Aiptasia (glass anemone)

Care at a glance

Aiptasia is the best-known pest in the marine aquarium: a translucent brown little anemone with long tentacles that arrives as a hitchhiker on live rock or a coral frag. It multiplies rapidly and burns corals away with its stinging cells to make room.

Never remove it with a knife or tweezers: every scrap of foot left behind grows into a new animal, so you only make the problem worse. Use an injection product that kills the polyp from the inside, or leave it to natural enemies such as the peppermint shrimp, the matted filefish or specialised sea slugs.

Good to know

• Potent sting — keep distance in the tank

Natural predators

• Peppermint shrimpLysmata wurdemanni
• Berghia nudibranch (aiptasia eater)Berghia stephanieae
• Matted filefishAcreichthys tomentosus
• Copperband butterflyfishChelmon rostratus
• Raccoon butterflyfishChaetodon lunula
• Threadfin butterflyfishChaetodon auriga

Related species

• Frilled anemone (metridium)Metridium senile
• Curly-cue anemoneBartholomea annulata
• Gigantea carpet anemoneStichodactyla gigantea
• Tube anemoneCerianthus membranaceus
• Long tentacle anemoneMacrodactyla doreensis
• Beaded sea anemoneHeteractis aurora