Red carpet anemones are one of the most exotic clownfish-hosting anemone on the reef. I had lusted for brilliant Red Sea blue and purple carpet anemones for a decade before i found out about the existence of this fascinating reef creature in a bright red coloration, I still remember the time and place, and when I first saw a colossal specimen of red Stichodactyla haddoni.
I’ve still yet to see a red carpet anemone in the wild, but the next best thing is seeing a specimen living in a semi-outdoor reef pond, at Bali Aquarium. I saw how how this red carpet anemone looked when it arrived in average condition about 6 weeks ago. In the intervening time, with good flow, stable conditions and plenty of room to stretch out, the S. haddoni has blossomed into an awesome specimen.
This red carpet anemone is looking incredible under filtered daylight, helping to bring out an even mix of chromatic and fluorescent pigments in a way that makes the red color pop from across the Bali Aquarium coral compound. We still love our blue carpet anemones and yellow carpet anemones have a lot going on for them too, but there’s quite simply no other animal on the whole frigging reef is redder than red carpet anemones.
