BTA Size Limit by Space

horseplay

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Have a pretty dumb question. I have never kept BTA long enough to find out but is the growth limited by the space? I have 9 of them in a 30g frag tank now. They are small but are growing in size pretty fast. What happens will they have taken all the available space?
 

Jekyl

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Have a pretty dumb question. I have never kept BTA long enough to find out but is the growth limited by the space? I have 9 of them in a 30g frag tank now. They are small but are growing in size pretty fast. What happens will they have taken all the available space?
They'll wander or be sold.
 

garygb

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You may have seen photos of BTAs in the wild creating a carpet of anemones covering large areas. If there are enough rocks with adequate attachment spots, I think you can have wall-to-wall clones happily living together. Once adequate attachment spots on the rocks are all occupied, then you're going to have wandering BTAs, I expect.

 

shakacuz

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i believe they’re not limited by space, as they can shape themselves bigger or smaller depending the area. they’re interesting inverts!
 
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horseplay

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I guess they will split when they reach a certain size but will not grow bigger. Many species like humans will grow then die. It seems corals and anemones don't do that. They split and live on.
 
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horseplay

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i believe they’re not limited by space, as they can shape themselves bigger or smaller depending the area. they’re interesting inverts!
Not really. They always fully inflate when happy.
 

shakacuz

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Not really. They always fully inflate when happy.
then come back to this thread after all available space is taken to see what occurs! i would like to assume their foot will shrink and keep most of its hold(depending the flow), which is mainly what i was referencing in my previous post. this would allow for more real estate to split/plant their foot and stretch out to the water more. i guess the ones within a shadow would be the most likely to wander/float/roam as others mentioned above

nice little experiment?
 
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horseplay

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then come back to this thread after all available space is taken to see what occurs! i would like to assume their foot will shrink and keep most of its hold(depending the flow), which is mainly what i was referencing in my previous post. this would allow for more real estate to split/plant their foot and stretch out to the water more. i guess the ones within a shadow would be the most likely to wander/float/roam as others mentioned above

nice little experiment?
Yes. I will leave them alone and see what happens.
 

Making themselves at home: Have you intentionally done anything in your aquarium to enhance the natural behavior of your fish?

  • I planned my tank to encourage natural fish behavior.

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    Votes: 36 35.3%
  • Anything that encourages natural fish behavior was a byproduct of the aquascaping.

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  • I did not do anything to encourage natural fish behavior.

    Votes: 19 18.6%
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