The best diet for a rose bubble anemone?

F

flamehawkfish

New member
hi, there

I used to visit this site all the time; it's nice to be back!

Anyway, I have a 30 gallon cubicle reef with about 150W of PC lighting. The tank is well-established (5+ years) with all inhabitants healthy & happy, BUT.....

I'm having bad luck with bubble anemones. They tend to do well in my tank, eat pretty good, but then they lose some pigment, become slightly bleached, and slowly (over a few months) recede, whither, and sort of dissipate in my tank. I feed them Formula1 dropped w' DTs every couple of days, but it doesn't seem to be adequate.

Can you recommend the best feeding regimen for bubble anemones? Also, might my problems stem from insufficient lighting?

My nitrates are almost null, calcium & pH stable, temperature & salinity constant (75 & 1.022). I change 4 gallons of water every week with fresh saltwater collected miles offshore from the Pacific ocean. Tank is cycled by live sand, 50 lbs of live rock, and a basic hang-on-the-back skimmer. I 'feed' the tank only DTs (just 5ml or so every couple days), and Bi-ionic everyday. Fish get flakes.

Your thoughts? Please help.

Sincerely,

Flamehawkfish
 
I would be willing to bet that it's your lack of lighting. 150w of PC's I think is just not enough. You would get better results and way more intensity from a 150w MH. I would venture to say that it could be from collecting sea water, you never know what's in it even though you go miles away from shore. I assume you are testing the sea water to, right? But if everything else is doing fine then I don't know if it's the sea water, but then again BTA are very sensitive.

For feeding your BTA, I always feed mine with krill and Formula 2. My RBTA loves that and is very healthy and growing great.

Oh and by the way,
WELCOME BACK TO RC!!
 
You know, the temp and salinity are a bit low for RBTA's in my opinion. I keep my RBTA at 78 and 1.025, and I feed with Formula 1 and Krill.

Any chance some Copper was introduced to the tank? That would do it.
 
I dont have a RBTA, just a regular BTA and my temp is 79-80 and salinity 1.025. Try getting into those numbers, your lighting could have some effect on it, but I think it's ok, but on the low side of ok. Feeding, I give mine formula 1 cubes and krill once or twice a week. Ive also heard that the RBTA;s are a little harder to keep, tho I dont know if this is true or not? Good luck
 
Tank raised are easy to keep IMO (for anemones anyway). It is the wild caught verisons that you have to worry about.
 
I have mine mid way up in the tank (its choice not mine) I feed silversides once every two weeks (maintains growth rate) lighting is (2) 250 watt mh 14k and (2) uri vho actinic. Water temp is 80.4-81.1 f, salinity is 1.024
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6493317#post6493317 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Entropy
Tank raised are easy to keep IMO (for anemones anyway). It is the wild caught verisons that you have to worry about.
Click to expand...

I agree....I bought one recently from another RC member. It was a split from an anemone that produced 8-9 offspring in the past year. It seems very well adapted to tank life. Great color, and it was even fully inflated on the ride home.

Mine's under T5s and 250w MHs. The guy I bought it from fed each anemone half a shrimp or silverside weekly and had VHO lighting. Based on how prolific his anemone has been, I'd say it liked that amount of food.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6492788#post6492788 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mystikdragon7
I would be willing to bet that it's your lack of lighting. 150w of PC's I think is just not enough. You would get better results and way more intensity from a 150w MH.
Click to expand...

I'd have to say I disagree. I have 3 RBTA's in 2 separate tanks, oops make that 4, one split a few days ago. One tank is 4 Normal flourescents, so 160w of light, 3 6500k bulbs and one actinic. The other is 2 55w pc, 1 actinic, 1 10k. I have not fed them in almost a year, all have great color and size and are very happy.

Only thing I can think of is problems with low temperature, or possible wild caught specimens
 
I only have 2x39W T5, my BTA grew from 3" to 10" in less than 6 month (with very little feeding too). I feed less than half a cube of frozen prime reef once a week. I agree that you don't need MH.
 
No way do you NEED MH bulbs to keep a BTA. I have a rose in a 65 with only 130 watts of PG lighting and it is getting huge. dchao said it best because these things, once acclimated to your tank and lighting and water, will grow very fast, food or not!!!
 
The lighting sounds fine. Anemones seem to tolerate temps in the mid 70's to around 86 degrees (beyond these ranges, they begin to do miserably, IME). However, the "optimal" temp is usually anywhere from 80-82 degrees. You should also get your salinity higher, at around 35 ppt or 1.025-1.027. Feeding should consist of lots of meaty foods, including silversides, krill, table shrimp, etc. DT's is a waste of time and money if you are trying to feed the anemone with it, as they will not consider it as food. These should help you out, at least with the basics.
 
The lighting is okay if you are feeding well and often. Feed some shrimp or squid or clams or silversides once a week and the anemone should fair better. A temp of 78-82 is best IMO. S.G. of 1.022-1.027 is fine as long as it is constant.
 
Where the anemone was collected/raised will make a difference as well. An anemone collected from deep water will need less light.
 
hello.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I'm still mystified by my bad luck with rose bubbles. Right now, my tank is w/o them which is a bummer b/c I have a homeless pair of gold-rimmed maroon clown

I'll raise my salinity and temperature a bit, and try silversides next time. Somebody mentioned that DTs are a waste of time & money. If that's the case, can you recommend a better phytoplankton substitute? This might seem naive, but I believed that the rose (along w' the mushrooms, zoos, hammer coral, caulerpa algae, etc.) gained from filter-feeding the DTs. Is that untrue? Please clarify if you have a moment.

Sincerely,

Flamehawk
 
I've read that some of the RBTAs in stores these days are dyed to be the more desirable rose, versus the more drab green or tan BTA. The dye eventually kills the anemone. Perhaps try another color?
 
The phytoplankton is usually not eaten by most corals---featherdusters, clams and some anemones do eat phyto--it is mainly a food for zooplankton that are eaten by most creatures. So yes I would say that dosing phyto is a waste (unless you cultivate it). My BTAs do well w/ scallops, shrimp, fish etc...
 
BTAs are not considered to any extent, to be herbivorous. There may be incidental ingestion of such materials, but they will benefit mainly from the meatier foods. I mentioned it was a waste of time and money when feeding this particular type of anemone, so sorry for any confusion.
 
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