Last night a friend of mine and I were at the LFS. We would both like to get host anemones for our clownfish and were looking at the long tentacle anemones they had.
We would ideally like to each have Rose BTA's but cannot afford $100+ price associated with them (not counting shipping from online stores).
A lady walking by asked my friend if he was going to buy the LTA. He said he was thinking about it but was not sure about the health of the animal. She said that her tank was being over-run by anemones and she would give him some.
The first thing we both thought was aiptasia anemones but she said they were Rose BTA's.
Together my friend and I have about 12 years of reef keeping experience and we have not heard of anybody having such a "problem". I had a green BTA a long time ago that spit but I was never over-run with anemones.
Anyway, we went to this lady's house and she was not kidding. Her tank had maybe 14 Rose BTA's in it. Some were huge, about as big as dinner plates. She gave us 7 of them total.
I am happy to report that all of the anemones have found homes in our tanks and have acclimated well and look outstanding.
I hope that I have similar "problems" with these anemones because we know store owners who would pay to help us control our anemone problem should it reach epidemic levels.
It would also be cool to find somebody looking longingly at an anemone in a tank at the LFT someday and be able to replicate our experience.
I just needed to share this windfall with people who would appreciate it. People form work don't really seem to appreciate the good fortune.
We would ideally like to each have Rose BTA's but cannot afford $100+ price associated with them (not counting shipping from online stores).
A lady walking by asked my friend if he was going to buy the LTA. He said he was thinking about it but was not sure about the health of the animal. She said that her tank was being over-run by anemones and she would give him some.
The first thing we both thought was aiptasia anemones but she said they were Rose BTA's.
Together my friend and I have about 12 years of reef keeping experience and we have not heard of anybody having such a "problem". I had a green BTA a long time ago that spit but I was never over-run with anemones.
Anyway, we went to this lady's house and she was not kidding. Her tank had maybe 14 Rose BTA's in it. Some were huge, about as big as dinner plates. She gave us 7 of them total.
I am happy to report that all of the anemones have found homes in our tanks and have acclimated well and look outstanding.
I hope that I have similar "problems" with these anemones because we know store owners who would pay to help us control our anemone problem should it reach epidemic levels.
It would also be cool to find somebody looking longingly at an anemone in a tank at the LFT someday and be able to replicate our experience.
I just needed to share this windfall with people who would appreciate it. People form work don't really seem to appreciate the good fortune.
