Anemone ID

**quiverpigeon** · 12-21-2009, 08:28 AM

Hi All!
This is my first post on here, but it seems like a great community.
I'm new to marine aquariums, and I've just set up a 180litre(40gallon-ish) tank, which will hopefully house a pair of percula clowns, some shrimp, crabs, and eventually maybe corals and anemones.
Last Thursday I picked up 18kgs of live rock and added it to my tank, about half of which was clean and cured at the lfs, the other half was fresh in that day and so not clean or cured.
A couple of days after adding the rock I came down before the lights in the tank came on and spotted what looks to me like an anemone on one of the more rugged rocks. I've attached a pic, and I was just hoping for some advice about whether this will be a friendly creature to keep in the tank or if I should try and remove it (would have to find it first as it seems to have found somewhere else to hide this morning). I quite like it, but my fiancee says it looks evil, haha.
THere's also a smooth black worm living in one of the rocks that come out at night and picks at the rock, but I've not managed to get a pic of that yet..
Any help or advice much appreciated!
Many thanks,
QP

**Phurst** · 12-21-2009, 10:21 AM

Definitely some kind of anemone, but I'm not sure what. Do you know where the rock came from geographicaly? That would help narrow it down.

**quiverpigeon** · 12-21-2009, 10:28 AM

Yeah, I couldn't find anything that looks quite like it while searching, but I am new to all things marine. Just spoke to someone at the LFS I got the rock from and he says it's from Fiji..

**CarmieJo** · 12-21-2009, 08:31 PM

Hi QP and

to TR!

How big is the worm? Does it have any bristles on the sides of it?

**rayme07** · 12-22-2009, 03:10 AM

Hi Qp Welcome to TR.

I agree with Pearson.

**quiverpigeon** · 12-22-2009, 06:28 AM

Thanks for the welcome, and thanks for looking folks!
The anemone is still coming out each night when the lights go out and looks pretty much the same, but it now seems to extend away from the rock a bit more on a thick stalk. Starts to hide away again even with just a little LED light shining on it.
The worm is smooth all over and very dark grey/black. It extends out from a hole in the rock maybe an inch or so, and it's maybe 1/8" thick. It slowly picks at the rock while it's out, and is also very shy of the light..
Yesterday, also spotted what I think is a small bristleworm at the other end of the tank. Couldn't get a pic of it, but it looks just like pics I've seen of them. Only looks about 1/2" long. dark stretchy body with lots of evenly spaced white spikes all along the length of it.
Oh, spotted some little snails yesterday too.. Their shells look like pointy little stones.
Everything's coming out from hiding now!

**rayme07** · 12-22-2009, 07:59 PM

Originally Posted by quiverpigeon

The worm is smooth all over and very dark grey/black. It extends out from a hole in the rock maybe an inch or so, and it's maybe 1/8" thick. It slowly picks at the rock while it's out, and is also very shy of the light..

I think its called a Peanut worm and he is a good guy he only eats algae and is a great part of your CUC (clean up crew) I have about a dozen of those in my tank and they have not messed with any of my corals, fish, or invertebrates.

**CarmieJo** · 01-01-2010, 07:09 PM

The bristleworms like that are good guys and a beneficial part of the CUC. Your snails may be collinista whick are common hitckhiker snails. The Grazing Snails, Part I - Turbo, Trochus, Astraea, and Kin by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com

**quiverpigeon** · 01-02-2010, 07:39 AM

Cheers for the article CarmieJo! Very interesting stuff.. Need to try and spot one of the little guys again now to compare some of the features.

I've managed to get a slightly better pic of the anemone.. No one I've shown it to has been able to ID it, but they've all said it's probably not dangerous. Think it may have grown a little, and it readily pulls dried bloodworms from a bamboo skewer.

I think there are at least three of the peanut worms in there, one of which extend out a good 4 inches!

I've not seen the bristleworm for a good week or so now. It must have moved homes to a more secluded area.

**CarmieJo** · 01-02-2010, 03:19 PM

I think it might be a mojano anemone.

Google Image Result for http://www.pirx.com/gallery/albums/cnidarians/majano.jpg

They are considered a pest anemone although they are not the plague that aiptasia can be.

**Michael** · 01-04-2010, 07:14 PM

i see you have a peanut worm, very cool how far they can stretch from the hole to eat. i have two of these guys. we use a red light to watch him like most other night critters they are not bother by the red spectrum.