LTA?

SusRenee · Feb 24, 2020

Hi folks! My good friend has these anemones in her tank. They were sold to her as LTA, but I've never seen coloration like this before. My pictures don't do them justice, they're more like a rainbow BTA. Has anyone seen one like this before? She has a lighting maroon hosting in it.

fishguy242 · Feb 25, 2020

hi yep imo rainbow ,nice clown

reef lover · Feb 25, 2020

+1 i have the same color variant in my avatar pic.

D-Nak · Feb 25, 2020

I agree, they look like RBTAs with long tentacles.

Cell · Feb 27, 2020

LTA's are sand bed dwellars, not rock.

SusRenee · Feb 28, 2020

So the question then is why aren't they "bubbling"? My guess is her light, it's pretty weak. The basic coralife led from Petco, and it's not turned up much.

Mr_Knightley · Feb 28, 2020

Those are definitely not LTA's, I keep them and they have very different habits. Those are for sure BTA's.
Regarding the lack of bubbles, no one knows why some do and some don't. My personal guess is that they look like this in sub-par conditions, but there are many people who keep them in big ol' reef tanks, and they still don't bubble. That light is definitely not strong enough though! She needs to at least max it out, At most get an AI prime or the like.
If I were her, I would definitely go back to the LFS and ask them about the mislabeling, that could be a bit hazardous.

Birdbrains? · Feb 28, 2020

Super cute clown and definitely bubbletips :)

Easy clues for LTA identification:

-LTAs have less tentacles in the centre of the oral disk than Bubbletips. Those in the middle are bigger, giving rise to LTAs' latin name Big Fingers (macrodactyla).

-LTAs have spots on the outside, and most often a red or orange foot.

-LTAs bury their foot into sand.

The bubbles are fragile, nems cannot keep any shape unless the water current allows it. Tbh I think the flow here is too hard and direct to allow bubbles. Perhaps if the nems could get deeper in between rocks so they have some protection against the current. Like using a flattening iron on curly hair, the flow is flattening :)