RBTA: Bubbles, no Bubbles. WHY?!?!?

[mattjk]

Ok, this is my second RBTA and it is doing the same exact thing my last one did. Lose it's bubble tips and starts to stretch out too much.

I've read that when there is not enough light, and they are hungry, they will loose their bubbles. Well it is just to opposite for me.

When I was acclimating him, he had gorgeous bubbles, and was not stretched out... I had him in a container, and was mostly out of the light. Now that I have him placed, he is eating well, and getting plenty of light. He is losing his bubbles and stretching out :(

The place I bought him from, ran normal output actinics, and was very dim. He looked absolutely gorgeous in that dim lighting.

What the heck is going on?

[lebowski]

This may or may not be useful...

It's always good to do a search. This specific topic has been re-threaded too often.

Clicky (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=317902&highlight=RBTA)

:)

[mattjk]

:lol: I searched my butt off.

Not feeding enought. Not enough light. Too much light.

Well, I just got my rbta to make HUGE HUGE bubbles!!! As an experiment, I changed the 50/50 bulb to a straight actinic, and POOF! Only took 5 mins to bubble up like this :)

http://www.pbase.com/image/30219929/original.jpg

[BlAcK_PeRcUlA]

It looks pretty ****ed. I'd prefer the outstreched anemone which is happier. My roses tend to change their tentacle shape and overall size at their own whim. Usually, they change when i mess with something in the tank like wiping the glass or adding ca.

The tentacles aren't really a means of seeing their health or happiness because there are roses that have stringy tentacles and look like some of the best i've ever seen. I've seen more than one tank where the roses with long tentacles were gorgeous and split like crazy- Anemone, Mr. Sandman...Rather than looking at the tentacle my opinion is that if it isn't moving all around, it's probably satisfied. Let it be.

Just as example, i got mine with stringy tentacles.
http://www.geocities.com/black_percula/RoseAnemone.html

[bzzbee2]

i have to agree... my anenome is happy as couild be. it bubbles up like once a week for a hour or so... here is a pic before i added a pair of GSM's they have been plucking tenticles and thrashing around in this anenome for a day now. im kinda worried that it wont look like this pic anymore.
http://tonyspics.home.comcast.net/fishimages/DSCF0028_JPG.jpg

[mattjk]

Originally posted by BlAcK_PeRcUlA
It looks pretty ****ed. I'd prefer the outstreched anemone which is happier.

Just as example, i got mine with stringy tentacles.
http://www.geocities.com/black_percula/RoseAnemone.html

Hmm, I have to disagree with both of you guys.

They are called bubble tips for a reason, and every picture I have seen of Entacmaea quadricolor in nature has had bubble tips.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/feature.htm

pictures of bubble tips in nature:

http://www.pbase.com/image/15745711/original.jpg

http://www.pbase.com/image/2226741/original.jpg

[Entropy]

The only problem with the Matt, is that your 60g is far from being "in nature". Conditions on a reef can never really be reproduced in a glass box, so you cannot expect the animals we keep to always act the same. My rtba does not have the bubbles like what you are looking for at all, but I consider my rtba to be very happy because everyday I swear it has gotten bigger. You can kind of see the tips in this pic.

http://www.richoverton.com/Reef/images/ywghome.jpg

[lebowski]

Mattjk,

Do you have any new updated pics? Your RBTA looks fine to me.
As Entropy stated, conditions in a wild reef can never be immitated perfectly in a home aquarium. You're RBTA may or may not always have bubble-tips.. This does not however mean it is unhealthy.

An updated picture would be nice, I'm sure it is doing okay, but I always like to have an update on reefer's new inhabitants.

:That picture makes a nice avatar!:D

[Anemone]

Well, the Advanced Aquarist article is far from conclusive. It notes that

Since being moved indoors in May 2002, many of the E. quadricolor in the new exhibit (basically in the same position as the old indoor exhibit) have retained their bulb tips but some show signs of loosing(sic) them.

but since the anemones haven't lost their bubble tips in the 5+ months they were back indoors (between May and the publication of the article in November), light intensity obviously isn't the only answer.

Since the tank was set up in 1994, and the move to outdoor (natural, higher intensity) lighting didn't occur until 2001, and "During this entire period the Entacmaea rarely exhibited bulb tips," it's fairly obvious that the anemones were not in poor health without their bubble tips (especially since they spawned yearly).

Also, in The Reef Aquarium volume where they highlight anemones (I forget which volume, they're at home), there is a very nice picture of a RBTA in the wild....with stringy tentacles. :D

Plus, I think my anemones are healthy, and after almost 9 years in my tank, they rarely show bubble tips.

Kevin

[mattjk]

That RBTA in my tank is a baby. Probably around 2 inches in diameter when I bought him, and in my tank he has easily doubled in size. It's hard to believe there aren't any real scientific studies of these animals out there.

[BlAcK_PeRcUlA]

There have been attempts to pinpoint why the bubble tips have bubble tips in certain conditions, but nobody has figured it out yet. If you prefer the look of the bubbles, then that's your preference but the anemone doesn't look too happy in that atinic pic.

You also have to consider that anemones change their size all the time. They're full of water! They can pump themselves full of water or can pump out that water to look shriveled.

You said it yourself,"The place I bought him from, ran normal output actinics, and was very dim." This is not exactly demonstrating any anemone knowledge and could have been the reason the anemone was small and unexpanded (unsatisfied)

So when you bought the rose from the store, it was probably around the same size it is now, just not displaying it's true size.

[mattjk]

You have a good point there. I left the Actinic bulb in there all day, and he was bulby.

I just put the 50/50 back in and the bulbs are gone.

[nanocat]

Matt, you're trying to overthink the RBTA issue too much :D

Have a look at Anemone's and FindingNemo's galleries. They both have RBTA tanks with dozens of anemones. Most are not bubbled and short. Trust me, you'll look at Kevins (Anemone) tank, and never worry about a flowing anemone again :)

[nanocat]

BTW, as some anecdotal evidence that bubbles don't indicate health, the RBTA I got from you met with a powerhead incident on Wednesday night. Several tentacles were shredded and it looked pretty ratsucked. I moved it, closed off access to the powerhead, threw in a little Amquel and changed the carbon bag. It's looking like a survivor, minus a few tentacles that will grow back...and I just looked over and it's bubbled :lol:

It looked a LOT better when it was flowing :D
PM me info for payment BTW. It's healthy enough.

[Entropy]

I got a decent shot of mine last night. Zero bubbles... This is the kind of anemone you get from Pierce (Cali-reef) when he says "yeah I got a rtba for you. It is about 3-4 inches")

http://www.richoverton.com/Reef/images/rtba.jpg

[bzzbee2]

well, mine has lost half of its tenticles in the past 2 days. with the addation of a pair of maroons.. they have been pickin and thrashing it pretty hard. still no bubbles on mine.