Long tentacle anemone
Macrodactyla doreensis
Also known as LTA, Corkscrew Anemone, Corkscrew Tentacle Anemone
SaltwaterAnemone
Care at a glance
- Temperature
- 75–81°F
- 24–27°C
- pH
- 8.1–8.4
- Adult size
- 15.7 in
- 40 cm
- Minimum tank
- 40 gal
- 150 L
- Temperament
- Peaceful
- Social behavior
- Solitary
- Swim level
- Bottom
- Diet
- Photosynthetic
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Breeding
- No record
- Rarity
- Common
- Reef safe
- Reef safe with caution
- Family
- Actiniidae
- Origin
- Indo-Pacific (Japan to northern Australia)
Overview
The long tentacle anemone is a host anemone that lives in the sand bed of a reef tank. It is reef safe with caution and suits a keeper with some reef experience.
Did you know
The long tentacle anemone buries its foot so deep that an unhappy specimen can seem to vanish into the sand entirely. Days later it can reappear somewhere else in the tank, once it finds better light or flow.
Caring for the long tentacle anemone
Give a long tentacle anemone a soft sand bed at least 10 cm deep so its long foot can anchor properly. Place it where moderate to high lighting reaches the substrate, not tucked under an overhang. Run gentle to moderate flow across the sand bed rather than a direct blast. Strong current can dislodge a foot that has not fully buried itself yet.
Only add it to a tank of at least 40 gal (150 L) with a deep, mature sand bed already in place. Float and drip acclimate it slowly. Keep the water at 75 to 81°F (24 to 27°C) with a pH of 8.1 to 8.4.
It carries symbiotic zooxanthellae in its tissue and supplements that energy by catching zooplankton and small prey with its tentacles. Offer chopped shrimp or silverside once or twice a week.
As a true anemone, it can relocate itself across the sand looking for a better spot. Keep it away from powerhead intakes, and give nearby corals a wide berth, since it can sting them in passing.
In the wild it hosts Clark's, pink skunk, orange fin and ocellaris clownfish. It is one of the more reliable sand anemone hosts in the aquarium, and it is popular for Clark's and ocellaris clownfish in particular.
Good to know
Macrodactyla doreensis is the only species in its genus, though some recent molecular work would fold it into Heteractis (Radianthus). It sits in the family Actiniidae. Its tentacles are relatively few and often twist into a corkscrew shape, especially when the anemone is not fully expanded. That shape gives it the corkscrew anemone nickname.
In the wild
The long tentacle anemone is native to the Indo-Pacific, from Japan down through New Guinea to northern Australia. It buries its column in sand or muddy rubble on shallow reef flats and lagoons. Only the oral disc and tentacle crown show above the sand.
Symbiotic relationships
Clownfish and their host anemones
A clownfish lives inside an anemone that stings and eats other fish its size. Its mucus coat keeps the anemone's stinging cells from firing, and a new fish builds that protection up over hours of brief touches. The fish gets a refuge no predator will follow it into and a nest site at the anemone's base. The anemone gets a guard that drives off the butterflyfish that would graze its tentacles, a steady supply of nitrogen from the fish's waste, and water movement at night, when the fish fans its fins among the tentacles and the anemone takes up more oxygen. Only ten anemone species host clownfish in the wild, and each clownfish species uses its own short list of them.
Captive-bred clownfish have never seen an anemone and do not need one; they settle for a coral, a powerhead or a corner of the tank. If you want the pairing, the anemone is the harder animal by far and goes in first, into a mature tank with strong light and stable water, at the tank size its own profile lists. The bubble tip anemone is the hardy host, and the one most clownfish accept in captivity even when it is not a natural host, so a clownfish profile lists it as the usual tank host where that is the case. The sebae, magnificent and carpet anemones are marked difficult, and the carpets eat fish. Expect a paired clownfish to defend its anemone against everything else in the tank.
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 long tentacle anemone need?
A long tentacle anemone needs at least 40 gal (150 L).
What temperature and pH does a long tentacle anemone need?
A long tentacle anemone is comfortable at 75–81°F (24–27°C) with a pH of 8.1–8.4.
What does a long tentacle anemone eat?
A long tentacle anemone draws energy from the symbiotic zooxanthellae in its tissue and adds to it by catching zooplankton and small prey. In the tank, offer chopped shrimp or silverside once or twice a week.
How big does a long tentacle anemone get?
An adult long tentacle anemone reaches about 15.7 in (40 cm).
