Anemone Care

bigB · Nov 9, 2011

Why, when you get a bubble-tipped anemone, at first it is real bubbly, and then after a few months, the tentacles are longer and not so bubbly?

revhtree · Nov 9, 2011

That is a great question and I have never heard a real good answer. I can say though for the first time ever I got a BTA that stays bubbly!

dakotasreef · Nov 9, 2011

To be honest, I don't know if that has been completely figured out. I know there are some speculation on why, but no definitive answers that I am aware of.

Maybe someone who has more experience can chime in.

My Flame Bta has crazy bubbles that have luckily never gone away.

DJ_in_WV · Nov 9, 2011

its genetic and May have to do with the area of collection. I read something Sanjay Joshi wrote about I think but wouldnt swear to the source. Would make a good suggestion for the advancedaquarist blog request there is a box on the main page for suggestions.

Lazys Coral House · Nov 9, 2011

I have clones where one will bubble and the other wont and they are right next to eachother.

dakotasreef · Nov 9, 2011

lazylivin said:
I have clones where one will bubble and the other wont and they are right next to eachother.

Naturally split, or induced?

emerald525 · Nov 9, 2011

My theory is it has to do with feeding. I used to think it was due to different flow or lighting until I bought a nano tank from a fellow reefer who had several bubble tips in the tank. He admitted to only feeding the tank about once a week. So I had the same lighting, same power heads. The only difference is I feed the anemones some brine about twice a week and within a few months they started developing long tentacles. Out of curiousity I stopped feeding more often and the smaller ones seemed to go back into bubble form. Again not a very good experiment but feeding was the only difference.

DJ_in_WV · Nov 9, 2011

shouldnt make a difference a clones a clone regardless so that would rule out genetic I would think

Joe S · Nov 9, 2011

Personally, I doubt it is controlled by a single factor (e.g., diet, flow, etc.). FWIW, I participated in some anemonefish habitat preference research in the northern Red Sea a year and a half ago and noticed some interesting bulb-tip-related patterns. On the reefs, the BTAs that hosted only a single anemonefish, or only juvenile anemonefish, displayed the bulb-tip morphology. On the contrary, the BTAs that hosted an adult pair usually displayed the long skinny morphology. Furthermore, when we removed the fish pair from the BTA, it immediately contracted a bit and quickly developed the bulb-tips. Upon reintroduction of the fish several days later, the BTA re-expanded and eventually lost its bulbs. It's a very interesting phenomenon!

-J