Anem w no tentacles

Pool_shark

New member
I have a LTA (not rose, not bubble tip) for my clowns, but they pay no attention to it whatsoever. The other night with the moon lights on I couldn't find it. So, I figured the little bugger had moved again and I'd have to go find it in the morning. However, looking a little closer, I found it was exactly where it was before, only it had pulled all of it's tentacles into it's body/stalk, and looked like a big zoa polyp. Normally it's larger than a baseball, but all pulled in, it was smaller than a golf ball. All of my water params were perfect. Have you seen this before, and is this normal?
 
if its a new nem in your system less then one month the it might be aclimating to your system. How long has the nem been in your tank? Any pic?
 
I've had the nem about 2 months, and this is the second time I've seen it happen. It doesn't do this typically when it eats, and it had not just eaten. Thanks for the help.

What do you call an anemony with no tentacles in the sea? . . . Bob :lol2:

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Nobody has ever seen this before? Do I have the only contortionist anemone in the world? :celeb3:

It's actually not that uncommon. Anemones will start to lose their tentacles/ suck them into there body when they are starving to death. I would try to feed him small pieces of meaty foods to help him recover. What type of lighting do you have?
 
Mine does that every once and a while. It really only does it when theres something wonky with my water though, try doing a water change and see if that helps.
 
I just had that happen with several BTAs in one system, but not with another in the same system... So therefore I have NO explanation.. The RBTAs lost their tentacles completely and turned into a bleached with, that's it.

Almost 2 months later, they moved way down on my rock work, are getting color back, and now have tentacles again... It's recovering, but it has taken a while. No clue what happened.
 
It's actually not that uncommon. Anemones will start to lose their tentacles/ suck them into there body when they are starving to death. I would try to feed him small pieces of meaty foods to help him recover. What type of lighting do you have?

It's not losing tentacles, it's just pulling it's stalk up over them like a turtleneck. I have 2x250 MH as well as T5 lighting. The nem is all nice and brown, so it's zoozanthelae (sp?) are not dying off, and I feed him small meaty chunks twice per week. It's mouth is also closed, not gaping open like they do when they are sick. Everything about it looks healthy to me, but I am going to feed him just a bit more now that you have mentioned this. I certainly don't want him starving, though I don't think that's an issue here.
Thanks.
 
Is it losing its tentacles or just closing up over them? I couldnt make out exactly what you were seeing (pics didnt work out and your posts indicated both) if it's just closing up on them, i wouldnt worry, lots of different species of anemones do that...may be sleeping, may have just eaten...there are a myriad of reasons. If it truley lost the tentacles, as stated previously, it's probably starving

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Is it losing its tentacles or just closing up over them? I couldnt make out exactly what you were seeing (pics didnt work out and your posts indicated both) if it's just closing up on them, i wouldnt worry, lots of different species of anemones do that...may be sleeping, may have just eaten...there are a myriad of reasons. If it truley lost the tentacles, as stated previously, it's probably starving

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Closing up over them, and only at night, but not every night. Only three times in about as many months.
 
I agree with sgtgonzo, it could be anything. My bta's will close themselves up when something is bothering them. Generally it is my clownfish that will get to aggressive with the bta's causing them to ball up like an h. Magnifica.
 
Are you sure it isnt a ritteri anemone? They frequently ball up lime that. And it would be odd for a LTA to be living in on the rockwork.
 
Are you sure it isnt a ritteri anemone? They frequently ball up lime that. And it would be odd for a LTA to be living in on the rockwork.

As far as I know, it is a green LTA. It is brown with purple/pink tips, and has always (approx 2 months) been attached to my live rock. It has grown since I have had it, and it seems perfectly healthy to my semi-trained eye.
 
My LTA does that also and is very healthy. Sometimes it balls up after feeding, but sometimes it just does it for some other reason usually shortly after lights out. At least thats when i see it. I have had my LTA for several years. I would not worry about it.
 
It is normal for the BTA's to ball up completely, I have 6 RBTA's and they all do it for no reason known to me, but they are all healthy.
 
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