BTA has stringy and deformed tentacles

deluxe247 · Oct 21, 2020

I've had my 90G tank set up for 8 years and added a nice Rainbow BTA about 10 months ago. it has always looked healthy (good color, tight mouth, etc.). Took about a month for it to settle into a spot it liked but it's been there ever since. Originally it had nice standard bubble tips but they gradually lost their bubbles and got long (normal, not alarming at all). but for the past couple of months the tentacles have gotten extremely long and stringy, and occasionally I'll find a piece of one rolling along the sand bed as it must have snapped off. Also, some tentacles look like they're trying to bubble but get confused and instead look like grotesque tumors or something.

This is what it looked like when it settled its foot deep in the rock 7 or 8 months ago.

Now it looks like this

Just wondering if I should be concerned, or if anyone has any idea why it might do this (I know anemone behavior is largely a mystery)

laverda · Oct 21, 2020

Nothing to be concerned about. Anemones do all sorts of weird things. Remember they are 95% water. It looks much healthier now.

StlSalt · Oct 21, 2020

Looks exactly like my all grown up BTA.

ThePhoReefer · Oct 21, 2020

expelled zooxanthellae

Labora · Oct 21, 2020

Some say a higher flow gives longer tentacles and lower flow shorter bubbly tentacles, but that is up for debate.

sfin52 · Oct 21, 2020

Looks good. I see nothing wrong with it

sfin52 · Oct 21, 2020

Labora said:
Some say a higher flow gives longer tentacles and lower flow shorter bubbly tentacles, but that is up for debate.

I would say thats not correct. I have a mother (started out with bubbles) and clone. One is higher flow and the other is in low flow zone. No bubbles on either

deluxe247 · Oct 22, 2020

Thanks guys for the responses! I know anemones are bizarre creatures and their behavior can be quite mysterious. I've heard lots of things about high flow, low flow, PAR, feeding, water parameters, etc. but the reasoning behind their reactions continues to evade us. Anyway, good to know at least that it's healthy. BTW, this last spring my clownfish, which I've had for about 10 years, spawned for the first time, and have done so several times since. I'm not interested in breeding them, but it's very cool to see this behavior!

laverda · Oct 22, 2020

sfin52 said:
I would say thats not correct. I have a mother (started out with bubbles) and clone. One is higher flow and the other is in low flow zone. No bubbles on either

I agree that is defiantly not the case. Light does not seem to have anything to do with if they have bubbles or not. The ones in lower light near the bottom of my tank, under the other anemones are just lighter in color. I have not tried super intense lights or different color spectrums though. Sometimes one will have bubbles and the one right next to it will not. My favorite is when they get curly tenticals.

Labora · Oct 23, 2020

laverda said:
I agree that is defiantly not the case. Light does not seem to have anything to do with if they have bubbles or not. The ones in lower light near the bottom of my tank, under the other anemones are just lighter in color. I have not tried super intense lights or different color spectrums though. Sometimes one will have bubbles and the one right next to it will not. My favorite is when they get curly tenticals.

We were talking about flow not light.

Paleozoic_reefer · Oct 23, 2020

I've bought nems that started out bubble-tipped and stayed bubble-tipped, while other became long and curly. I have noticed the curling gets less pronounced if I feed on a regular basis.

laverda · Oct 24, 2020

Labora said:
We were talking about flow not light.

I said I completely agree to the comment that flow does not affect bubbles. I have had bubbles and no bubbles in high flow just as much as low flow. I have not tried any in a basket with almost no flow like you often see in stores and wholesalers though.