First of all, it is RBTA (rainbow bubble tip anemone) or
RRBTA (Rainbow rose bubble tip anemone)?
reddish orange tips, green disc, white spicules around mouth, purple tips, purple foot from what I can see and black if you count that. How many colors can you count?
Tank info:
55g
-last time I tested cal was a few weeks ago @ 420 I THINK, but over 400
-last night 6-7 alk & 40 nitrates (skipped a wc to see how much typhooning the sandbed would raise it, its usually 20-30 week to week -.-)
-ph 8.4 to 8.2
-80-82 degrees summer time, 79 winter
-0 tds ro/di
-weekly 15% wc's with the total cleaning routine, sand siphon, rocks cleared of detritus and a filter sock changed everyday.
-sump always clean except for biofilm cleaned 2x monthly
-1/2 to 1in sandbed
-about 45x flow
-algae-yes but not overgrowing, kindve just enough for tang to graze
-montipora spognodes is growing, from what I understand, quite well, about 2-3cm every week or two
-euyphilla doing great, very large, have yet to notice any serious skeleton growth yet but soft tissue growth is very good with 3 new heads on a frogspawn, torch is huge but no skeletal growth or tissue expansion
-Duncan and other frogspawn look like they are about to sprout a new head
-sponge tree seems to have improved since purchase on Tuesday
-hitchhiker sponge has grown 6x in 3 months
-new heads growing on zoa's
-coralline algae grows
-clean glass about 2x a week, still aiming for once a week
-paly's all grow fast
lighting
10 royal blue on for 12 hours
10 more royal blue on for 10 hours
10 cool white on for 8 hours
So this being my first nem, and nems being so fragile & having the ability to nuke my tank, I tend to do something with this guy that I do not never ever find myself doing with my tank; worry & because of this I have documented his every move...
when I got him he looked like this, last Monday 6 days ago.
very colorful, very green, orange, redish, whatever other colors he has to him.
he was acclimated in shade over a 3 hour period pouring in 1/4th cup of water into a bag every 20 mins containing about 3 cups of water with 1/2 emptying of the bag 1/2 way through.
the first day he was placed here (position 1), he was attached to a dead plating montipora type rock. he moved up about 3 inches, I removed the dead lfs coral rock, he pooped solid fleshy type uneated food and moved back down within the first 2 hours. he stayed there open like in the pic above for the rest of the light cycle, about 4 hours. the next day I woke up he was in the same place (lights still off). I did some stuff then took a nap and when I woke up about 5 hours into the light cycle (3 hours into all light channels being on) he was moved up into the crevice of the rock shaded but outstretched twords light (no change in flow here) (position 2) where he stay until I went to work the next morning. when I came home on the 3rd day he was in the same general area only on the other side of the pillar rock (current position), from the way his tentacles move throughout all this it looks like he was seeking lower flow, not lower light as he has always been outstretched twords the light except for the first day where he was open just not OPEN. this is where he is now, ive also placed numbers on the pic to correspond with what you just read.
Now for feeding. I have fed him every few days, roughly 3 times every 2 weeks at this rate, about 1/2 cube worth just to him, tank gets about a cube a day, I don't care about feeding in my tank but broadcast feeding does not get to him so I have been spot feeding when he gets to look like this all stretched out look. he is very very sticky. sticks to my feeding syringe like its a sucker stuck in a kids hair, one of those 1/2 way dried out suckers that hurts when you try and pull it out, not one that's wet and just comes out leaving the kids hair all sticky and gooey. ive been feeding him the same blender mush that everyone else eats, mussels, octopus, nori, shrimp, calamari, imitation crab meat with a lil vitamins and phytoplankton I mixed in as well. he gobbles it up just like everyone else.
ive also noticed the bubbles go away right after feeding and are more dominant any other time a few hours after feeding, so yes he does still have them, in pic 2 I just fed about 20 mins before that pic. his mouth does not look unusual, gaping and 'bloats up' a lil when food is introduced to the water, normal from what ive read.
OKAY so I think ive got the basics out of the way...
man us reefers and our specifics geesh.
so, to my quandary.
trust me, everything I think is patience.
ive looked up dead/dying/signs/whatever of a downhill nem and it does not point to that. he is always plump, extended, and despite color looks good.
ahh I guess now you have pinpointed where im going with this.
Color. as you can see he is under a rock and stretches around the rock to get to the light. easily hitting about 4-5in in length stretching, diameter of disc is about 3-4in before being fed and 2-3in after being fed. but ive noticed he gets whiter as he gets all stretched out, whiter and more transparent. to the point where it looks like he is bleached, his disc not his tentacles. when he is not all stretched out twords the light its not so very noticeable and I wouldn't be worried, like now after eating.
here are more pics of what im talking about., almost 2x the size of what he is now after eating.
after eating
those pics above do not do the disc much justice. I have to use a handheld white led light to shine into the mouth area because well, he decided to move under a cliff as a home. here is a much better shot I just took showing the green to his disc
Again a separate handheld white led was used here, but most importantly to show that there is coloration on the disc. Also the green is very apparent when white led's are turned off, really all coloration is pretty solid within the tips, cant really see much green, he shades himself, but near the top where I can see green that's supposed to be green, it is green.
And one last thing to add, in the middle of the night last night I checked him out and he was just hanging there, just chillin. like a bat in a cave. not closed up, not fully open, just, ya kno, hangin around
Also he does not always 'strech out' maybe every 3rd day, then i feed him and hes normal size for a few days
This morning i looked at him, no lights middle of the dark cycle, with a white led light and he, being right around normal size, just hanging upside down, appears to be in full color, its really only when he is streched he gets the bleached transparent coloring
I think that is the end of my post. I tried to be as detailed as possible.
I have spent a lot of time on this post, I will be very sad if it says my ticket timed out... here goes nothing...
RRBTA (Rainbow rose bubble tip anemone)?
reddish orange tips, green disc, white spicules around mouth, purple tips, purple foot from what I can see and black if you count that. How many colors can you count?
Tank info:
55g
-last time I tested cal was a few weeks ago @ 420 I THINK, but over 400
-last night 6-7 alk & 40 nitrates (skipped a wc to see how much typhooning the sandbed would raise it, its usually 20-30 week to week -.-)
-ph 8.4 to 8.2
-80-82 degrees summer time, 79 winter
-0 tds ro/di
-weekly 15% wc's with the total cleaning routine, sand siphon, rocks cleared of detritus and a filter sock changed everyday.
-sump always clean except for biofilm cleaned 2x monthly
-1/2 to 1in sandbed
-about 45x flow
-algae-yes but not overgrowing, kindve just enough for tang to graze
-montipora spognodes is growing, from what I understand, quite well, about 2-3cm every week or two
-euyphilla doing great, very large, have yet to notice any serious skeleton growth yet but soft tissue growth is very good with 3 new heads on a frogspawn, torch is huge but no skeletal growth or tissue expansion
-Duncan and other frogspawn look like they are about to sprout a new head
-sponge tree seems to have improved since purchase on Tuesday
-hitchhiker sponge has grown 6x in 3 months
-new heads growing on zoa's
-coralline algae grows
-clean glass about 2x a week, still aiming for once a week
-paly's all grow fast
lighting
10 royal blue on for 12 hours
10 more royal blue on for 10 hours
10 cool white on for 8 hours
So this being my first nem, and nems being so fragile & having the ability to nuke my tank, I tend to do something with this guy that I do not never ever find myself doing with my tank; worry & because of this I have documented his every move...
when I got him he looked like this, last Monday 6 days ago.
very colorful, very green, orange, redish, whatever other colors he has to him.
he was acclimated in shade over a 3 hour period pouring in 1/4th cup of water into a bag every 20 mins containing about 3 cups of water with 1/2 emptying of the bag 1/2 way through.
the first day he was placed here (position 1), he was attached to a dead plating montipora type rock. he moved up about 3 inches, I removed the dead lfs coral rock, he pooped solid fleshy type uneated food and moved back down within the first 2 hours. he stayed there open like in the pic above for the rest of the light cycle, about 4 hours. the next day I woke up he was in the same place (lights still off). I did some stuff then took a nap and when I woke up about 5 hours into the light cycle (3 hours into all light channels being on) he was moved up into the crevice of the rock shaded but outstretched twords light (no change in flow here) (position 2) where he stay until I went to work the next morning. when I came home on the 3rd day he was in the same general area only on the other side of the pillar rock (current position), from the way his tentacles move throughout all this it looks like he was seeking lower flow, not lower light as he has always been outstretched twords the light except for the first day where he was open just not OPEN. this is where he is now, ive also placed numbers on the pic to correspond with what you just read.
Now for feeding. I have fed him every few days, roughly 3 times every 2 weeks at this rate, about 1/2 cube worth just to him, tank gets about a cube a day, I don't care about feeding in my tank but broadcast feeding does not get to him so I have been spot feeding when he gets to look like this all stretched out look. he is very very sticky. sticks to my feeding syringe like its a sucker stuck in a kids hair, one of those 1/2 way dried out suckers that hurts when you try and pull it out, not one that's wet and just comes out leaving the kids hair all sticky and gooey. ive been feeding him the same blender mush that everyone else eats, mussels, octopus, nori, shrimp, calamari, imitation crab meat with a lil vitamins and phytoplankton I mixed in as well. he gobbles it up just like everyone else.
ive also noticed the bubbles go away right after feeding and are more dominant any other time a few hours after feeding, so yes he does still have them, in pic 2 I just fed about 20 mins before that pic. his mouth does not look unusual, gaping and 'bloats up' a lil when food is introduced to the water, normal from what ive read.
OKAY so I think ive got the basics out of the way...
man us reefers and our specifics geesh.
so, to my quandary.
trust me, everything I think is patience.
ive looked up dead/dying/signs/whatever of a downhill nem and it does not point to that. he is always plump, extended, and despite color looks good.
ahh I guess now you have pinpointed where im going with this.
Color. as you can see he is under a rock and stretches around the rock to get to the light. easily hitting about 4-5in in length stretching, diameter of disc is about 3-4in before being fed and 2-3in after being fed. but ive noticed he gets whiter as he gets all stretched out, whiter and more transparent. to the point where it looks like he is bleached, his disc not his tentacles. when he is not all stretched out twords the light its not so very noticeable and I wouldn't be worried, like now after eating.
here are more pics of what im talking about., almost 2x the size of what he is now after eating.
after eating
those pics above do not do the disc much justice. I have to use a handheld white led light to shine into the mouth area because well, he decided to move under a cliff as a home. here is a much better shot I just took showing the green to his disc
Again a separate handheld white led was used here, but most importantly to show that there is coloration on the disc. Also the green is very apparent when white led's are turned off, really all coloration is pretty solid within the tips, cant really see much green, he shades himself, but near the top where I can see green that's supposed to be green, it is green.
And one last thing to add, in the middle of the night last night I checked him out and he was just hanging there, just chillin. like a bat in a cave. not closed up, not fully open, just, ya kno, hangin around
Also he does not always 'strech out' maybe every 3rd day, then i feed him and hes normal size for a few days
This morning i looked at him, no lights middle of the dark cycle, with a white led light and he, being right around normal size, just hanging upside down, appears to be in full color, its really only when he is streched he gets the bleached transparent coloring
I think that is the end of my post. I tried to be as detailed as possible.
I have spent a lot of time on this post, I will be very sad if it says my ticket timed out... here goes nothing...
