New Mini Carpet Anemones (MCAs)

[George Monnat Jr]

A couple of days ago I purchased a couple of tiny Mini Carpet Anemones (MCAs) [not Maxi-Minis, see posts below for details] from a fellow ARC member. (She was the first ARC member I met face-to-face and represented the club very well.) They were two green and pink MCAs about pea-sized while contracted (and unhappy) in their moving containers.

One of them looked ok, but the other one looked like its foot might be ripped or something else wrong with it. The "good-looking" one stayed round, and after a little tumbling around, found a spot on the rock that it liked.

By the time I went to bed that night, the smaller one had "rounded out" and was looking like it might pull through. It hadn't expanded, yet, but I had high hopes for it. They both looked really good under just actinics.

In the morning, the small one was gone! Notice all of the Bumblebee Snails hanging around it in the picture above. Knowing that Bumblebee Snails are carnivorous scavengers (I guess anemones count as "meat"), I feared that they sensed that the smaller MCA was sickly, so they finished it off. There were a lot of Bumblebees hanging around there at night and none in the morning. I thought about sending my Bumblebee Snails on a short trip back to the LFS.

Last night as the white LEDs went off leaving just the actinics, I noticed a bright spot near the bottom of the rock. There it was! The little guy was well enough to go on a walkabout.

In the last picture you can see the other MCA (upper left) and the original spot for the wandering one (now lower right).

Sweet! Now to figure out how to get mysis or cyclop-eeze into their tiny mouths.

Edited April 17, 2012 by George Monnat Jr

[FarmerTy]

Those little maxi-mini carpets will walk 6-8 inches a day if they don't like where they are at. My advise is try to put them in the area you would like them but believe me, they'll find where they want to be if they don't like your placement.

I never fed mine once and 1 became 20 in about 2 years. They have such hypnotic coloration, with the red/brown/green striations. They are the stickiest things I've ever had in the tank too. They could float by glass and just stick to it if they wanted to. Just a warning of caution though, if you're finger is wet (like soggy) and been in the tank too long, those things can give quite the potent sting. Enjoy your new friends and good find!

-Ty

[George Monnat Jr]

I'm hoping they'll eventually get big enough for a White Spot Anemone Shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) or a Spotted Cleaner Commensal/Anemone Shrimp (Periclimenes yucatanicus). After Gig'em posted the pictures of his MMCAs, I searched RC and found an interesting thread. The OP had posted a picture of a White Spot on an MMCA about a year ago.

I asked her for an update and got a new picture (and statement that all was going really well).

I have lots of Sexy Shrimp already. We love them, and they love my big BTA.

I hope they don't gang up on the tiny MMCAs before they get big enough. One of the Sexies likes to ride on my poor Hawaiian Feather Duster, sometimes rocking on it if it isn't secured.

I'm still a little jealous of Gig'em's and hope to get more, especially blue, red and orange. Don't get me wrong, I like these and wanted some greens.

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

Wow those things are small!!! Are their sizes due to her manually propagating them?

[FarmerTy]

Those are mini carpets, not to be confused with maxi-mini carpets, though sometimes the industry uses the term interchangeably. They only grow to a max size of 1.5" usually whereas the maxi-mini's grow to about 3-4" typically. I like their interesting striations of red and green and they reproduce well in my 125-gallon.

-Ty

[mFrame]

I've seen some "maxi-minis" up to 8", but I'd consider that very maxi. You have to keep in mind just how sticky carpets are, once they get above about 1.5" then a lot of your fish won't be safe around them. Carpets are notorious for trying to eat anything they can catch!

[George Monnat Jr]

Those are mini carpets, not to be confused with maxi-mini carpets, though sometimes the industry uses the term interchangeably. They only grow to a max size of 1.5" usually whereas the maxi-mini's grow to about 3-4" typically. I like their interesting striations of red and green and they reproduce well in my 125-gallon.

-Ty

I tried to edit the title. I didn't see how to do that, but I edited the text of the OP to reflect no maxi.

[Gig 'em @ NDstructible]

I would like to know how to differentiate between the two species we refer to as "minis" and "maxi-minis." I guess I've never seen both next to each other and don't know what differentiates them. Size COULD be one thing, but you can have tiny BTA's and MASSIVE BTA's, but they're still the same species.

I know you can tell haddoni carpets from S. gigantea by the verecue down the foot, does anyone know of a similar physical difference that can separate the two species?

[mFrame]

Saw quite a few mini-ish carpets when I was at the Aqua-Dome at lunch.

I picked up one about 4" at RCA two months ago that is now about 4", so I'd call it a "maxi-mini".

[George Monnat Jr]

Saw quite a few mini-ish carpets when I was at the Aqua-Dome at lunch.

I need to get down there. Did they have purple, blue, yellow and/or orange? Anything other than green, brown or pink.

P.S. Thanks for fixing my thread title.

[George Monnat Jr]

Last Friday, as I was in a rush, some smaller LRs tumbled down. It didn't look like they were harming anything, so I left them until Sunday or Monday which was the next opportunity I had to do anything with the DT. Yesterday (Monday) I had the time to fix them. When I picked up one of the small rocks, I noticed a pale, squishy thing on the bottom. It looks like one of the original, little MCAs that I had but squished and almost colorless. Did the rock land on it and pin it down for four days or was it already dying? Will it recover or should I take it out before it rots? I don't know. Here's a (crappy) picture with it under the orange arrow. It's about the same color as the pale underside of the LR making it harder to see, plus some coral bits are stuck in it.