Rose Anemone Question

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taichimaster

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 12, 2008
Messages
395
Location
Kirkland, WA
I have gotten this anemone for some time now and for some reason it has not been bubbly as it use to be. I feed it Mysis every other day.
Lighting is 2x250watt halide.

parameters are:
Ca: 440
Alk: 9.6
Magnesium: 1455

any ideas would be great.

I just did a water change and hopefully that would help it.

Here is a before and after picture.
 
you do not want it all bubbled a BTA is best when the tentacles are normal tubes. sounds like you are doing something RIGHT
 
gorfz, Not sure where your opinion comes from that BTAs are better when tentacles are "normal" tubes....especially considering it's called a BULB Tipped Anemone. Most BTAs are normally BULBED. However, I don't think it's a sign that it's not healthy if it isn't bulbed.

All of my RBTAs are normally bulbed, but at times stretch out their tentacles. What kind of lighting did your BTA have before you got it? If it was in higher light, it could now be "stretching" for light until it acclimates to your lighting.

I'd also suggest you stop feeding it for awhile and see how that effects it. If it's getting enough light, it doesn't need fed at all. Your lighting is more than adequate for it.
 
gorfz, Not sure where your opinion comes from that BTAs are better when tentacles are "normal" tubes....especially considering it's called a BULB Tipped Anemone. Most BTAs are normally BULBED. However, I don't think it's a sign that it's not healthy if it isn't bulbed.

All of my RBTAs are normally bulbed, but at times stretch out their tentacles. What kind of lighting did your BTA have before you got it? If it was in higher light, it could now be "stretching" for light until it acclimates to your lighting.

I'd also suggest you stop feeding it for awhile and see how that effects it. If it's getting enough light, it doesn't need fed at all. Your lighting is more than adequate for it.



Most captive BTAs tend to loose their bulb appearance and many people have come to the conclusion that they do so when they are feeling comfortable with their surroundings. HAve a look at any that have been doing well for years and tell me how many have bulbs. Then ask those people when they see bulbs, and most will tell you that if they have seen bulbs, that something has happened to them to stress them out a bit (not necessarily a lot)
 
I have one that's been very healthy for about 3 years now. It's about 50/50 when it's bubbled. I'm not saying it should always be bubbled, just wondering why someone would say that the tentacles being stretched out is normal and it being bubbly isn't normal. Saying "you don't want it all bubbled out" is like saying you want your LTA (Long Tentacles Anemone) to have shriveled up and short tentacles. That's just not true at all.
 
RBTA's can appear both ways in home aquaria, and is not in itself a sign of health or stress. It has been hypothesized that different environmental conditions may contribute to a quadricolors "bubbliness", but there is no diffinative argument that can be made either way that I know of. In either case both bubbly and not so bubbly specimens can be very happy and long lived. One remark I will make though, and some may disagree, but RBTA's typically only need to be target fed 1-3 times per week, as they use a large amount of energy during digestion. Depending on the size of your anemone (anything other than a tiny specimen), you may consider feeding it a bigger variety of chopped foods (nothing larger than 1/4" for the same reason of energy consumption) like clams, squid, scallops etc. in addition to the mysis. I've heard some people ssay that over feeding RBTA's can encourage them to split, but I'm not sure if there's any hard evidence to that.
 
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