Theory about Red Bulb Nems

Bernardhny · Oct 6, 2014

OK call me crazy but I think I figured out the secret to getting red bulb nems to bubble their tips. I think it is lower alkalinity that makes them bulb up.

Alk at 10+ makes them sickly
Alk at 8.5 makes them long and skinny
alk at 7-8 makes them short and fat
Alk below 7 bulbs them up

It is too early to confirm but I was at my LFS and was talking about my nem. Turns out that the tanks with the nems that were bulb tips had low alk and as soon as they went to 9 they lost the bulb and went skinny.

More tests to follow. Setting up a test tank. Anyone think I am crazy?

Sn4k33Y3z · Oct 6, 2014

Yes lol! My Alk stays at 9.5 and my RBTA stay's bubbled.

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 6, 2014

What if I have two nems in one tank and one bubbles and the other doesn't? They are within inches of each other.

ritter6788 · Oct 7, 2014

SeahorseKeeper said:
What if I have two nems in one tank and one bubbles and the other doesn't? They are within inches of each other.

+1. I've had some long and thin and some bubbled in the same tank.

Bernardhny · Oct 7, 2014

I figured I was wrong. Never let me post when dosing nyquil

Camellia · Oct 7, 2014

Bernardhny said:
I figured I was wrong. Never let me post when dosing nyquil

Lol, good thought tho as I often wonder why mine bubbles some days and isn't on others!

chiblackhawks4 · Oct 7, 2014

Ive found that in higher areas of flow the they tend to bubble less. I have 9 total btas and the ones in high flow are long and straight while the ones on the other end of the tank in low flow are very bubbly.

ygon · Oct 7, 2014

+1 that has been my experience as well.

chiblackhawks4 said:
Ive found that in higher areas of flow the they tend to bubble less. I have 9 total btas and the ones in high flow are long and straight while the ones on the other end of the tank in low flow are very bubbly.

mainereefer · Oct 8, 2014

for me its light, the tentacles bulb to shade the disc.... even my duncan does this....

nature786 · Oct 8, 2014

This would make for a great experiment.
In my personal opinion I think lighting has something to do with the tentacles bulbs.
I have three Nems in my Tank and the one directly under the light had awesome bulbs and the other two lost theirs (previously the had them).
Still a very good theory for an experiment & a chance for an awesome discovery.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 8, 2014

In my case it was also light.

I had one E. quad split into two.

The one in bright light had bubble tips and the other did not.

Also, I had one big one that was partly shaded. It was bubbled in direct bright light and not in the shaded part.

SeahorseKeeper · Oct 8, 2014

I am coming to the conclusion that there is no real reasons for these nems to bubble up. If it were light, my anemone that is slightly lower in the tank would not be the one that is perfectly bubbled. My RBTA that is closer to the light is the one that has longer, fat tentacles.

FarmerTy · Oct 8, 2014

It would be nice if we had par measurements to record at what levels people were noticing them bubble at. One person's high light may be another's low light. The results would be interesting.

nature786 · Oct 9, 2014

tybota said:
It would be nice if we had par measurements to record at what levels people were noticing them bubble at. One person's high light may be another's low light. The results would be interesting.

I agree with you.
I'll check a LFS or other local club members for a par meter.