question about GBTA

[anblair]

I have my first GBTA which is looking pretty good so far and has found its home right in the center of my tank after a bit of moving around. I am curious what causes the tentacles to bubble up? When I first got it the tentacles were long and thin.. I'm guessing from the stress of shipping and all. Then it set up at the very top of my rock and the tentacles became more like petal shaped and inflated... now it's in the front and it looks like most of the pix I have seen on here... slender with the bubble at the tip. What does this signify? I've searched but not found any information on this. Thanks!

Also, what does the nem get out of the clown/nem relationship?

 

[anblair]

bump

 

[kichimark]

I have three bubble tips each doing something diff. The two in the pic are the most visible. The gbta is nice and bubble and the rbta is non bubbly. The third rbta not seen (placed itself in a bad photo area) is more bubbly at the base oif the tentacles. From what I read no one really knows for sure. Some think it may be light related or even feeding related.

forgot to add--clownfish gain protection from predation in the wild and the anemone benefits by getting some food from the fish.

 

[Ethan_W]

its unknown why the bubble tip anemones do or dont have bubbles on them. i dont believe stress is the issue here

 

[Mikooo]

it depends on several things, including light and water quality.

 

[mthomp]

my understanding is the bta will show bubble tips when it is not hosting. but judging from the above pic that isnt true.

my bta has never shown bubbles.

 

[Floowid]

My understanding is the tips bubble if there is sufficient light, in an effort to increase the available surface area for the hosted zooxanthanelle to produce food for the anemone. I am not an expert however, and I didn't even stay at a holiday inn express last night.

 

[mthomp]

and see floowid i dont know if that would be the case either, i have 300 watts of Mh lighting on my 55gal standard, and no bubble tips. perhaps its the other way around? i dunno.

 

[kichimark]

not sure on the lights either. The one rbta not pictured previously is bubbled (same with the gbta) but not the rbta next to the gbta. They are all on the same level on the rockwork about 4 inches below the surface and my t-5's (4X54watt with individual reflectors) are about another 4 inches above the water level. They are ofcourse in the same tank sharing the same water parameters and they are fed twice a week with selcon soaked scallops. Guess this is why it is confusing and no one really knows why. As long as they are healthy it doesn't matter to me.

 

[Ethan_W]

like i said. theres no one who is really sure of the cause. it could be anything from light to water parameters to hosting or whatever. the most confusing part of it is that often there are people with more than one sharing the same water/light/everything and some do and some dont have bubbles

 

[Toddrtrex]

No one really knows.

Back when I kept BTAs, I tried...

High light (( 2*250 MH + 2*54 T5 over a 75 )), no bulb tips
Low light (( 6*65 PC over a 75 )), no bulb tips
High flow...no tips
Low flow...no tips
Hosting...no tips
Not hosting...no tips
Feeding often...no tips
Limited feeding...no tips.

 

[savageAJC]

yea ive searched and searched lots of different ideas, but none for sure. With my rbta i removed the clown from it and for the past few days its been in a semi-bubble state lol it looks like its mourning the loss of its friend =/ but hopefully the new clowns i just put in find it soon..

lol todd no luck with getting bubble tips!