bought first anemone.. questions and pictures

[ramtmac]

just got a bubble tip anemone this morning.
after getting it home and it opened up, I noticed what looked like another mouth off on the side. Is it another mouth?

How long will it usually move around until it finds a spot? Its now laying in the back of my tank between the glass and a rock... looks great from above, but can't really see it.
Also, How do I know if I got a healthy one or not?

My true percula's aren't going near it at all. They are staying in the top corner of my tank along with my other fish. Is this normal for the first day? Or will they get used to it and the clowns will host to it?

 

[a-T-m]

I've never seen a BTA that looked like that.

I don't see the second mouth that you're mentioning in the picture.

Clowns will rarely, if ever, hop into an anemone on the first they. Hosting takes a while, and they eventually will host something. Give them some time to notice the anemone in the tank. Supposedly, taping pictures of your clown species hosting in that anemone species help get them to host, it's worked for a few people on here. If you ask, someone will surely have a good picture of some percs in a BTA

 

[ramtmac]

See that scares me that youve never seen one like mine. I hope i didnt get a bad one.
Think i will try the pictures for my clown fish, doesnt hurt to try.

 

[juniorjose]

i think bta comes only in red(rose) or green. never seen that either or is the pic not giving it the true color? it could be bleached but i dont know too much about them. maybe someone else can help

 

[a-T-m]

See that scares me that youve never seen one like mine. I hope i didnt get a bad one.
Think i will try the pictures for my clown fish, doesnt hurt to try.

It'll be alright, as long as you keep up water quality and lighting it'll be fine.

 

[t4zalews]

that BTA looks pretty healthy to me...the mouth is nice and tight. How sticky is it? You can usually tell an anemone's health when you feed it. Does it quickly bring the food to its mouth/close on it?

I'd say given correct parameters and lighting..it will darken in color. It looks like a big anemone, hopefully the tentacles stay bubbled.

The BTA isnt a natural host for the percula, when I had my first tank, they didnt seem interested in the BTA at all I had for them. After a month, they randomly dove right in and would not leave. I tend to "introduce" them to the anemone, so that they know of it being there. I used a net to round them up and carefully put them over the anemone....once they dive in once, they never leave.

 

[ramtmac]

wow that makes me feel better. thanks!
Also He seems to have made himself very comfortable in the back of my tank where i can not see him. Will he move again or when can i move him... or should I move him at all?

 

[t4zalews]

I know your pain...I've had expereience with BTA's going behind rocks. Im not sure why they do this. But I'd just let him walk where it wants, I would occasionally turn the rocks it was on so I could see it. Just dont remove the mantle from the rock.

Try finding a hole like crevice in your rockwork...turn down the powerheads (or turn them off)...place the foot in the crevice, let it attach and turn the poweheads back on. I've had some success using this. For the most part, pretty much all anemones just want a safe place to anchor down at. Finding a happy place for the foot is the key.

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

BTA come in all shades of green, be it grass green, firetruck red, or light brown. I've seen plenty of BTA like that. Yours is fine. It does look a bit lightly colored, though. With a little TLC, it should be looking great in a month! Give it some mysis every 3 weeks (small feedings. Since it is on the light colored side, it may be recovering from bleaching under bad lights, in which case it can't break down food as fast.)
Last month I got 2 GBTA, both same size, same color. I put one under 48w PC, and the other under 110w PC. The one under 110w PC is green with yellow tips, while the one under 48w PC is the same color as when I bought it - brown. What kind of lights do you have?

You shouldn't move anemones, I learned the hard way. It bothers them. Let him move on his own, and he'll find a sweet spot with the right flow, lighting, and rock structure. I find that wild caught anemones move more than captive raised. I got a 6" RBTA a few months ago for $50 and he was tank raised. I put him in a good spot and he hasn't moved at all. He opens up 10" or more now! My clownfish even chose it yesterday to lay eggs under. I also bought a $90 bi-color rose that was 8" but wild caught. It kept moving and stinging corals, so I took it back to the LFS for store credit. My point is, if yours is wild caught, it will move around a lot until it has found a good spot. If it has been in a good captive tank for a while, it may take less time to find a good spot.

 

[ramtmac]

to feed it mysis, should I use something similar to a turkey baster and slowly squirt it on to its tentatcles or his mouth (with the powerhead off)?
Ive seen pictures of people feeding them solids like shrimp, but am unsure about frozen foods

 

[briankmarsh1980]

don't move it. let it do its thing unless its in danger of a powerhead or something, it looks good except for color, short fat tentacles means they are getting plenty of light and don't need to stretch out, try feeding it every couple of days, i use raw shrimp from albertsons, i just cut them into small pieces. if it's mouth hangs open thats not good.

oh and if you have to move it get an ice cube and massage its foot and it will retract

 

[WaffleWalffle22]

to feed it mysis, should I use something similar to a turkey baster and slowly squirt it on to its tentatcles or his mouth (with the powerhead off)?
Ive seen pictures of people feeding them solids like shrimp, but am unsure about frozen foods

Feed it 5 PE mysis (they are huge!). Everyone feeds frozen food, it will be fine, but let it thaw in a bowl of the tank water first. You can hand-feed it. That is what I do for mine. It won't hurt! :lolspin:

 

[ramtmac]

oh okay great. i'll be making a trip to the store soon enough.
after feeding this morning.. he shriveled up.. and has been for about 5 hours. completely deflated and under a rock. i made another post about this but haven't really gotten any responses. any reason why? just excretion or getting used to the tank? there is apicture of him on the other post ("deflated anemone.. why?")

 

[ocellaris123]

My clownfish even chose it yesterday to lay eggs under. I also bought a $90 bi-color rose that was 8" but wild caught. It kept moving and stinging corals, so I took it back to the LFS for store credit. My point is, if yours is wild caught, it will move around a lot until it has found a good spot. If it has been in a good captive tank for a while, it may take less time to find a good spot.

Anemones; wild caught or captive raised will move around until it has found a certain spot it is most comfortable in. Of course the captive raised anemone will adjust better to captive conditions, but regardless of wild vs. captive raised an anemone will move until it finds a spot most favorable to it. My guess is your bicolor rose did not find any real estate that suited it right away. I have never heard or experienced in my time of working at a LFS, keeping bubble anemones in my personal tank, and now working at a public aquarium of wild caught anemones wondering more than captive raised ones.

To answer the OP's next question, if you anemone recently deflated than it could be expelling zooanthallae or waste.

 

[rssjsb]

To sum up:

1. Your anemone looks a little bleached, but should be fine once it's acclimated and eating.

2. Do not move it unless it is in danger from a powerhead. I've kept BTAs for a long time (clones and otherwise) and they can take a few weeks before they come out and find a spot in the "sun." Try to be patient.

3. Anemones are mostly water, and sometimes they deflate and re-inflate until the inside matches the outside - that is until they've gotten used to your tank conditions. They look awful while they're doing that, but unless you start seeing what look like "guts" coming out of the mouth, I wouldn't worry too much.

4. Clowns sometimes take a long time to find a host. My ocellaris took nearly a year before they took up residence in my BTA.