Anemones are some of the most majestic creatures on coral reefs and seeing a wild one loaded with a cloud of clownfish swarming around it is a sight to behold. Unfortunately, in most home aquariums anemones are relegated to being just a part of a reef tank, instead of getting the spotlight they deserve.
It’s truly been a very long time since I have owned a large, hosting species of anemone but yesterday I came across a specimen I just couldn’t resist. While touring my LFS Murrman’s Reef, this single RED long tentacle anemone simply begged me to take it home – I swear the tentacles were doing sign language – and I pulled the trigger on it.
If you only gave it a passing glance you could be forgiven for mistaking this Radianthus (= Heteractis) crispa long tentacle anemone for a rose bubble tip, with its slightly stubby red tentacles which happen to be tipped in green in this specimen. But once you look closer it’s clear that this very flower-like animal is a rare red variant of the popular and easy to keep long tentacle anemone.
This particular ‘Crispa’ even has a ring of normally colored tentacles around its perimeter which adds a nice splash of contrast and frames the beautiful red and green tipped tentacles within. I can’t wait to condition this new pet anemone into its new life in one of me aquariums and look forward to finding lots of neat crabs, shrimp and fish to host inside of it.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
