BTA question

[mindi]

I have a BTA which seems to be growing strongly...nearly doubled in size in three months approx. What I want to know is if it is normal for the tentacles to occasionally deflate completely for a few hours or so... and more particularly, it sometimes inflates some tentacles to a quite oversized inflation as big as an adult finger...?
I feed it two/three times week on fresh peeled shrimp which it seems to be very happy about, but this bizarre uneven inflation practice seems odd.

Incidentally it was greenish brown and had evenly inflated tentacles when I bought it...it is now predominantly a creamy colour as in these pics..and some tips have a fluoro point on them like the nearby Ancora.

 

[Boston21]

My RBTA inflates/deflates usually when eating or when unhappy. tricky little things to make happy.

 

[mindi]

more info..

more info..

now that I think more...it was pretty "normal" when I came back after 3 weeks of the tank on "auto" and no feeding for the anemones.... in the last ten days I have fed it about three times.. maybe it is some sort of feeding response..?
Yes less than ideal feeding it inconsistently but sometimes I am just not here and while I can auto feed fish have no idea on auto food for an anemone..

 

[bues0022]

You don't need to feed a BTA anything if your lights are sufficiently strong enough.

 

[Big Dave PDX]

Maybe I'm way off, but your nem almost looks like a LTA to me. Can you get a picture of the base or the mouth? Still looks pretty healthy either way to me.

 

[mindi]

Thanks

Thanks

Dave..i am totally confused about the identity of my two anemones...will start on the other one another time. It could be anything for all I know...will tery and get the photos as you suggest and post them to this thread.
Yes it does look healthy...just some great fat over inflated tentacles and some twisted and gnarled..? Will get back with the photos.

 

[mindi]

Update..photos

Update..photos

Still very keen to identify my BTA/LTA/whatever it is.... it came from LFS with greenish brown evenly filled tentacles...now much bigger, creamier colour and lots of irregular, some very fat tentacles..I think that physical change might have been in response to feeding...? I was feeding it a piece of raw shrimp 3 times week. Some tentacles twisted and bent but not so coiled as to be "curly"...see the pics and advise away. I have a second one after we sort this..Many Thanks...!

 

[pc2918]

I usually only feed mine a small piece of silverside (no bigger than its mouth) once a week or so. You could be over feeding. Looks like an LTA

 

[ocellaris123]

Mindi,

Your anemone is a Bubble tipped anemone (E. quadricolor). Long tentacled anemones (M. doreensis) prefer to bury their column in the sand bed. Also your close up of the anemone shows some white lines radiating around the mouth; which is a characteristic of a bta.

IMO 3 times a week feeding is too much. I would cut back to once a week and see how it reacts. When I fed my BTA's more than once a week they deflated/inflated almost daily.

 

[mindi]

Thanks

Thanks

Thanks very much to both of you. Appreciate it. It has never wanted to sit in the sand and the radial lines around the mouth are really clear when you get a look. I suspected I was overfeeding it and have now stopped ...will resume when it looks a bit more normal.