How to ID a bubbletip??

[sammystingray]

This is a friends hitchhiker, and I IDed it as NOT being a bubbletip because it looks exactly like the small anemones I have in my tank except this one pictured is said to be more neon green than the pic shows it as. If this is not a bubbletip, then what is it? How do you tell the differences.......what is a giveaway for a bubbletip ID?

 

[chewie]

looks like a bubble tip to me, the only way I know that is because it looks like mine. it still may not be a bubble tip though.

 

[Anemone]

I'm sure Dr. Ron will be able to give better (or more scientific) differences, but, IMO, what I see there is Anemonie majano, a pest anemone slightly less prolific than aiptasia. How can you tell the difference? A. majano stays much smaller than "real" bubble tips (Entacmaea quadricolor) - basically, your majanos will reproduce (divide) at under an inch, while only very rarely will you even see a BTA this small (I've had a few BTA clones this small, a couple produced by budding, and one produced by traumatic injury, but in general, most folks won't see BTAs at this size).

HTH,
Kevin

 

[rshimek]

Hi,

I agree wholly with Kevin's answer [thanks].

While hitchhiking Entacmaea are not unknown, they are relatively rare. There are other differences. At small sizes, such as this individual seems to be, the BTAs will have fewer tentacles and arranged more around the periphery of the disk. Bulb tipped anemones will not sit on the surface exposed such as this one appears to be. The base will be in a hole or crevice.

Watch this animal. If it grows to a couple of inches in disk (not including tentacles) diameter, it might be a BTA, if not, and it divides while small, you may wish to remove it.

 

[sammystingray]

Thanks Dr Ron, you never let me down! Might this be a majano (sp?) The pics I've seen of majanos didn't look quite like this.

 

[rshimek]

Hi,

It looks like a majano to me...

:strooper:

 

[PJenkins]

Hi All,
Shoot! My wife bought a mushroom rock specifically because it had what matches the pic & descrp. on it. She thought it looked cool, and since it had mushroom anems. on the rock thought it was ok. Now it looks like it may become a nuisance! I am loathe to destroy an animal on the chance it may be bad. Does anyone know how rapidly they may reproduce? do they just start popping up here & there as I've heard Aiptasia do?

By the way Dr. Ron I too enjoy the study of aqueous ethanolic fluids derived from barley malt

Pat:beer:

 

[rshimek]

Hi Pat,

My understanding is that they are more of a budding organism, and tend to spread from a single individual outward.

However, never having had this particular plague, I am sure that they don't spread via all of the other means.

I suppose if it were in my tank, I would let it go and see if it appeared to be becoming a problem, but that may not be the best course of action.

 

[Anemone]

I had a single majano in my 65 gallon reef for about 3 months. Then I had three for another 6 months. Then I began to see more on the nearby rocks. When I had six (about 3 weeks after having only three), I began to inject them with boiling calcium-water solution (I didn't have kalkwasser at the time, so I used SeaChem's Calcium in a small bowl of tap water - so I guess chloramine and calcium). Over the next few months I killed 30-40, injecting about once a week. When I was back down to only one, I stopped injecting them (got lazy, and they aren't as ugly as aiptasia). The single eventually disappeared (don't know why, but the rock it was on is now (several years later) the home to several Pseudocorynactis polyps - I'm not sure when the polyps began to appear - you can only see them at night, and only if you look carefully, as they are translucent. I'm not sure if the polyps had any effect on the majano, but they (the Pseudocorynactis) sure look like they could pack a powerful sting (with their ball-tipped tentacles)).

FWIW,
Kevin

 

[PJenkins]

Thanks Ron & Kevin,

I think for now I will watch it closely. If it divides while small (currently it's ...oral disc?,is about the size of a dime) then I will have to do something...

You Guys a have a good one,

Pat

 

[rshimek]

Originally posted by Anemone

Hi Kevin,

....the home to several Pseudocorynactis polyps - .... I'm not sure if the polyps had any effect on the majano, but they (the Pseudocorynactis) sure look like they could pack a powerful sting (with their ball-tipped tentacles)).

Corynactis californica, found subtidally, all over the rocks offshore of LA and northward, packs the biggest nematocysts of any cnidarian found on the coast. My guess is that Pseudocorynactis is similarly armed...

 

[RAYSTOCKETT]

ball-tipped anemone, family Corallimorphidae

ball-tipped anemone, family Corallimorphidae

is this bubbl tip?

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

No, that is also a Pseudocorynactis species. A Bubble Tip Anemone (Entacmea quadricolor) looks quite different.

 

[xtrm suv]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8056249#post8056249 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Travis L. Stevens
No, that is also a Pseudocorynactis species. A Bubble Tip Anemone (Entacmea quadricolor) looks quite different.

are they bad?