BTA: not "bubbled"?

[Palting]

I have had a BTA for several months now, settled into the rock, hosting 2 clowns, growing. Everything seems good. BUT, the darn thing hasn't had bubble tips since I bought it. Last ime it looked like a bubble tip was when it was still roaming around the tank. Since it has settled into it's spot, nada. It gets a Popeye arm like tentacle once in a while, but it looks more like an LTA rather than a BTA. What gives?

 

[lvpd186]

I've had several, some keep there bubble tips some don't. I've never noticed any difference in them as far as health or anything like that.

 

[username in use]

A lot don't keep bubbles in tanks and no one really seems to have any definitive answers.

 

[Anemone0524]

the answer is there is no answer now, currently. only theories.

MY RBTA never had bubble shape. Others have.

 

[Palting]

OK, thanks for the peace of mind, guys. Now I know it's normal, and he just won't shrivel up suddenly or something.

 

[Black71gp]

my theory and my experience, is if they have clowns hosting they tend not to bubble. of course someone will say they have one and it does, but who knows maybe something to do with it, mine bubbled until the clowns hosted, no other movement or anything. i guess some do some dont.

 

[rishma]

mine gave bubbles and clowns

my observation, the ones I have in direct halide light have bubbles. when they get shaded, but bubble tips go away. I even had one that got half shaded by a growing monti cap, it had half bubbles.


just my experience.

 

[Palting]

Well, mine ia directly under a metal halide, too, but no bubble.

I guess the rule is: there is no rule .

 

[greenbean36191]

Nope, there's no rule. I wasted almost a year trying to figure out what caused the bubbles vs. no bubbles and didn't find any meaningful pattern. FWIW, most of the animals in my study area don't have bubbles most of the time.

 

[89Foxbody]

Mine about a month ago, he's been in that same spot for 4 months. No bubbles. He's grown an inch at least since this pic.

Nothin to worry about. It used to bubble til the clowns found it...never has since. Probably just a coincidence though.

 

[Angel*Fish]

Nope, there's no rule. I wasted almost a year trying to figure out what caused the bubbles vs. no bubbles and didn't find any meaningful pattern. FWIW, most of the animals in my study area don't have bubbles most of the time.

So any guesses or speculation or nothing but frustration? My thought, fwiw, is it must be a combination of factors - not just one thing. I keep waiting for someone to donate $500,000 for a study - then I just know we could get this solved :lol:

 

[greenbean36191]

I agree that it's almost definitely a combination of factors, but I don't really even have a good guess what combination that might be. There were no meaningful trends in the data for any of the single stimuli I tested and there's no apparent pattern to which ones in the wild have or don't have them at a given time.

 

[Eric45]

I like the theory about the clowns. I've only had hosted anemones and they all lost bubbles.

 

[sd2127]

I agree with the combination of factors, my RBTA lost all bubbles also and had clowns hosting it. It is also a little shaded but will sometimes get a little bit of bubbling.

 

[Angel*Fish]

I agree that it's almost definitely a combination of factors, but I don't really even have a good guess what combination that might be. There were no meaningful trends in the data for any of the single stimuli I tested and there's no apparent pattern to which ones in the wild have or don't have them at a given time.

That's what I was afraid of. They always bubble at a LFS here.

 

[sunil6784]

Here's my theory...

Everything in nature happens for a reason right? I asked, what useful function would the bubbles have. My theory is that the bubbles are there when the BTA needs energy and is "hunting" - either by light or by catching something meaty. The increased surface area when the BTA is bubbled increases the chance that it will catch some food. This would also answer why in the home aquarium most lose their bubbles. People tend to spot feed their anenomes quite often, OR they have clowns feeding their anenome.

People tend to have strong lighting too...it'd be an interesting study to see the number of BTA's that bubble under PC lighting, T5 lighting, and halide lighting..

 

[IAReefer]

Well, not to bust anyone bubble, no pun intended, but my RBTA has a pair of false percs and I spot feed it silversides and mysis. I cant explain why it bubbles. I had another awesome RBTA in the tank and after the first week or so I never bubble again and it was 8" inches away from the other one.

 

[RobbyVonAwesome]

Here's my theory...

Everything in nature happens for a reason right? I asked, what useful function would the bubbles have. My theory is that the bubbles are there when the BTA needs energy and is "hunting" - either by light or by catching something meaty. The increased surface area when the BTA is bubbled increases the chance that it will catch some food. This would also answer why in the home aquarium most lose their bubbles. People tend to spot feed their anenomes quite often, OR they have clowns feeding their anenome.

People tend to have strong lighting too...it'd be an interesting study to see the number of BTA's that bubble under PC lighting, T5 lighting, and halide lighting..

I think you're on the right track, but I believe the opposite is true. It would make more sense that the anemone would have longer arms when searching for food.

I have experimented with this twice in my tank. I have a RBTA that was bubbled when I got it. I didn't feed it and within a week it lost its bubbles. I started feeding it again, EVERY DAY (consistency is key), and about 3 weeks later it was fully bubbled. I missed 3 days of feeding and it was back to no bubbles, which I fixed by consistent feedings. Now I'm getting it to split by denying it target feedings (a process that's worked before, I think because it slightly stresses the animal). Since I'm not feeding it right now, the arms are long.

Get some fresh shrimp and cut a little piece off every day, about the size of a fingertip, and mash it up until its kind of a paste. Just squeeze it a few times between your fingers. You're basically "chewing" the food for the anemone. Remember consistency is key. You gotta feed it every day, and at the same time of day.

These are techniques that have worked for me, and I can control my anemone's behavior very effectively with them.

 

[njdevilsfan]

i think its an age thing
my new splits always have bubbles

 

[Porcupinepuffer]

I have no idea why this is. But I'd like to post my recent anemone activity. I purchased a BTA about 3 years ago. It never had bubble tips. Over the years, it has slowly split and split and split. I now have 10 BTA's in my tank, which control the entire right hand side of my tank, killed every coral I had on that side... All the anemone's have the same tips except one that I noticed several weeks ago. There's just this one for the first time ever that has bubble tips. So I can't see it being a water quality or lighting issue. As this one anemone is surrounded by its other clones that don't have bubble tips.