anemone should "pick up" algae from the mushroom well that's anybody's guess. It could be weeks or it could be months. Just keep feeding it and eventually it will start to color up. When you notice even a bit of color coming into the tentacles you will know you are on your way!! :thumb:
Oh and you need to cover all intake tubes in the tank. Condys are well known to wander and can easily get sucked into the tubes.

[Drumachine09]

When i saw him in the store, he was very smalll and really deep purpley. When i brought him home, he was big and whiteish. I noticed he is getting very little purple in his tentcles back though, so i think he is doing good. Feeding day is today to...YAY!

[Rue]

Glad he's feeling better!