The Sebae Anemone is one of the less common anemones in the reefing hobby and makes a unique addition to a home tank. It is sometimes called the Leather Anemone and is usually brown or tan in colour with brown, blue or purple tips on its tentacles. Their tentacles are generally 1.5” to 2” in length, which is about the same length as the more common Bubble Tip Anemone. They can grow to sizes of up to 30” across and larger specimens have been known to eat smaller fish and invertebrates.
This anemone has a wide range and is found throughout the Indo-Pacific region including the waters off eastern Africa, Polynesia, Australia and even southern Japan. They are most common at depths of between 10-100 feet and generally wedge themselves into rock crevices. In a home aquarium they require a substrate as well as ample live rock with ridges and crevices where they can attach themselves. Since they are mobile, they will seek out an appropriate place in the aquarium but generally will not move once they have attached themselves. They are said to be quite difficult to manually move once they have chosen a location.
The Sebae Anemone requires high levels of light as well as moderate levels of flow. This means that they will often move themselves higher in the aquarium than other species of anemone. Moderate flow is required in order to keep it free of detritus.
While the Sebae Anemone is photosynthetic, they will benefit from periodic feeding of chopped meaty foods or anemone specific pellet food such as Vitalis Anemone Pellets. Many hobbyists claim the supplemental feeding is necessary to ensure their long term health in an aquarium. In the wild, they will form a symbiotic relationship with clownfish and, in return for providing the clownfish with a safe place to live, it will feed on the clownfish’s leftover food. In a home aquarium, clownfish will host a Sebae Anemone just as they would other types of anemone.
Like other anemones Sebae Anemones reproduce by splitting, although this is very rare in a home aquarium. They cannot be fragged like corals and propagation shouldn’t be attempted by hobbyists.
