Entacmaea quadricolor (Bulb Anemone)

Source liveaquaria.com

QUICK STATS

• Minimum Tank Size: 30 gallons
  
• Care Level: Moderate
  
• Temperament: Semi-aggressive
  
• Reef Compatible: With Caution
  
• Lighting: Moderate to High
  
• Waterflow: Medium
  
• Water Conditions: 72-78° F, dKH 8-12, pH 8.1-8.4, sg 1.023-1.025
  
• Max. Size: 1'
  
• Color Form: Green, Tan
  
• Supplements: Calcium, Magnesium, Strontium, Iodine, Trace Elements
  
• Origin: Fiji, Singapore, Tonga
  
• Family: Actiniidae
  
• Insert Date: 26 May 2010
  

The Bulb Anemone is one of the most beautiful ornamental anemones for the home reef. When housed beneath intense aquarium lighting, Entacmaea quadricolor develops a unique bulb tip at the end of its tentacles. When hungry, this member of the Actiniidae family will stretch its sweeper tentacles to grab food from the water column. After feeding, the tentacles then shorten again and take on their bulbous appearance.
Though often referred to as the Four-Colored Anemone, coloration can vary greatly from one individual to the next. Red variations may be referred to as Rose Anemones. Generally, Bulb Anemones from Fiji and Tonga are shaded in soft browns, tans, or maroon, though an occasional green specimen is found. By contrast, the Bulb Anemones from Singapore are typically green in color with a deep maroon base.

The Bulb or Bubble Tip Anemone is found in oceans around the world. The Bulb Anemone attaches its pedal disc deep within dead coral amongst rubble or on solid, living reefs. In the home aquarium, the Bulb Anemone requires similar habitat and positioned amongst deeply creviced live rock or branchy corals placed in sandy substrate. Most Bulb Anemones prefer to find their own place to settle and may move about your aquarium until a suitable location is found.

For best care, the Bulb Anemone requires strong lighting in aquariums of at least 30 gallons. Under ideal conditions, it can grow up to 1-ft in diameter. However, most typically remain compact in size when kept under bright lighting. If the lighting is insufficient, the Bulb Anemone will expand its body to make the most of the available light. It should be kept with a Clownfish for best care. At times, the tentacles of the Bulb Anemone may appear stringy; this may be due to insufficient light or the need for food. Its diet should include chopped fish, shrimp, or worms if a clownfish is not present.

Handle this invertebrate, and all Anemones, with care. The Bulb Anemone can sting other anemones and corals that infringe on its territory.

The Small bulb anemones from Fiji and Tonga are typically colored in shades of brown, tan or maroon with an occasional green specimen. The Medium and Large bulb anemones from Singapore are typically green in color and may have a maroon base.

Other links:
http://www.reeflex.net/tiere/882_Entacmaea_quadricolor.htm
http://www.fishlore.com/profile-equadricolor.htm

Through www.zeewaterforum.info I found an ad from chriszuid who was selling corals. And he had some nice ones, so we decided to go there yesterday. In his aquarium he had a very nice Anemone, and when we told him we liked it he said he had a couple more in the back. So when he showed us the Anemone we decided we liked it, it's nice and big and came with a nice rock also. With rock the whole thing costed 20 euro's.
It has a nice spot now where we first had the toadstool in mind, before he died ofcourse. Hope the clownfish like it
Pictures will come soon!

Got a PM on www.zeewaterforum.info wishing me a good time with the corals and anemone, and also the tip to feed the anemone once or twice a week with some shrimp or mussel so it will become big and nice

hoi veel plezier met de koralen en 1 a 2 x per week de anemoon voeren met een mossel of stukje krill dan wordt ook deze groot en mooi mvg chriszuid

The new anemone is already loved by the clownfish. They where swimming in it all evening and even this morning. I didn’t get a good shot of that, but still got a nice picture.

The new anemone is doing great, the clownfish love it. I have been searching for some special food for the anemone, but without success yet.

The anemone enjoyed a nice small fish this weekend, and he sure did enjoy it. The fish was gone in a second. The clownfish however where afraid to come near it afterwards.

We have fed the Anemone again Sunday, still seems to like it very much.

A while ago I recorded some movies, I just took the parts out from each animal separate.

The rock shifted a bit, the anemone is now better visible

Also 4 months ago we bought a new anemone. The first one died long time ago and we ran into this one, which was much bigger then the previous one. It seems to enjoy itself very much because it has become a lot bigger since we got him. Maybe even too big, so I’m kind of hoping it will split some day so we can have one smaller anemone again. The clownfish like it a lot, they are in it all the time.

18 September we bought 3 rocks filled with 5 different types of corals. Looking past the Anemone you can see them in the distance.

It is becoming huge! It is starting to bother the Toadstool next to it so it might be too big for the aquarium now. We are still thinking of a solution, we hope that it will split so that we have 2 smaller ones. But if that is not the case we might need to sell it or trade it for a smaller one, which would be a shame.

The anemone is still growing and growing but doesn't want to split. Sunday we found the clownfish had laid eggs underneath the Anemone, so that makes me doubt about selling the anemone.

Still growing and growing.

Yesterday I have sold some fragments again. A member from the Zeewater Forum voor Nederland en België, called Bikerdick, wanted to buy the last Red Mushroom fragment and some Kenya Tree fragments.
When he saw the aquarium he also showed interest in other things, like the Bulb Anemone. I gave him a price of 55 euro and he said he would consult it with his son, with who he shares the aquarium.

The clownfish have laid eggs again, yesterday we spotted a whole spot of yellow/gold bubbles. It will probably go to waste again, since we still have nothing to put them. But I do believe we have some time to get them. Not sure what we are going to do yet.

Yesterday when I got home late in the evening I noticed the light of the RSM was still on, while normally it should be off at that time. But I figured that maybe the timer was set wrong maybe, forgot to correct the time after cleaning maybe. Took a quick look in the aquarium, everything looked ok, only the anemone was deflated…well…that happens.
Went into the living room to say hello to my wife, but she immediately send me away to look at the anemone. When I took a closer look it seemed that a part of it was wrapped around the rock, even being visible on the bottom of the rock. Also its mouth looked like someone torn it apart. It looked a bit like my toadstool did just before it died.
Immediately looked on the internet for pictures about Anemones splitting and found one which did look a bit like what we had. To be sure I asked on the forums to see if I wasn’t mistaking, and there I also got a confirmation that it was splitting. So soon there will be 2 Anemones in our RSM, only problem will probably be getting one out…to be continued.