Aiptasia (Aiptasia pallida and friends) is a translucent brown anemone with long stinging tentacles and a tall, slender body. Majano (Anemonia spp.) is shorter and stockier with shorter, more bulbous tentacles, often with green or brown coloration. Both arrive on live rock, frag plugs, or hitchhiking on incoming coral. Both reproduce by pedal laceration - even a tiny piece of foot tissue left behind after removal grows into a new anemone within weeks.
Cutting an Aiptasia or majano in half does not kill it. It produces two anemones. Pulling one off live rock leaves enough pedal tissue behind that you have just multiplied the population. Every reefer learns this once. The methods below are reliable because they target the entire animal, including the tissue still attached to the rock.
Berghia stephanieae is a tiny aeolid nudibranch that eats nothing but Aiptasia. Add 6-12 to a tank with a meaningful Aiptasia population, leave the lights on a normal cycle, and within 3-6 months the population is gone. The Berghia themselves do not survive without their food source, so they fade out naturally once the work is done. Berghia do not eat majano - if you have both, you need a different approach for the majano. Berghia will not survive in tanks with peppermint shrimp, mandarin gobies, butterflies, six-line wrasses, or anything that eats small invertebrates.
Real Lysmata wurdemanni eats Aiptasia. The closely related Lysmata boggessi often sold under the same name does not. Buy from a vendor that explicitly identifies the species. Add 3-5 peppermint shrimp to your tank, feed them lightly so they go after Aiptasia for food, and they will reduce the population over a few weeks. Peppermints can also nibble at zoanthids and clam mantles, so they are not perfect roommates for high-end zoa collections.
For larger or isolated specimens, direct injection of a paste-thick kalkwasser slurry, F-Aiptasia, Aiptasia-X, or boiling lemon juice (yes, that works) kills individual anemones cleanly. Use a syringe with a blunt-tip applicator, inject directly into the oral disc, and pull back so the anemone closes around the substance. Dead Aiptasia turn white within minutes and detach from the rock within a day. This method scales poorly past 20-30 anemones - at that point you are better off introducing biological control.
The Aiptasia-eating filefish, also known as the matted filefish or bristletail filefish, eats Aiptasia and majano with enthusiasm. They are reef-safe most of the time but occasionally develop a taste for Acanthastrea or zoanthid colonies. Best for FOWLR or simple soft-coral tanks; risky for high-end SPS or Acan systems. Add one fish per 50-100 gallons; pairs are aggressive toward each other.
Recommendations on this page cross-checked against the following authoritative references and our internal vendor + breeder database.
Answers to the questions experienced keepers ask after the basic care guide.
Drip acclimation over 60 to 90 minutes is the safest approach for Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics. Match temperature first (15 minute float), then drip 2 to 3 drops per second from the display sump until the bag volume has tripled. Test salinity (or freshwater hardness) at the end - if it is within 0.001 SG (or 2 dGH) of the display, transfer the specimen with a net rather than pouring shipping water in.
Aim for biological + mechanical + chemical staging. Canister or sump-driven filtration sized for 5x to 8x display turnover per hour, mechanical floss replaced weekly, and carbon or GAC swapped every 4 to 6 weeks. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics responds well to stable nitrate (under 20 ppm) more than to any specific filter brand - stability beats peak performance.
For saltwater specimens, yes - a properly-sized skimmer rated for 1.5x to 2x display volume keeps dissolved organics low and reduces nuisance-algae triggers. Freshwater specimens do not need skimmers; a well-stocked plant grow-out + canister with chemical media achieves the same end. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics kept without adequate organic export tends to show stress within 90 days.
Compatibility with planted tanks depends on the species behavior + water chemistry overlap. Plant-safe specimens leave foliage alone; some pick at soft-tissue plants like vallisneria or anubias. Check the species page profile + the planted-tank compatibility note before stocking Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics in a high-tech CO2-injected setup with valuable cultivars.
For freshwater specimens with no plant requirements, a basic LED at 30 to 50 PAR at substrate is sufficient and reduces algae. For saltwater + reef specimens, target 100 to 250 PAR depending on photo-tolerance, with a sunrise/sunset ramp + a 8 to 10 hour photoperiod. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics tolerates a wider lighting band than most keepers expect; consistency matters more than peak intensity.
Most aquarium species evolved in moderate flow with localized turbulence rather than uniform high flow. Aim for 20x to 40x display turnover for reef specimens, 4x to 6x for community freshwater. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics shows stress fins (clamped, frayed) when flow is mismatched - dial back if you see this within 14 days of introduction.
Sustained drift above +/- 2 F from target is the threshold most keepers miss. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics tolerates day-night swings of 1 to 2 F without issue but a 4 F shift over 2 hours triggers ich + bacterial bloom risk. Use a controller-driven heater (not the built-in dial) and a backup thermometer at the opposite end of the tank.
For freshwater fish: ich, columnaris, and fin rot are the top three; quarantine + UV sterilizer prevents the majority. For marine fish: ich (Cryptocaryon), velvet (Amyloodinium), and bacterial infections; tank-transfer method or copper QT during the 30-day acclimation cycle prevents nearly all outbreaks. For inverts + corals: tissue necrosis, parasitic isopods, and protozoan blooms.
Captive breeding success varies enormously by species - some breed readily in community tanks (livebearers, cherry shrimp, clownfish) while others have never been captive-bred (most reef fish + most marine inverts). Check the species-specific care guide for the breeding-method note + larval-rearing protocol. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics kept in pairs or small groups often spawns even without intent if conditions are right.
Avoid same-species rivals (especially male-male pairings for territorial species), known fin-nippers (tiger barbs, certain pufferfish), and anything that out-competes for food or out-grows the tank. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics also struggles with hyper-aggressive cichlids in freshwater and damselfish in saltwater - both will hold territory at the expense of every other tankmate.
Most ornamental specimens accept cleaner shrimp + cleaner gobies; cleaner wrasses (Labroides) often die in captivity and are not recommended. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics kept with cleaner pairs typically benefits from parasite control + stress reduction, but verify the cleaner does not get eaten by checking the species size + temperament chart.
Captive lifespan tracks closely to wild lifespan when water chemistry, diet, and tankmate stress are managed. Most aquarium fish live 5 to 12 years; long-lived species (large cichlids, pufferfish, some tangs) reach 15+ years. Aiptasia and majano: nuking the pest anemones in your reef - Fast Aquatics kept in a stable, properly-sized system should live within 80% to 100% of the species lifespan ceiling - early death usually traces back to chronic-stress causes (parameters, tankmates, diet) rather than disease.