What makes a bubble tip anemone bubble?

triggerfish1976

triggerfish1976

New member
I know that this topic has been discussed at length and there is no clear explanation on why they get bubble tips or not but I thought that I would share an interesting observation that I had recently with my GBTA.
I have kept a 4"-5" GBTA in my tank for approx. 6 months and up until about a week ago its tentacles were always of the long stringy variety. I had been battling some phosphate problems since before the Anemone was introduced but nothing that was detrimental to the health of the tank inhabitants. I was always under the school of thought that light intensity played a major role in prompting the anem. to bubble or not to bubble. If the light was to intense then it would be stringy and would bubble under less intense lighting. I have been running 400 watt Aqua Connect 14,000k bulbs for since I setup the tank so it just made sense to me that the anem. was not going to bubble.
I recently decided to install a Phosphate reactor on the tank in order to get my phosphates down to more optimal levels. I did it slowly only running 200gph through a small reactor and it went from 40ppm to .06 in about 3 weeks. As the phosphate levels went down I saw that the anem. was starting to retract its tentacles and by week two they were starting to show bubble tips. By week three all of the tentacles had fully formed bubble tips.
As with every breakthrough in this hobby it could just be coincidence but I thought I would throw it out there.
 
Re: What makes a bubble tip anemone bubble?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10240307#post10240307 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by triggerfish1976
I know that this topic has been discussed at length and there is no clear explanation on why they get bubble tips or not
Click to expand...

Just make sure any hypotheses you offer takes these things into consideration:

1) BTA's have been observed in the wild with some tentacles displaying bubble tips, while other tentacles on the same anemone do not have bubble tips.
2) In large colonies of BTA's in the wild, some anemones have been seen displaying bubble tips, while at the same time other anemones in the same colony (most likely clones) do not display bubble tips.

If you can find the solution, please share :)
 
My RBTA goes back and forth. One week bubble, next week stringy. He's been in strong current, alternating current and areas of low flow. Same result. I honestly believe it has to do with the "mood" of the fish. There is, of course, no way to to confirm this is in any way valid.

As for the lighting part of the equation: He has been under 2x250w MH with 10K coralvue Reflux bulbs ever since I have had him (4 yrs) and has split only twice in this period. I have turned on the PC actinics for a few days when It has rained with no affect on the bulb tips. Who knows? I think we could come up with 100 different reasons and most of them would have argument of being reasonable.
 
i have to agree w/ zoom. it seems like whenever it's PO'ed, it turns bubbly. which makes sense because it's tensing up.

that's just my 2 cents
 
Thanks for sharing your observations.
As BonsaiNut said, there are a lot of variables. Reducing your phosphates may have cleared your water enough to affect the intensity or spectrum of light that your BTA is experiencing. Maybe it is a little stressed from the change in water chemistry, even though its for the better.

I used to be an advocate for it being light spectrum related rather than intensity related. I am leaning more to stress/disturbance related these days.
 
Any BTA that I ever put in my tank bubbles up even if it had previously long, stringy tentacles. Why? I am not sure exactly but I would bet you there are are a myriad of reasons why, not just one.
 
"Various suggestions have been made about why a particular anemone may or may not inflate its tentacles. Daphne Fautin and Gerald R. Allen have speculated that the presence of a clownish is the trigger than causes the tentacles to swell. Authors Julian Sprung and Charles Delbeek question this view in The Reef Aquarium, Vol Two, saying they believe there is a correlation between lighting level in the aquarium and the presence of bubble-shaped tips. They report anemones kept under low illumination having long and stringy tentacles. (Wilkerson, 35)."

In short, no one knows for sure!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10455280#post10455280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SPARTAN VI
"Various suggestions have been made about why a particular anemone may or may not inflate its tentacles. Daphne Fautin and Gerald R. Allen have speculated that the presence of a clownish is the trigger than causes the tentacles to swell. Authors Julian Sprung and Charles Delbeek question this view in The Reef Aquarium, Vol Two, saying they believe there is a correlation between lighting level in the aquarium and the presence of bubble-shaped tips. They report anemones kept under low illumination having long and stringy tentacles. (Wilkerson, 35)."

In short, no one knows for sure!
Click to expand...

Those sources are old and both have been shown to not be valid.
 
When my RBTAs were in my 300 with heavy flow they had long non-bubble tips. Once they were transfered to their own 75 with moderate flow, they all bubbled up and have stayed that way. I think it all comes down to flow, but thats just my 2 cents.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10455323#post10455323 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
Those sources are old and both have been shown to not be valid.
Click to expand...

But my point was that no one knows for sure. Is this still the case?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10457283#post10457283 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SPARTAN VI
But my point was that no one knows for sure. Is this still the case?
Click to expand...

It is very true that no one knows for sure.
The quote you used was supporting the light intensity hypothesis over the fish present hypothesis. I just wanted to point out, we now know that neither hypothesis is valid.
 
Sorry guys, I just threw that out there as an observation not meaning it to be a be all end all solution. I agree that there are probably several scenario's that may effect bubbling and it could be totally random.
 
I just picked up an rbta last saturday. The tank it came from had pc lighting (20L), and the whole tank was high flow. In this tank, it didn't bubble up most of the time.

My tank is also a 20L, has 96w of T5 w/individual reflectors, and all sorts of different flow. Right now it's midway up the tank and in a moderate flow area, and has been bubbled up since I put it in there.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10458378#post10458378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
It is very true that no one knows for sure.
The quote you used was supporting the light intensity hypothesis over the fish present hypothesis. I just wanted to point out, we now know that neither hypothesis is valid.
Click to expand...

Ok, gotcha chief!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10456491#post10456491 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tpdpercula
When my RBTAs were in my 300 with heavy flow they had long non-bubble tips. Once they were transfered to their own 75 with moderate flow, they all bubbled up and have stayed that way. I think it all comes down to flow, but thats just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

Again, in the wild there have been reports where BTAs of the same colony and under the same flow and lighting that displayed bubble tips while others didn't bubble.
 
55semireef said:
Again, in the wild there have been reports where BTAs of the same colony and under the same flow and lighting that displayed bubble tips while others didn't bubble.
Click to expand...

While still only speculation, the obeservations of the animal in the wild would suggest the bubbling does not come from either light or water chemistry. Beacuse of this, it is more reasonable to look at the aspects that could be different even within a given wild colony of nems.

While light may vary from nem to nem in a colony the chances are the light is very close. A possible answer is in the flow of the water. Different flow patterns will pass over different nems in any given colony possibly leading to bubbled or stringy tentacles. Just my thoughts on the topic.
 
has anybody tested both exposures at the same time? in other words:
high light, high flow
low light, high flow
high light, low flow
low light, low flow
i think bubble vs long tentacle has to do with the surface area to volume ratio. i could be wrong, but don't both light and flow have to do with surface area?
 
I have 5 RBTs that originated from 1 a year go..... 4 of them have bubbles 1 does not........... The original 1 did have bubbles...... :)
It's hard to say what causes them IMHO!!!! ;)
 
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