Anemone ID..

[lona]

Hi everyone,

I recently discovered some 'flower' looking anemones..from where I'm looking, it seems transparent colourless to transparent yellow??..it's fingers are completely radial.

It does not have a distinct disc at the center like zooanthids do..but more like a webbed kind of structure with fingers sticking out. The fingers are pointing radially outwards as well.

The sizes vary from 3-6mm. They do not open all the time, I notice mostly during feeding time they'll open up..and close and open very rapidly..I'm guessing it's feeding on the food particles.

I don't think it's aiptasia, cos I've seen some pictures of aiptasia and aiptasia seems to have fingers that sitck up and out..not radially like mine..mine stick out radially like zoos. Colour like I mentioned is like the transparent yellow that some glass anemones seem to have.

Sorry don't have any pictures cos my cam and skills are too lousy to take something so small. Hope someone can visualise my description and maybe ID the thing for me..or point me in a possible direction. Cos I have maybe 5 of them distributed among the rocks and dunno whether these are good or not..I have a feeling that anything alien that grows in my tank should be bad cos most of the good stuff are quite fragile and my tank..*sigh*..is quite lousy..no lights nothing kind..

in advance

[hongqixian]

Hi everyone,

I recently discovered some 'flower' looking anemones..from where I'm looking, it seems transparent colourless to transparent yellow??..it's fingers are completely radial.

It does not have a distinct disc at the center like zooanthids do..but more like a webbed kind of structure with fingers sticking out. The fingers are pointing radially outwards as well.

The sizes vary from 3-6mm. They do not open all the time, I notice mostly during feeding time they'll open up..and close and open very rapidly..I'm guessing it's feeding on the food particles.

I don't think it's aiptasia, cos I've seen some pictures of aiptasia and aiptasia seems to have fingers that sitck up and out..not radially like mine..mine stick out radially like zoos. Colour like I mentioned is like the transparent yellow that some glass anemones seem to have.

Sorry don't have any pictures cos my cam and skills are too lousy to take something so small. Hope someone can visualise my description and maybe ID the thing for me..or point me in a possible direction. Cos I have maybe 5 of them distributed among the rocks and dunno whether these are good or not..I have a feeling that anything alien that grows in my tank should be bad cos most of the good stuff are quite fragile and my tank..*sigh*..is quite lousy..no lights nothing kind..

in advance

Maybe yellow polyps

Parazoanthus gracillis

Where are they growing?

[lona]

Hm..hi HQX..looked at some pictures of the species you mentioned..some of the pics are very brightly coloured leh..mine the colours don't seem so deep and bright..mine's like pale kind..

They don't grow together..all singular growths..understand they need light and all, but I have no light source..only the sun..and it's not direct..furthermore they grow UNDER the rock..so quite strange..

Any other leads you could think of? The shape is very similar though...

Would appreciate any leads..before I decide what it is...

[BlueTerror]

i think i got some of these in my tank too. initially it spreaded around, then i used kalkwasser to nuke some of them, cos i thought they were aiptasia. now i still see a few but they seem to be under control already. no harm done.

[lona]

hmm..but are they aiptasia or not? Shouldn't be right? The shape don't really look like ley..

I still can't seem to ID the things.. <_<

[hongqixian]

Hm..hi HQX..looked at some pictures of the species you mentioned..some of the pics are very brightly coloured leh..mine the colours don't seem so deep and bright..mine's like pale kind..

They don't grow together..all singular growths..understand they need light and all, but I have no light source..only the sun..and it's not direct..furthermore they grow UNDER the rock..so quite strange..

Any other leads you could think of? The shape is very similar though...

Would appreciate any leads..before I decide what it is...

Are they a bit stripey? There are other colour forms and species of Parazoanthus. Anyway you can try www.cautiouscoral.com (lots of funny anemones there) and www.reefs.org/hhfaq .

[onghm]

Lona,

izit something like this ?

[onghm]

another one...

[lona]

Hi onghm,

Ya, the pix you posted looks very similar..the 'colour' is spot on..size also around there. But mine look more circular than that..and got more fingers.

Could be the same thing..in fact, if yours got more fingers I'd say it's the same as mine...

what's this called?

[onghm]

Ha ha ha, paiseh, i also dunno what it is

but i thot at least with a pic now, its easier for the pros to id it.

So, does anyone know what this is ?

good or bad ?

[lona]

Are they a bit stripey? There are other colour forms and species of Parazoanthus. Anyway you can try www.cautiouscoral.com (lots of funny anemones there) and www.reefs.org/hhfaq .

Hey, I just found something that looks almost a match at the hitchhiker faq you included..

it says it's a Sabellid Feather Duster?!?!

possible?

I mean, with my tank no lights high temp low currents? Mine also grows singly, not like in colonies like the picture, it's more like one here, one there, sometimes on the same rock. Also, they don't grow from those snaking tubes I see on the rock in the picture, mine seems to just have the 'flower' directly opening on the surface of the rock. The pattern and shape is 90% a match..I don't know what the size of the things in the pictures are though..are these harmful or anything...

If I didn't know anything I'd say they were actually quite cute and do make a nice change of view from the fish and inverts..

[hongqixian]

Probably one of those worms. Some burrow in rock with only the head poking out, like a single headed christmas tree worm. I saw one quite big white one popping out of a rock like a mushroom before somewhere. Very nice and harmless.

I have one that is almost transparent with a white band on the middle of the feathers.

[lona]

Oh wow.. ..so it's actually quite ok..hee hee hee...

what a relief..

Ok..thanks alot for the pics and links guys..really appreciate it...