Will RBTA likely move when brighter light slowly added??

[duganderson]

I have a 28 g. nano cube with the stock CF lights. I have a gorgeous RBTA anemone that is hosting one of my clowns that has been located in the perfect spot in my tank for over a year. It is currently somewhat higher than the middle of my tank.

I'm thinking about addding a R420R Nano LED light and removing the hood and CF light. It is fully dimmable so I would try to start with similar light intensity but I would slowly increase the light intensity quite a bit to be able to add some acros.

As I slowly increase the intensity of the light, is the RBTA likely to permanently move to a lower or different spot with comparable light to what he is currently getting?

 

[OrionN]

Nobody is going to be able to answer this better than you. All you can do is to try and see.

 

[duganderson]

Nobody is going to be able to answer this better than you. All you can do is to try and see.

Sadly, I don't have any good guess about this. I'm reluctant to buy a new light if the RBTA is likely to move. I love him (or her) in the current spot of my 28 g. cube.

 

[D-Nak]

It's tough to guesstimate by looking at the light how bright is. Going from CF to LED may or may not cause the nem to move, but you looking at it and trying to judge the intensity in hopes that it won't move is a total crap shoot.

I would personally swap it out and start with an intensity that looks LESS than the CFs, then slowly increase the output on the LEDs. At the same time, I would also remove any rocks that it may climb up on during this process since it's going to want to look for more light. After you increase the light output to where you want it, and hopefully the nem stayed where you want it, you can move the rocks back into position.

The problem with BTAs though, is that unlilke other anemones that crawl from place to place, BTAs also detatch and float around, so watch it closely.

 

[DragKnee]

The problem with BTAs though, is that unlilke other anemones that crawl from place to place, BTAs also detatch and float around, so watch it closely.

I witnessed this first hand today as he was in the act. I caught him and made him attach to a rock again. Of course, I suspect he's gonna do it again. :headwally:

 

[radiata]

In the past, I've had an RBTA migrate to a spot under a MH fixture. When the MH was removed from the tank and replaced with LEDs, it appears to have migrated to a spot where the LEDs were the same, but where the water flow met the anemone's preferences.

 

[OrionN]

I always can predict movement of the anemones with some accuracy except BTA. To me their move seem random many times and sometime can really strange and counter intuitive.