Condylactis Anemone

The Condylactis anemone has a showy crown made up of thick, long, pointed tentacles. The tentacles are usually cream or light brown with pink, purple or green tips; the body (column) is orangish to flesh-colored. The tentacle crown can reach 20–30 cm in the aquarium, and more under good conditions. The symbiotic algae in its tissue produce nutrients from light, but this alone is not enough.

Since clownfish do not live in the Caribbean, it is not their natural host; in the aquarium some clownfish may move into it, but it should not be bought for this purpose alone. On the other hand, it is the natural home of Caribbean shrimp such as Pederson's cleaner shrimp. Its tentacles sting strongly: slow or sleeping small fish that bump into it can be caught and eaten. Those on the market are wild-collected.

It lives on shallow reefs, seagrass beds and lagoons from Bermuda to Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. It anchors its foot in rock crevices or in rubble under the sand, leaving only its tentacle crown exposed.

• Volume: At least 150 liters and a mature, stable aquarium at least 6 months old.
• Water: Salinity specific gravity 1.023–1.026, pH 8.1–8.4, temperature 24–27°C; nitrate should be low.
• Light and flow: Moderate to strong lighting, moderate and variable flow. A rock crevice or a corner where sand meets rock should be provided where it can settle its foot.
• Pump protection: It can get sucked into pumps while moving around; all intakes should be covered with sponges.
• Reef compatibility: Reef-safe with caution. Its tentacles reach farther than you think; it stings the corals around it, and when it moves it harms its new neighbors.
• Acclimation and medication: It is acclimated by the drip method for at least 1 hour; copper-based medications are lethal.

Carnivorous. In addition to light, it should be fed 1–2 times a week with small morsels such as mysis, chopped shrimp, mussel or fish flesh. The morsel is placed on the tentacles; the anemone carries it to its mouth. Large morsels are regurgitated and foul the water.

It roams the aquarium until it finds a suitable spot; it may change its position depending on the light. Contracting and opening during the day is normal. It competes chemically and physically with anemones of other species in the same aquarium.

Good companions: Pederson's cleaner shrimp, sexy shrimp, medium to large fast fish (tangs, damselfish, large clownfish); hermit crabs, snails.

Avoid: Small gobies, firefish, seahorses and slow-swimming small fish; butterflyfish and angelfish that pick at anemones; corals placed close to it and anemones of other species.

Start the aquarium with a single specimen. In large aquariums several Condylactis can be kept together, but each should have its own crevice with distance left between them; it should not be put in the same aquarium as an anemone of another species.

In the wild the sexes are separate; it releases its eggs and sperm into the water. No offspring are obtained this way in the home aquarium.

• Bleaching: Turning snow white is the loss of its symbiotic algae; lighting, temperature and feeding should be reviewed.
• Deflating: Short-term contraction is normal; an anemone that does not open for days and whose mouth protrudes is a sign of a serious problem.
• Death: A dead anemone decays quickly and poisons the water; it should be removed immediately and a large water change done.

Cannot be distinguished externally.