Haddon's Carpet Anemone

Care at a glance

Overview

Needs strong, stable lighting and good flow across the sand, plus regular feedings of fish, shrimp, or squid, since this is one of the most actively predatory anemones in the hobby: it will and does eat fish that wander into its grip. Only keep fish tankmates it cannot swallow, and never trust it around ornamental shrimp or small crabs. It moves and can sting nearby corals and clams, so keep it isolated on its own patch of sand well clear of powerhead intakes and sessile invertebrates. In the wild it is the primary host of the saddleback clownfish, which dives into the sand at the anemone's edge, and it also hosts clark's and several other Amphiprion species. This is not a beginner anemone: it needs a large, fully mature, stable reef tank and a slow, careful acclimation to have a real chance of surviving long term.

In the wild

Lives half buried in soft sand or muddy substrate on shallow reef flats and lagoons across the Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, with only the wide, carpet-like oral disc exposed on the surface. In the aquarium it needs a deep sand bed to bury its base in and a large footprint of open substrate to spread across as it grows, since a mature specimen can carpet nearly a meter of sand. It is best known in the trade as the natural host of the saddleback clownfish.

Good to know

Stichodactyla haddoni is one of the larger carpet anemones, with short, blunt, button-shaped tentacles that are unusually adhesive, among the stickiest of any anemone in the hobby, and studded with a potent sting that can cause a serious reaction in sensitive people. Like other Stichodactyla it hosts symbiotic zooxanthellae and actively captures prey, and it reproduces both sexually and asexually by fission.

Did you know

Haddon's carpet anemone tentacles are so sticky that a hand or a careless fish brushing against one often cannot simply pull free, which is part of how this species catches fish that other anemones would only irritate.

Related species

• 

  Mertens' Carpet Anemone

  Stichodactyla mertensii

  35.4 in (90 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Gigantea Carpet Anemone

  Stichodactyla gigantea

  19.7 in (50 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Maxi-Mini Carpet Anemone

  Stichodactyla tapetum

  3.1 in (8 cm)20 gal (75 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Magnificent Anemone

  Heteractis magnifica

  19.7 in (50 cm)53 gal (200 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Sebae Anemone

  Heteractis crispa

  15.7 in (40 cm)40 gal (150 L)75–81°F (24–27°C)

• 

  Aurora Anemone

  Heteractis aurora

  11.8 in (30 cm)50 gal (190 L)72–79°F (22–26°C)