My beautiful red LTA

awestruck

New member
I purchased this red long tentacle nem about 4 weeks ago and thought I'd post a pic for your enjoyment. It's doing great and in the future I might get a pair of skunks for it.
 

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Hmm, well, I purchased it from Dr. Mac and they have it labeled LTA. It looks like an LTA to me so what do you see in the pic that makes you think quadracolor?
 
The tissue looks very thin like BTA. The tentacles don't taper to a point like LTA. They just stop, as if they were cut off, like BTA tentacles. Even the color looks like BTA. Are there very obvious spots on the underside of the oral disk?
 
This is good info., thanks! Just took a picture, let me know what you think.
 

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If you look at the picture you can see a bleached lta next to the red one. I rescued that one from a pet store, knowing it might not make it. I don't know, one minute it looks like it's doing better and maybe a few hours later it looks horrible. It won't accept any food (I've tried mysis shrimp). Not sure what else to do... One positive thing though is it stays attached to a rock so maybe there's still some hope.

Back to the red nem--I now want to make sure of what it is so I buy the right kind of clowns for it. Do you think Dr. Mac's store would get this wrong?
 
Back to the red nem--I now want to make sure of what it is so I buy the right kind of clowns for it. Do you think Dr. Mac's store would get this wrong?

Stores always get anemone ID's wrong. In this case, they were right though. The red foot is not a good way to ID anemones. There are several species that can have a red foot. The verrucae/white dots under the oral disk is a dead give away though.
 
Thanks everyone! Well, if it had been a quaracolor that would have been ok too. It's just so amazingly beautiful (aren't they all!) Do skunk clowns stay a bit smaller than clarkiis and maroons? And of all three, which is the least aggressive? I'd like to eventually get a pair but not sure what kind.

Also, got any advice for the bleached lta? I finally am just leaving it alone because it won't take food and I don't want to keep bothering it.

You know, I've purchased from Dr. Mac before and they are awesome. They even called me about one week after I bought the red lta just to see how it was doing. Pretty cool! :)
 
lol, elegance coral, you and I were posting at almost the same time. :) I REALLY appreciate your knowledge and input, as well as everyone else's. So please, any ideas for the bleached nem?
 
Just leave it be and keep your water parameters clean and your lighting strong...and it should be fine....and don't worry b/c it's not eating as of yet...it will with time...

Beautiful LTA...didn't know they came in red!!!
 
I'd go with skunks if you are looking for a less aggressive clownfish...I had a clarki and a gold stripe marroon, both were very bossy and hostile. I've always had a thing for pink skunks.
 
Hey Todd, so glad to hear from you! :wavehand: I now have seen 4 (I think 4, maybe 5) of these red LTAs for sale. Mine is definitely my showpiece. I figure that when it gets really large I will downsize on some of my corals and rock, which will be such a loss, but with a 30 gallon tank I need to pick and choose. It's frustrating because I have a really nice 75g. tank in the garage but really no room for it in my living room. :( Oh wait, 'COUCH FOR SALE' ! :spin2:

Does anyone have any suggestions for a small fish that could hold its own with the skunk clowns. As strange as it is, my tank has NO fish in it right now :hmm3: Also, I've been a bit reluctant to add any clowns for fear they'll stress the bleached nem. Dang I'm trying to save that little guy. I'm not planning on keeping it long term, I just want to get it healthy and then give it to someone who has more room in his/her tank.

Another question about the bleached nem. My lighting is this: 2 x 65w. pcs and 1 x 150w. MH. I have found that if I try and have both on it's WAY too much for the sick nem so I ususally do the MH for only 3-4 hours a day and the pcs 8 hours. Does this sound ok to you guys? So far the red nem seems to be okay with this--and it is directly under the MH light.
 
I would keep trying to feed the bleached anemone. Don't force it of course, but food will help it survive until the zooxanthellae come back. Hope it starts taking food soon.

BTW, your new anemone makes me want a LTA. Beautiful. I got my BTA from Reef Hot Spot and will NEVER buy from them again. It was a good size, but definitely bleached. They have terrible customer support IMHO. I got it up to full health, but still...

Glad to hear about a good place to get anemones. Thanks for the tip.
 
Hi mavrk,

Up until just a few days ago I have been feeding the bleached nem maybe once every 3-4 days. Unfortunately the food merely sits on top of the tentacles. Maybe some mysis soaked in garlic would do the trick. I just don't want to bother it too much. I'm also glad to know that both nems are peacefully coexisting. In another thread I believe I asked if they'd be ok together. I was worried that because one is healthy and one is not, the bleached one might get its butt kicked. Something I did for my tank (actually yesterday) was taking my tree leather coral back to an awesome lfs. For the past week it has been droopy as the nems were getting too close to it. Although I run carbon I'm pretty sure chemical issues were going on and the red lta definitely was winning. I'll never know if this was one more stressor for the bleached nem, but I want to try and help it as much as possible. Additionally, I was worried for the leather and it's a beautiful animal--it was less droopy within 15 minutes of being in the tank at the lfs :)

Thanks for the compliment on my red lta. When I saw it at Dr. Mac's I knew it was the nem for me! It's a rather tough decision because I LOVE all anemones, but obviously, the Haddonis and some others are just too large for my tank. There will come a day when the lta outgrows this tank, but I think it will be fine in my tank for quite a while.

Sorry to hear about the problems with Reef Hot Spot. And, I'm happy to hear you were successful with your bta. It's hard to watch an animal struggle... I have purchased from Dr. Mac's place once before and they are excellent people. Knowledgable and nice.

Well, in the past 6 weeks I've added the lta's and a clam. My tank is looking pretty nice and I love it! And, the red lta is as happy as a clam :mixed: Aah, I couldn't resist!
 
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