Omg omg omg!!!!

[fdonophan]

I HAVE A BABY GBTA!!! (It's not a mojano, please don't waste posts that just say "mojano"...)

I have a mid-size healthy speckled gbta hosting a maroon clown. Two days ago I did a pretty major rescaping. Afterward I saw a small dot of glowing green on my sand and assumed I must have accidentally tore a tip or 4 off my frogspawn, and didn't bother with it.

Today I'm watching my maroon, and I see it sucking this little green ball in its mouth and spitting it out - it even spit it directing onto the anemone, which didn't react. At that point I realized the resemblence.

I finally got crazy curious and turkey-basted it into a shot glass, and it is definitely a tiny gbta! It even has the same purple pin-***** tips as my nem. That small it looks like a cluster of cocktail olives.

I isolated it in a net at the top of the tank, and even put a small LR shard under it. It has flow - the bulbs are brushing the surface of the water. I watched it for a while and the tentacles stretched out, then bubbled again.

I don't know anything about spawning nems - this definitely isn't a split. I've had the gbta for I think 3 weeks - maybe 4. Could it have been carrying this all along? Where did it come from?

What do I need to do to keep this itty bitty little guy alive??? My computer died today, I can't do any research, I am posting this from my phone! I feel like I have a Discovery Channel scenario in my tank!!

As soon as I get to work tomorrow I will post pictures. Please please tell me what to do!!!

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[bradleym]

Just give it good lighting and clean water. When it gets bigger, feed it brine shrimp, then mysis. If you're really committed, you could try feeding it cyclopeez and baby brine shrimp at its current size (I'm guessing at the size but you get the idea).

 

[MarinaP]

You need to get one of those mesh breeder's boxes. Baby btas will escape from plastic ones. Frozen cyclopeeze is good food for small btas.

 

[Sytje1234]

How cool is that? Awesome! Love to see your pics....Could you put one on of the one you had for 3 weeks and of the smaller also? That be great! That's too cool!

 

[fdonophan]

Thanks guys! Ill get pics up hopefully in a couple hours.

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[ebacon]

It's a mojano.


;-)

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Pics or it didn't happen.

It could be a mojano...

 

[fdonophan]

Best pic I got last night:

Another without the rock. You can see some of the tips extending:

Pics of GBTA in the tank:

 

[phender]

You said that your maroon took it into its mouth. Is it possible that the maroon bit off a piece of your BTA? Does the baby appear to have a mouth and/or a foot?

 

[fdonophan]

I thought of that, but it doesn't seem to be the right size to be a piece of the larger.

The size of the whole thing is about the size of one tip of the larger. There are 5-6 defined bubbles, all joined in the center, but I can't get a clear view. There seems to be a difference between the top and bottom, but I can't see a foot. I am going to examine it with a magnifying glass when I get home tonight.

The "baby" is less than a 1/4", the larger, when extended, is about 5-6". The tips also clearly inflate and deflate, but remain attached in the center. It had stretched out a few tentacles in the net, but retracted when I touched it to move it onto the rock. There isn't a "sock" that I have seen - he didn't retract into anything, just shrunk up tight until I left it alone.

 

[phender]

Do you have a hammer or frogspawn coral in your tank?

 

[fdonophan]

Frustrating that I can't find any pictures close to what I have. Hope it's not a false alarm.

 

[fdonophan]

Do you have a hammer or frogspawn coral in your tank?

Hmm. I do have a frogspawn. Not the same color, but I do...

The color form of my frogspawn is opposite to that - purple stalks with neon green tips. This is green stalks with dark pinpricks on the tips.

 

[fdonophan]

This is what my regular bta looks like, though the tips aren't as pronounced - my camera can't pick up the colors:

 

[ousnakebyte]

You said that your maroon took it into its mouth. Is it possible that the maroon bit off a piece of your BTA? Does the baby appear to have a mouth and/or a foot?

I'm wondering the same thing (and the Euphyllia reference). I highly doubt it's a sexually-reproduced recruit. Even a month-old recruit will be no larger than a few millimeters in diameter.

 

[fdonophan]

How can I find pictures of an anemone at the early stages? Google searches are turning up nothing.

 

[BonsaiNut]

How can I find pictures of an anemone at the early stages? Google searches are turning up nothing.

Check out this paper.

 

[fdonophan]

Check out this paper.

Exactly the kind of info I was looking for. Thank you!

Looks like if it was a gbta it would have a clear foot, and this has not shown any signs of attaching. It also looks as though it wouldn't have the vivid coloration at so small a size. Looking like it must be from my frogspawn afterall.

Oh well... :sad1:

 

[aandfsoccr04]

Hey don't give up hope yet Franny!!! Everything is speculation at this point. You could be one of the first ever to have a baby bubble anemone come from your main aneomen! I'm excited for you. Keep us posted

 

[fdonophan]

Pfft. Clown ate the thing anyway.

When I bought the nem, there was a much smaller nem hitchhiking on the same shell that never recovered. I thought perhaps this was the same deal. Now we won't know. The clown got it, played with it some more (which was really cute actually) and swallowed it before I could get it back out.