Does anyone understand this anemone behavior?

[freeeeezy]

Hey all. I have a green BTA that is healthy, takes food when I give it has great color, hasn't moved since it found its spot. However, it has relatively short tentacles with no bubbles. I figured this was just how he looked as other threads on here said they just vary in size/shape/bubbles etc.

The other night my power went out due to a storm for about two hours. During the outage I went to make sure everything was okay in my tank and the anemones tentacles were about 3 times as long/thick and were bubbling up. It literally looked like a stock photo of an anemone, I had never seen it so perfect.

When the power came back on it slowly reverted back to how it usually looks.

I'm trying to understand what this means as I'm assuming it liked the water conditions while the power was off but that makes no sense to me.

This is what changed while the power was off:
return pump turned off
wave maker turned off
skimmer turned off
Temp changed from stable 77.5 F -> 76.0 F
*Lights had already been off for a few hours on schedule

I'd Imagine it was either the temp or flow but I still doesn't make sense to me.

Side note, the way its tentacles look now is pretty equivalent to how it looked in the LFS when I got it so its not like it changed when I added it to the tank.

Side Side note, I can provide water params if that would help but I feel like that wouldn't matter as they wouldn't have changed in an hour or two of the power being off right?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Do you have photos?

 

[freeeeezy]

Do you have photos?

All I had was my phone flash since the power was off and it just reflected off the glass. You’ll have to take my word for it

 

[PolypPocket]

It could be the flow. When I bought my RBTA it was in a tank with barely any flow and was compact with clear bubble tips. In fact I named her Rainbow Nipples because of how she looked lol. But once she was in my tank with higher flow she barely ever has any nipples and usually has really long tentacles. But she will occasionally vacillate between long ones and short stubby ones. I’m almost certain it’s from the change in flow verses light or parameters (I’ve had her two months at least, enough time to acclimate to how I keep my tank).

I know you said yours is usually short, but I still think the flow idea is plausible. That’s assuming it looks otherwise inflated and healthy. Post a photo if you can.

 

[freeeeezy]

It could be the flow. When I bought my RBTA it was in a tank with barely any flow and was compact with clear bubble tips. In fact I named her Rainbow Nipples because of how she looked lol. But once she was in my tank with higher flow she barely ever has any nipples and usually has really long tentacles. But she will occasionally vacillate between long ones and short stubby ones. I’m almost certain it’s from the change in flow verses light or parameters (I’ve had her two months at least, enough time to acclimate to how I keep my tank).

I know you said yours is usually short, but I still think the flow idea is plausible. That’s assuming it looks otherwise inflated and healthy. Post a photo if you can.

I can get a picture of how it normally looks when I get home today.

The strange thing about this though is that it looked better when the flow was completely gone... I've turned the wavemaker off for varying periods of time like feeding and what not, but I've never had the wave maker and return pump off for longer than it takes to do a water change.

 

[BryanM]

I can get a picture of how it normally looks when I get home today.

The strange thing about this though is that it looked better when the flow was completely gone... I've turned the wavemaker off for varying periods of time like feeding and what not, but I've never had the wave maker and return pump off for longer than it takes to do a water change.

This indicates to me that it wants less flow. But it found its spot, so if possible you'll need to move flow somewhere else and see if it improves.

 

[PolypPocket]

It could be the flow. When I bought my RBTA it was in a tank with barely any flow and was compact with clear bubble tips. In fact I named her Rainbow Nipples because of how she looked lol. But once she was in my tank with higher flow she barely ever has any nipples and usually has really long tentacles. But she will occasionally vacillate between long ones and short stubby ones. I’m almost certain it’s from the change in flow verses light or parameters (I’ve had her two months at least, enough time to acclimate to how I keep my tank).

I know you said yours is usually short, but I still think the flow idea is plausible. That’s assuming it looks otherwise inflated and healthy. Post a photo if you can.

I can get a picture of how it normally looks when I get home today.

The strange thing about this though is that it looked better when the flow was completely gone... I've turned the wavemaker off for varying periods of time like feeding and what not, but I've never had the wave maker and return pump off for longer than it takes to do a water change.

That is my suspicion, that they tend to prefer lower flow. But will adapt to higher flow by changing their structure.

 

[freeeeezy]

That is my suspicion, that they tend to prefer lower flow. But will adapt to higher flow by changing their structure.

Would you suspect flow over the temp decrease?