Variations in RTBA
- Thread starter lcf425
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elder luis
New member
Mine has a pleasant shade of green. The oral disk and half tentacles are green! 
I find it hard to judge how drastically a color change will occur once an anemone is placed in a different tank environment with different lighting. I spend a pretty penny on a "rare" bta variation and I experienced some color change once in my tank. Looks like it is coloring up back slowly but for a minute I felt ripped off.
ChuckLawson
New member
+1 -- I've got about a dozen splits off of a GBTA I bought about five years ago in my 210; over the years they've all been more or less variations of a purple-brown base, with a brown oral disk, greenish brown tentacles and orange tips.
About a month ago I replaced the MH/VHO lighting on the tank with LEDs, and about half of them have now turned a brilliant apple green (with orange tips) -- I'd have never believe it was the same anemone. Interestingly, about half of them also have started to have pronounced bubble tips, and I've never had any bubble tips on this anemone to speak of. The bubble tips don't follow the same pattern as the colors -- some of the greens have it, and some of the browner ones as well.
Go figure.
elder luis
New member
Chuck
The bubble tips now is to increase the surface area to receive more light and make even more photosynthesis. If the anemone needed more light that means that light decreased. What´s the difference between before and current light conditions? Are the new LEDS stronger than VHO you had?
ChuckLawson
New member
On the whole, they appear to be somewhat brighter, and the reactions of some of the SPS and LPS in the tank would seem to agree with that; I haven't dug out the par meter to test them yet, tho. The difference may be more of spectrum; I'd always leaned pretty much to 20K-ish bulbs on the old fixture, and adding neutral whites with the LEDs have increased the warmer colors a bit. Another possibility is placement -- the brightest spots from the LEDs are a bit different than where they were under the MHs.
Interestingly, it tends to be the BTAs in higher / more brightly lit areas of the tank that are showing the bubble tips. I've got about three or four clustered on a rock in the center (where the lighting is probably dimmest, due to placement and bracing issues) that all still are exhibiting the long, narrow tentacles I'm used to seeing.
As mentioned previously, the color variations don't follow this, and don't seem to care as much as to how brightly lit they are. This may be due to some spotlighting from the optics, some getting a bit more neutral white, and others a bit more royal blue...
elder luis
New member
Well, keep your eyes on them. I have a LED aquarium and the anemones didn´t respond well to the new lights, and some corals too. Only soft coral (leather umbrella, green carpet and mushroom) had a good response. Do not throw away your old light system.
phender
Active member
Do you have any data to support this hypothesis? Long tentacles actually have more surface area exposed to the sun than do short round tentacles and the long tentacles have the added advantage of catching more food for an anemone that isn't getting as much energy from photosynthesis.
Observations by hobbyists vary quite a bit. Some BTA keepers report bubbles under dim light, others report bubbles only under the brightest lights.
The general consensus is that no one really knows why some BTAs bubble and some do not. If you are quoting a study, please post a link as many of us would like to read it. If you are posting your opinion, you should present it as such.
elder luis
New member
Phender
I´m sorry about it. As a forum, people use to present their opinion and don´t say and repeat it everytime post something, simply contribute to help solving the problem/question. I am sorry.
Well, no one really knows exactly why they do have this behavior. It´s only hypothesis. I´ve read thousands of articles about BBT and most of them (the good ones) go through this line of thinking/hypothesis. Long tentacles are thinner than bubbles, they can easely enter into a shadow area and don´t receive a good load of light.
The main aspect is related to circulation: weak ones usually don´t bring a good variety and quantity of food to anemone (amphipods and copepods), so the anemone enters into the "photosynthesis mode" inflating the tips to catch more light. The bubbles are more stable then the thin tentacles and it´s easier to keep full time receiving light. If the circulation is good/strong, it can bring a good load of food, so the anemone enters into "long tentacle" mode to brush all the surrounding area.
In the present case, the circulation was not changed (didn´t mention it, only ilumination), and we had a change of behavior related to surface area of tentacles, indicating some significant change in the enviroment, so it´s time to stay tuned in all animals. Maybe it´s only an adaptation to the new condition and within 3 or 4 days everything will be ok as before.
I´m sorry about it. As a forum, people use to present their opinion and don´t say and repeat it everytime post something, simply contribute to help solving the problem/question. I am sorry.
Well, no one really knows exactly why they do have this behavior. It´s only hypothesis. I´ve read thousands of articles about BBT and most of them (the good ones) go through this line of thinking/hypothesis. Long tentacles are thinner than bubbles, they can easely enter into a shadow area and don´t receive a good load of light.
The main aspect is related to circulation: weak ones usually don´t bring a good variety and quantity of food to anemone (amphipods and copepods), so the anemone enters into the "photosynthesis mode" inflating the tips to catch more light. The bubbles are more stable then the thin tentacles and it´s easier to keep full time receiving light. If the circulation is good/strong, it can bring a good load of food, so the anemone enters into "long tentacle" mode to brush all the surrounding area.
In the present case, the circulation was not changed (didn´t mention it, only ilumination), and we had a change of behavior related to surface area of tentacles, indicating some significant change in the enviroment, so it´s time to stay tuned in all animals. Maybe it´s only an adaptation to the new condition and within 3 or 4 days everything will be ok as before.
phender
Active member
I am not trying to pick on anybody. I just think that we have a responsibility in forums like this to not let misinformation or personal opinion to be presented as fact. When people read it, for some reason they think that it must be true and then they pass it on as fact.
There is a problem with hobbyist and internet articles. There is no peer review. Most articles are written based on other articles and not actual studies or even personal experience in some cases. So someone writes a book or an article stating an opinion or a wild idea. The next person writing an article incorporates this little tidbit into their article and so on and so on, until you have hundreds of articles that all say the same thing but no one really ever has any data to back anything up. So here you have something that becomes "common knowledge" that really has no basis in fact.
For every person that has bubble tips in low light, I can find a person whose anemones only bubble in the highest light. The same goes for high vs. low circulation and heavy feeding and no feeding. Then you have the folks that have two clones right next to each other and one bubbles and the other doesn't.
I am an old timer. When I kept BTA's under 4-5 watts per gallon of normal output T12 fluorescent lights, I never had a BTA that didn't bubble. A couple I had for close to 10 years and they always had bubbles. Now with better lighting I rarely see any of my anemones bubble.
Yet in this article Charles Delbeek, a noted aquarium curator and writer, found exactly the opposite to be true. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/aafeature2
Notice that Charles doesn't say he has solved the mystery of BTAs because he knows other people's experiences are different. He simply shows a correlation in this specific instance.
You or whoever you are quoting, are basing hypotheses or conclusions on assumptions rather than actual observations. Your hypotheses are based on the assumption that low light and/or low circulation cause bubble tips, neither of which match up with the observations of many keepers of BTAs. Since your assumptions are not valid, neither are your hypotheses.
Please share your experiences. Tell us what your anemones do under different circumstances. Offer solutions that have worked for you. However, if you start presenting information like it is scientific fact, you had better be ready to back it up with some data or published studies.
There is a problem with hobbyist and internet articles. There is no peer review. Most articles are written based on other articles and not actual studies or even personal experience in some cases. So someone writes a book or an article stating an opinion or a wild idea. The next person writing an article incorporates this little tidbit into their article and so on and so on, until you have hundreds of articles that all say the same thing but no one really ever has any data to back anything up. So here you have something that becomes "common knowledge" that really has no basis in fact.
For every person that has bubble tips in low light, I can find a person whose anemones only bubble in the highest light. The same goes for high vs. low circulation and heavy feeding and no feeding. Then you have the folks that have two clones right next to each other and one bubbles and the other doesn't.
I am an old timer. When I kept BTA's under 4-5 watts per gallon of normal output T12 fluorescent lights, I never had a BTA that didn't bubble. A couple I had for close to 10 years and they always had bubbles. Now with better lighting I rarely see any of my anemones bubble.
Yet in this article Charles Delbeek, a noted aquarium curator and writer, found exactly the opposite to be true. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/aafeature2
Notice that Charles doesn't say he has solved the mystery of BTAs because he knows other people's experiences are different. He simply shows a correlation in this specific instance.
You or whoever you are quoting, are basing hypotheses or conclusions on assumptions rather than actual observations. Your hypotheses are based on the assumption that low light and/or low circulation cause bubble tips, neither of which match up with the observations of many keepers of BTAs. Since your assumptions are not valid, neither are your hypotheses.
Please share your experiences. Tell us what your anemones do under different circumstances. Offer solutions that have worked for you. However, if you start presenting information like it is scientific fact, you had better be ready to back it up with some data or published studies.
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