8 year hiatus.. RBTA

Garbage_Island · Oct 18, 2019

Hello all,
I sorta left the hobby for about 8 years (still maintained a small reef but wasn't 'engaged' in the hobby).
A lot has changed since I left and I was wondering-- Since I've been gone has there been any consensus on how to keep the tentacles "bubbled/inflated?"

It appears that RBTA morphs have taken off and it is harder & harder to find reasonably priced RBTA's which is unfortunate.

Any responses or links are greatly appreciated!

Orion1885 · Oct 18, 2019

Everything has pretty much gone up in price. Standard rainbow roses are selling now at LFS for 2-300 each in my area. We still do not know the exact mechanism of why btas bubble.

xxkenny90xx · Oct 18, 2019

No clue on the bubbling. I've probably had 20 different btas and none of them have ever bubbled until last month my gbta split and one of the splits has the bubbles (my rbta in the same tank does not). As far as prices keep an eye on OfferUp and craigslist and maybe your local reefing club!

NorCal Reefer · Oct 18, 2019

Welcome back. There are still reasonable deals out there for them. Can’t help you with the bubbling though. I have three but one doesn’t seem to ever want to bubble up.

K95ranger · Oct 19, 2019

Where are you located?

Garbage_Island · Oct 19, 2019

K95ranger said:
Where are you located?

I just relocated from Orlando to West Palm Beach. I haven't found a good store down here yet

Thanks everyone for the quick responses! I was hoping maybe there was a consensus or study done about what causes the bubbling, but I guess not.
Thanks xxkenney for the suggestions Ill have to check out OfferUp Ive never heard of that.

K95ranger · Oct 19, 2019

To bad not local, I'm in California and I have an extra you could of had

Ubergroover · Oct 19, 2019

Just a hunch from what I have experienced:
I have a RBTA also. When I put it in my tank after purchase it shriveled. As all BTA owner know or come to find out, nothing will tell you faster than an anemone if something is wrong with your tank. My parameters were all where they needed to be. After a couple months of head scratching and seeing the anemone surviving but not looking as it should. I bought a pair of 90watt kessil tuna blue led's. Within a week it was doing much better. Now three years later its still doing great. has moved several times to find a spot it likes but none the less doing very well. Zoa's , paly's clove polyp's all multiplied like crazy. So if your water is where it should be, make sure you have enough lighting.

jordan10 · Oct 19, 2019

Yea I had to pay 200 for a nice RBTA at frag swap and he will not stay put moves like crazy. But all my other BTA seem to bubble really good after a good feeding.