I left Patience behind and now it's getting even :mad:
 

So I picked up four (R)BTA's from work over the last two weeks and it has completely scewered my original plans for an SPS tank. These things are MASSIVE and have taken up pretty much all of the available space in my 25 gallon tank. Blast and damn.

So much for my vision of towering acro growth, mazes of bird's nest and towering monti's (har har har, yes, in a 25 gallon tank). Looks like it's back to the drawing board for another tank.

Anybody else do something like this? You have this master plan for an awesome theme tank and then something pops in at the store that you MUST HAVE RIGHT NOW. So you do the natural thing and buy it, throwing all your original ideas out the window.

You know what would solve this problem? A 25,000 tank in my basement.

4 anemones in a 25g? :neutral:

I'm sorry but ... What were you thinking?

If you think it's full now .... let's wait six months or a year and see where things are at.

I have three BTA's in a 75g ... and that tank is too full of anemones.

Good luck

To be fair though. At the store they were all clustered together on rocks. They get so close that a whole group of them look like one anemone. I did read that some BTA's like to cluster like that. :eek:

Well .... Just because they're OK clustered together at the store doesn't mean they should be for long-term, of course. The stores goals are temporary housings and turnover, not necessarily optimal long-term husbandry.

Ok, so odds are they were collected from a single colony, thus they're probably clonal siblings and it's probably not going to be an issue as far as them not getting along ...

But that's gotta be a full tank.

Albert, sorry, I don't mean to rain on your thread. I'm just thinking that you will probably have to get going on that bigger tank (I know all about that one ... :rolleyes: I'm not one to talk) or you may need to pull them out. (If you want to keep other things .. LPS, SPS, etc. -- the damage may not be as severe as SPS vs other-SPS but it's still damage nonetheless). I was just looking at my darn ritteri and how it's shifted 4" in one direction (it tends to "lean" one way one week then another way another week), and now it can occasionally brush my open brain. Guess how good that brain is looking tonight. :frown: I guess I'll have to move the brain. In a 90g, putting the coral anywhere in the one half tank is basically too close. Darn thing.

I guess if it's OK for the time being, it must make a pretty cool display. But yeah, it's a measured choice.

Two of them are temporarily being held for people. I have a 72 for them if they end up running house in the near future. Fear not, for I like to think that I have yet another "master plan" in the works, haha.

That all being said, there's not really anything for them to sting in my tank so it should be cool til I figure out all this madness.

I know I'm always preaching impulse purchasing in the store, but damn, I guess we're all weak sometimes, haha.

:confused:

I guess I'm not liking that.. :neutral:

I heard you have a MONSTER BTA! I saw Scott's and thought it was big, but he says your's is even bigger?

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Bob wrote: Bob, the reason they were all clustered together at the store is because BTAs are rock dwelling anemones, so they naturally dwelled on the few rocks that were in the store tanks. That being said, I need info from others who have bought these RBTAs.

My RBTA's mouth gapes from time to time but seems to close up after feeding. I wonder if I'm feeding it enough? Can everyone share their feeding regiments for BTAs please?

Danny

There are two reasons its mouth may gape open.

One, it's feeding ... Two, it's pooping ... Three (Ok so apparently I can't count) it may be trying to respirate (sort of an equivalent to "panting for breath"). In the last case if you have low O2 levels in the tank (usually from not enough flow or not enough surface agitation) then you might see this sort of thing.

BUT if it's taking food and keeping it down, then it's probably just going through an adjustment phase. In my experience anemones can takes weeks to months to really fully truly settle in. If you just got it, then that's probably what's going on. Also BTW, feeding it once or twice per week is usually adequate.

Hope this helps.

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Thanks for the info. I just got a new skimmer so I think my O2 levels are good. I think I'll just watch it and see how it adjusts. It's color is very good still so I believe its healthy.

I am not starting an argument as I am far from an anemone expert. However, this
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/ch1.html#entac
article seems to say that there are two forms of Bubbletips. One of which normally forms clusters.
Also can anyone tell me why RBTA's are suddenly so common, and inexpensive. :question: A year ago they were rare, and cost $200.00. :confused:

I heard that they were expensive because it had to do with where they were collected. Apparently they were originaly found in a protected area and collectors had to wait till the anemones moved out of the protected area, but now they have been found in other areas in HUGE amounts. ive seen some pictures and videos of football size areas covered in RBTAs.

I'm not sure what exactly is your point? I already said if they are clonal siblings that there should not be an incompatibility issue. If they are not clonal siblings, however, then there might be issues. Perhaps two of the deeper water varieties (the singular anemone type) would not have an issue and maybe only the shallower water varieties would both start battling it out via diffuse competition (allelopathy); who knows. There are documented cases where anemones of the same species (BTA) would not get along; plus there are documented cases where that they have gotten along. Basically if they are not clonal siblings then it's a crapshoot. If they are clonal siblings then they are forming their own colony and of course they should get along fine.

Either way however, my original point is that I think 4 BTA's is too many for a 25g for long-term success. Find me any documentation that proves me wrong. BTW I love it when people quote Fautin & Allen to me; I have that book memorized and it is my favourite text. Incidentally, you will find that neither author endorses the keeping of hosting anemone species of any kind in captivity, never mind being 4 in a 25g or one in a 1000g.


Supply and demand .. My assumption (and that of others on RC) is that a pile of rose BTA's were found in a collectible area. Plus BTA's tend to split so even the supply of captive-splits should be on the rise.

However, one sobering reality, with the likelihood that any collection area in the Indian Ocean area (Sri Lanka, Sumatra, etc.) is probably pretty much wiped out (as are the divers who go collect livestock), I would not expect to see prices on any marine ornamentals to stay low for the next while.

[quote="Delphinus"][quote="Bob_I"]All the more reason to give our livestock the best of conditions, and keep them alive for a long time.

As to Fautin and Allen. Is that the book "Clownfishes and their Host Anemones" :question: Someone in Edmonton was looking for a good book. I recommended it as I found it on Amazon.ca for as low as $4.87. :cool:

Yes that's the one. :biggrin: I guess it's not so new of a text anymore so that would explain why it's so inexpensive. It's still, in my opinion, the defining text as far as "field notes" for observations in the wild. The link you referenced is essentially an online version of that book, unfortunately somewhat condensed (e.g. fewer pictures). The link is good, but the paper book is better. :lol: Very worthwhile having in one's library.

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Well if all goes well with the batch that Gold's has or had, we'll see a number of clones in time and hopefully there will be enough to sustain this cities demand for RBTA's. I'm sure that all of us would like to buy locally bred stock anyway, to conserve and protect....