How to get the bubble back in the tip?

[GreyDC]

Hi folks!!! Just last week I picked up a beautiful RBTA from my LFS to try and get my clowns to host (no luck yet on that front).......The RTBA seems to being doing well and has found its spot in the tank......my question is, the tentacles have skinnyed out a bit, AKA they lost they "bubble".

Is this a sign of it not doing well? or is it too much flow? How do I get the bubble back in the tentacles?

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

It's an on-going question, so I wouldn't expect a solid answer.
Mine is about the same. Some people think when they are elongated and skinny, they are in "fishing mode" (tryin to catch meaty stuff in the water)

Personally, I think it may have something to do with water quality. you can see mine in my avatar. it's healthy, but I need a sump/skimmer so...idk
I do a lot of water changes to make up for the absence of the skimmer

 

[GreyDC]

I gotcha. Thanks sk8reefgeek!

I was thinking about the "fishing for food" option......my water quality is very good with great skimming......so I am not too worried on that note.

 

[flasher1]

It seems to be the RBTA's that lose the bulbs. I speculate that it is because the photosynthetic cells in the RBTA might accept the lower end of the light spectrum and since most metal halides seem to peak on the lower end, it does not need to increase its surface area (to absorb more sunlight) by bulbing up.

The only way to know for sure is to try to isolate the zooanthellae in RBTA's and test for reactivity across the light spectrum.

All I can do is speculate. It would be an interesting experiment to get a single RBTA to split so you would have identical anenomes, then put one under a 14k mh bulb and put the other one under a 6k mh bulb and see if one bubbles more often then the other. You would have to connect them to the same sump with identical conditions (water flow, temp, quality, etc).

I think I might have just found the topic for my thesis

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

i have read and heard it is a food related thing...the more meaty foods they get the more they tend to keep their bulbous form...

 

[chewie]

Mine get bubbly 3-4 hours after feeding. They stay bubbly for a day or 2 after.

 

[vincent6396]

Mine stays bubble all the time, I feed them silverside every other day.

 

[seafansar]

It doesn't matter how much I feed my RBTA, it never bubbles up. But it's big and healthy!

 

[sk8rreefgeek]

see what I mean haha

flasher - that WOULD be cool

 

[Genghis]

Mine has thin since I got it a couple months ago. I have slowed down the feeding regiment and noticed that it is slightly bubbled up when my actinics are on and thins out once the halides turn on. I have stopped direct feeding for 2 weeks and seen the bubbles grow a bit more during actinics and some tentacles are maintaining a fatter but not fully bubbled shape when the halides turn on.

 

[whatcaneyedo]

I've got a green bubble tip anemone that had bubbled tips when I bought it, then they turned thin and mishapen for a while and now they are bubbled again. I dont know exactally what caused it but some of the things that changed during that time were: I switched from 10K to 14K 250W MH, I began running carbon, I began adding a drop of lugols iodine every other day, and I reduced my nitrate to 2ppm from about 10.

 

[klavestat]

We have about 15 cloned BTAs (started with 2 tiny ones 2 years ago). The largest 3 are each about 1 foot across. They're all tended by our maroon clownfish who shares bits of krill with them. Moderate light (CFL only). Good circulation but our nitrates are
higher than I'd like (20ppm+).

Other than early on, ours have not done much "bubbling". Their tentacles are rather long and thin. They do however, appear healthy
and certainly have been growing and cloning regularly. We have both the green and red color morphs.

Additionally, I've seen several varieties of BTA while diving in Micronesia (depths ranging from about 30 to 60 feet and excellent water conditions). Some were several feet across and while their color was very vivid, I don't recall seeing much in the way of bubble-tipping. They looked like big versions of what we have in our tank.

 

[GreyDC]

Thanks for the great feed back guys.....

As far as I can tell, my RBTA is doing well. I dont feed it regularly as I dont want it to grow super fast. Right now its gets a few pieces of Mysis or Brine when I blanket feed the tank. The way the RBTA situated itself in the tank, its right in an up flow of one of the powerheads so the shrimp when I feed blows a few of them right into its gut.

My clowns havent taken to it yet but I think they will soon as they are inching closer and closer.

Still no bubbles though.....

 

[flasher1]

careful with that powerhead, dont want the tentacles getting sucked

 

[GreyDC]

Thanks flasher....I watch my anemone movement very closely so I am pretty safe with my powerheads....When I first started salt, I had the unfortunate tale of the "bubble tip going into the powerhead".... it went into a mj.....wasnt pretty.

Since then, I have only had to turn one of them off once when my sebae didnt like its one home due to bristleworms......so far they are both very stationary. That and my powerheads are high up so I would notice before the anemone got there.....