RBTA specimen question

[riley290]

Hello All,

I am just getting into SW (2.5 months, need to update the info!) and I really want the centerpiece of my 40B to be an RBTA and clownfish pair. I was just trying to get opinions of this specimen at liveaquaria.com

WYSIWYG RBTA

Besides being overpriced, what condition is this anemone in (like 1-5 scale maybe) and is this a reasonable purchase.

It appeals to me that I can see the actual specimen and that there is a 14 day guarantee. Obviously the cost is a bit high but I'm willing to pay a little more for a good quality rose.

Thank you for looking and for the help!

 

[Lance M.]

IMO that isn't overpriced and is a very healthy rbta.

Also imo you need to wait several more months for your water chemistry to stabilize before you get one in order to increase your chances of success.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

yeah ..wait till your tank is at least 6 to 8 months old..we all know it is difficult to wait. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby. The 14 days isn't enough..it can take a few months for a bta to die. Liveaquaria has rose btas on divers den quite often..by the time your tank is old enough they might have some thing even better to choose from.

 

[tpdpercula]

I agree with everyone else. You will have a chance to get a similar if not better RBTA when the time is right, why chance anything happening to a investment of that magnitude. Let your tank mature longer before adding a anenome.

 

[riley290]

thanks for the response guys!

I understand the concerns about maturity so I have a follow up question. My live rock cured for about 3 months prior to setup, and by curing I mean it was in the tank with all equipment running (lights, powerheads, skimmer, return) but no sand. I basically had a BB for 3 months, even added some snails after two months. A month later I added my sand and some more of the CUC and christened this the "official b-day" of the tank.

Now 2.5 months later I have had my rock in water with biweekly (after the 5 week cycle was over) water changes since May 28 and you're telling me I can't add a nem yet?

haha, I knew that patience was a virtue in this hobby but man I thought I was being patient. Well I'll wait a few more months but I can't promise very long. I really want to add this nem first as I want it to be able to establish anywhere it wants and I can work around it as 40g isn't a whole lot of real estate. I don't know how much longer I can stare at this mostly empty tank!!!

 

[riley290]

Also...Lance you said it was very healthy looking. What exactly did you base this on?

I've read the FAQ and a good number of articles (somehow I read through all reefkeeping mags in 2 weeks) but would like to hear it straight from the horse's mouth. Usually hands on experience is better than any schooling you can recieve and you can weight healthy attributes better than a text.

Thank you all for your answers, this is the first extended response I've recieved here, just too many posts too wade through I guess.

 

[Flamehawk]

Most unhealthy looking bta's look bleached or stretched, LA's bta's usually always look nice. They are very good about giving you credit if something dies within their guarantee time.

 

[Lance M.]

It looks very healthy from the intense red coloration and it is obviously attached. I can't see the mouth but judging from the tentacles being nice and close together the mouth is probably tightly closed.

Those white speckles look awesome I would buy it if I had a place for it.

So from what your saying you lr has been in there and tank running for 5-6 months? I'd till wait longer. The longer you water, the longer the tank has to stabilize and the better chance you have to keep it.

And like everyone said LA usually has lots of rbtas of very differenet colorations so there should be something very similar or more to choose from when the time comes.

Awhile ago on LA I remember seeing two deep blood red rbta's that had deep blue oral discs that were awesome.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

We aren't telling you this to be mean.. we just don't want you to go through the heart ache of losing such a beautiful anemone just because your tank isn't mature enough. There was a person on RC with a green Long tentacle anemone ..it was beautiful. He put it in his tank when the tank was only 2 months old. It didn't take long for his anemone to die, maybe a few week or less.

 

[E.J. Coral]

Re: RBTA specimen question

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10944620#post10944620 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by riley290
Hello All,

I am just getting into SW (2.5 months, need to update the info!) and I really want the centerpiece of my 40B to be an RBTA and clownfish pair. I was just trying to get opinions of this specimen at liveaquaria.com

WYSIWYG RBTA

Besides being overpriced, what condition is this anemone in (like 1-5 scale maybe) and is this a reasonable purchase.

It appeals to me that I can see the actual specimen and that there is a 14 day guarantee. Obviously the cost is a bit high but I'm willing to pay a little more for a good quality rose.

Thank you for looking and for the help!

Looks good.
You might be able to add the anemone now.
it depends on how mature your tank is, not how long it has been set up. Your tanks is stable, when all of the tank's parameters don't fluctuate frequently and when the organisms in your tank have reached a steady state. This means, pH, Ca, Alk, NO3, NO2, NH3, salinity, and organism populations are steady . IME, most of the instability issues revolve around dieoff and the fluctuatiing populations of flora and fuana not some silly 6 month rule...

 

[riley290]

yeah, I've read enough to know about the patience, I just didn't realize I needed to wait so long for the nem. I will wait a while longer but my parameters have been stabilizing nicely. A lot of it is the tank maturing but I'm also convinced that a good bit of it is the aquarist maturing as you learn the nuances of the hobby and the chemistry and how to manipulate it.

 

[Flamehawk]

Also what kind of lighting do you have setup?

 

[Hogfish77]

Well I'll have to admit I'm one of the more impatient reefers lol. I bought an exotic orange BTA within 2 months of the start of my tank and it's doing great so far. *keeps fingers crossed* I just couldn't reisist the beauty of it! But beware of gsm clowns! Those badboys ...errr bad girl are really rough on anemones. My LR came from another hobbyist who had it for awhile.

 

[riley290]

I have the coralife 10K 250W MH, 2 x 96W PC actinic. Right now the lights are about 6" from the waterline but after this weekend I'll have finished my swinging light setup and I'll probably put them 8" above the waterline.

Hopefully I can get my hands on a camera for pics of the lighting setup, I'm really excited to see if this idea will work. I tore down a desk chair to steal the rotating pistons as well as the up/down spring mechanism. Hopefully it'll make the lights fully adjustable for both the height and to swing the whole setup out of the way so I can get in the tank.