Condy anemone
Condylactis gigantea
Also known as Condylactis Anemone, Giant Caribbean Anemone, Haitian Pink-Tip Anemone, Golden Anemone
SaltwaterAnemone
Care at a glance
- Temperature
- 75–81°F
- 24–27°C
- pH
- 8.1–8.4
- Adult size
- 11.8 in
- 30 cm
- Minimum tank
- 40 gal
- 150 L
- Temperament
- Mostly peaceful
- Social behavior
- Solitary
- Tankmates
- With caution
- Swim level
- Bottom
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Breeding
- No record
- Rarity
- Very common
- Reef safe
- Reef safe with caution
- Family
- Actiniidae
- Origin
- Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic
Overview
The Condy anemone is an inexpensive, hardy anemone that pet stores have sold as a clownfish starter anemone for decades. It is reef safe with caution and suits a keeper with a little reef experience.
Did you know
The Condy anemone evolved on the opposite side of the world from every wild clownfish population. It never developed the relationship that lets a true host anemone's mucus coat protect a resident clownfish from its sting.
Caring for the Condy anemone
Give a Condy anemone moderate to strong lighting and moderate flow. Place it on the lower rockwork with open space around it.
Acclimate it slowly into an established, stable tank of at least 40 gal (150 L). Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4.
It gets its energy from a mix of symbiotic zooxanthellae and active predation, and it hunts more actively than most photosynthetic anemones. Give it regular meaty feedings of chopped shrimp, silverside or fish two or three times a week.
It moves around on its pedal disc, and its strong sting hits anything that brushes its tentacles. Keep it well away from corals, and shield any powerheads it could wander into.
Do not count on it to pair with a clownfish. A clownfish introduced to one may be accepted, ignored, or stung and killed, and the outcome is unpredictable. Pederson and other cleaner shrimp, arrow crabs and emerald crabs are natural partners for it. It is fine kept with others of its own kind.
Good to know
Condylactis gigantea belongs to the family Actiniidae. Its long, tapering tentacles end in a slightly swollen tip. They come in a wide range of natural colors, including pink, purple and green.
In the wild
Condy anemones are common on shallow reef flats, seagrass beds and rubble zones throughout the Caribbean and western Atlantic. They usually wedge the column into a rock crevice and hold the tentacles fully extended to catch passing prey.
Symbiotic relationships
Shrimp and crabs that live in anemones
Several small crustaceans live where almost nothing else can: among the tentacles of an anemone. Sexy shrimp perch in the tentacles in a cluster, bobbing their tails in the display that named them. The white-spot anemone shrimp is near transparent apart from its spots and lives on carpet anemones. The porcelain anemone crab sits at the anemone's edge and filters plankton from the water with two fan-like arms. Pederson's cleaner shrimp lives in the Caribbean corkscrew anemone and cleans fish from there. In every case the anemone is a bodyguard: its sting keeps off the small fish that would eat the shrimp. The anemone gains little, and the white-spot shrimp will nibble its host's tentacles when it is hungry.
Give each of them its anemone. Sexy shrimp take a rock flower anemone, a bubble tip or a carpet. The white-spot shrimp and the porcelain crab want a carpet anemone or a long tentacle anemone, both of which need a mature tank at the tank size their profiles list. Pederson's shrimp wants a corkscrew anemone or a condy. Without a host they perch on a coral or hide in the rock and are picked off by any fish that eats shrimp, so they suit a peaceful nano reef. A clownfish will evict them from an anemone it has claimed.
Common questions
What size tank does a Condy anemone need?
A Condy anemone needs at least 40 gal (150 L).
What temperature and pH does a Condy anemone need?
A Condy anemone is comfortable at 75–81°F (24–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.
What does a Condy anemone eat?
A Condy anemone gets its energy from a mix of symbiotic zooxanthellae and active predation. Feed it chopped shrimp, silverside or fish two or three times a week.
How big does a Condy anemone get?
An adult Condy anemone reaches about 11.8 in (30 cm).
