I wanted to share my experience with getting BTAs to bubble

[rennjidk]

This is all anecdotal, but I recall hearing it from multiple sources. Some people say that bubbling is affected by lighting, flow, or nothing at all. Others swear it's due to how they feed (I'm now one of those people).

A few years back, when I was first starting out, I remember watching a video on YT from an importer who claimed to be a biologist (no idea if the second part is true or not), but he stated that nems stretch out when they are being fed more physical foods. This allows them to have longer reach and capture more prey. When they are strictly relying on light for nutrients, they bubble up to increase surface area and capture more light.

I had my nems for a year in my main display where they were broadcast fed mysis daily with the rest of the tank. In that entire year, I could never get them to bubble, just the occasional "fat tentacles" where they look more like chubby little fingers than bubbles.

After moving them to their own tank with the clowns, and only feeding tdo pellets to the fish, they have never looked better. Par, spectrum, water quality, and flow are more or less the same. The only difference I can see is that they are no longer eating (the clowns are not feeding them either).

Just thought I'd share my experience.

 

[The_Paradox]

Stretching increases their surface area not decreases.

 

[Idech]

That’s interesting ! Maybe not the answer, but interesting nonetheless.

The guy I bought mine from feeds his nems and they are bubbly. He told me to feed mine, so I did. Mine is stringy now but it wasn’t before and was being fed.

 

[Crabby48]

Had them bubble and not bubble and even stretch 16”. High light low light high flow low flow feeding not feeding. Over 20 bta’s in a tank. Nothing in common to say why or why not bubble.

Nems are weirdo’s.

 

[rennjidk]

Stretching increases their surface area not decreases.

What I took it to mean is, two identically sized nems, one with normal inflation like spaghetti and the other with bubbles added. The bubbles add more surface area to collect light.

 

[rennjidk]

Had them bubble and not bubble and even stretch 16”. High light low light high flow low flow feeding not feeding. Over 20 bta’s in a tank. Nothing in common to say why or why not bubble.

Nems are weirdo’s.

I'm not claiming to have any answers. It's all purely anecdotal. Just wanted to share what I observed in my own tank.

 

[The_Paradox]

What I took it to mean is, two identically sized nems, one with normal inflation like spaghetti and the other with bubbles added. The bubbles add more surface area to collect light.

Gotcha. I consider bubbled to look like this, not strung out + bubbles.

 

[Crabby48]

I'm not claiming to have any answers. It's all purely anecdotal. Just wanted to share what I observed in my own tank.

Aorry if my post sounded like I was saying you’re wrong.
And thanks for sharing. Enjoyed reading. For me I couldn’t find anything in common and was sharing my findings. They are very interesting

Them reaching. Think it was to grab food high up in the flow.

And that one picture that shows the beauty of them. Nothing better than watching clowns swim under them all.

 

[rennjidk]

Aorry if my post sounded like I was saying you’re wrong.
And thanks for sharing. Enjoyed reading. For me I couldn’t find anything in common and was sharing my findings. They are very interesting

Them reaching. Think it was to grab food high up in the flow.

And that one picture that shows the beauty of them. Nothing better than watching clowns swim under them all.

No offense taken at all. I was just clarifying my intent

 

[ninjamyst]

You moved them to a new tank. It has nothing to do with whether you feeding them or not. It has to do with the new environment they are in.

To prove your hypothesis, you should have stopped feeding them in the old tank and see what happens or start feeding them in new tank and see what happens.

You can't just move all the nems to a new environment and disregard that.

Also, your nems still look half bubbled and half stretched. This is what fully bubbled looks like

 

[rennjidk]

To prove your hypothesis, you should have stopped feeding them in the old tank and see what happens or start feeding them in new tank and see what happens.

You can't just move all the nems to a new environment and disregard that.

This wasn't an experiment. Also the "new tank" is just that, new glass. Everything was moved over including the lights, powerhead, and existing rockwork. They did get a 100% WC, but my parameters have tested the same, including ICP results which are posted in my other threads (except for an initial spike in silicate).

Again, not trying to reinvent the wheel, just sharing something that I observed and enjoyed.

 

[D-Nak]

The true test is to remove the clownfish so there is zero feeding. Anytime fish food hits the water you'll get a feeding response from the anemones.

 

[leon.1980]

I have given up on figuring them out. I have 5. All splitter from one and 4 of the 5 are right where they split so all of them are right on top of eachothwr in the exact same flow lighting food path. All the same conditions. They never do the exact same thing at the same time. I think nems have more individual personality than people give them credit form.
People are from Venus, anenomies are from mars. Lol

 

[Rjramos]

These ultra rainbow BTA’s get good light, flow, and get fed a whole lot of tdo pellets, mysis, and krill, just about everyday. You can see some bubbling here and there, but mostly extended . I don’t mind this beautiful sway of tentacles in the current, it’s mesmerizing. Just a fascination favia on the bottom, away from all tentacles. If you have BTA’s with corals, I could see where long tentacles could be a burning problem.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ive never had an issue with this

 

[seamonster]

This is all anecdotal, but I recall hearing it from multiple sources. Some people say that bubbling is affected by lighting, flow, or nothing at all. Others swear it's due to how they feed (I'm now one of those people).

A few years back, when I was first starting out, I remember watching a video on YT from an importer who claimed to be a biologist (no idea if the second part is true or not), but he stated that nems stretch out when they are being fed more physical foods. This allows them to have longer reach and capture more prey. When they are strictly relying on light for nutrients, they bubble up to increase surface area and capture more light.

I had my nems for a year in my main display where they were broadcast fed mysis daily with the rest of the tank. In that entire year, I could never get them to bubble, just the occasional "fat tentacles" where they look more like chubby little fingers than bubbles.

After moving them to their own tank with the clowns, and only feeding tdo pellets to the fish, they have never looked better. Par, spectrum, water quality, and flow are more or less the same. The only difference I can see is that they are no longer eating (the clowns are not feeding them either).

Just thought I'd share my experience.

I found that magnesium helps them to keep the bubble tips accident. I started supplementing my reef with it and my bubble tip rose wasn’t really bubble tipped. After I started dosing the mag, the tips started bubbling. I didn’t dose as much of that now, I just do water changes. But it still bubble tipped and it looks great. They split so many times. I sold some and gave some to my lfs…I only had 1 3 mos ago, it already split and now I have 2. They are being hosted by a pair of baby ocellaris clowns.

 

[BOYERZ]

Thanks for the post op.

Still trying to figure them out, I think they are aliens.

Tank was started 01/29/2023

Nem was added 02/18/2023 bubbles. Yes I know that was a no no.

Last pic is from a few days ago:

Pics loaded backwards.

 

[BOYERZ]

Thanks for the post op.

Still trying to figure them out, I think they are aliens.

Tank was started 01/29/2023

Nem was added 02/18/2023 bubbles. Yes I know that was a no no.

Last pic is from a few days ago:

Pics loaded backwards.

Dang it! Can't edit.

First Pic is 09/06/2023

Green nub tenticle was chewed off, by itself.

 

[paintman]

The only thing my nems do when I spot feed them is split. Started with 1 now have 18. Never bubble.

 

[Reeftogo]

I have 4 tanks all Daisy chain using the same water. All lights are radions gen5 and I feed them the same shrimp/clams. They only bubble up in 1 tank. All the other are long and stringy. ‍All split from 1 original nem.

Need a team of researchers to figure out this mystery.