Bta?

[rssjsb]

This is a BTA, right? Bright purple base, no verrucae. I bought one last week thinking it was a BTA. Still think it is, but have never seen one this color before, or with tentacles this shape. They're not bubbled so much as kind of club-shaped.

http://atlantisaquarium.net/images/invanem23.jpg

 

[garygb]

Looks like H. magnfica to me. Any other pics?

 

[rssjsb]

Oh boy, I hope you're wrong.

No pics yet. He moved to the back of my tank, and I'm still waiting for him to get comfortable.

Don't mags have verrucae?

 

[GSMguy]

I saw it online and thought it was a magnifica as well, what kind of lighting do you have,
you cant wait for them to get comfy sometimes you have to make them comfy.

 

[rssjsb]

All I've got is 2 x 150 watt MH with some T5 actinics. It's only a small tank - 40 gallons - with (gulp) a couple of BTAs already in there. I'm planning to upgrade to a 90 soon, but the project is taking longer than I had hoped.

Remember, I thought it was a BTA. My other ones have taken a week or sometimes two to settle in, so I wasn't particularly concerned. I would never have bought this thing in the first place if I had thought it was magnifica.

Right now, it's sort of wedged in the back of the tank between the other two nems. It made a bee-line for this little spot right after I added it. It hasn't moved since. I've fed it twice - it took mysis and a little piece of silverside.

Do magnificas not have verrucae? This guy's column is completely smooth.

 

[garygb]

You have plenty of lighting, although I would not mix BTA's with an H. magnifica . The verrucae are not pronounced as you would see in H. crispa, instead, toward the top of the column, near the tentacles you can see faint verrucae. The column itself is mostly smooth. The tentacles of H. mag tend not to bulb except very slightly at the end. Also, the end of the tentacle tends to be lighter in color than the long part of the tentacle. The purple base and tentacles in your pic made me think it is a H. magnifica.

 

[rssjsb]

Blerg

 

[phender]

The purple base/column is irrelevant. BTAs can have purple columns as well. The tentacles in the pic aren't really mag like either.
In this case behavior might tell you more than anything else at this point. Is it foot buried in a hole or crevice or is it perched on top of a rock. Mags very rarely bury their foot.

Here is a pic of a typical mag attachment:

 

[rssjsb]

Thanks for weighing in, phender.

Well, right now, it's perched on the side of a rock at the back of the tank, so it's hard for me to see how it's attached. However, I'm assuming based on its position that it's buried in a crevice on the side of the rock pile.

It certainly has access to flat surfaces at the top of the tank. In fact, when I added it to the tank, I placed it on just such a flattish spot at the top of a column of rock. Howeve, it moved to this spot immediately, and has pretty much stayed put. I disturbed it by moving some things around last night to improve flow in the tank and it has either moved down a tiny bit or is just deflated a little.

If it perks up and comes out where I can get a picture, I'll try to post one. Overall, I have to say it's been behaving very much like the BTAs I've added already. (I acknowledge that this may be wishful thinking on my part.)

One other thing that may or may not mean anything. This thing has been in contact with my large RBTA almost constantly for a week, and neither has shown any sign of reacting.