Mxing HIGH end Bta's

[TCseh]

I am looking for information on mixing high dollar bubble tip anemones. I already know it can be risky and people don't recommend it.
I want to hear people who have actually tried though. I want to hear your success failure and everything in between.
Please enlighten us on what you have done to get yourself in the position you are now as a high end bta keeper.

This picture has colorados and supernova bta. I will post another message when I get the names of the rest.

 

[TCseh]

The list of nems in this tank stated by the owner are:
Super nova, colorado sb, rainbow, black widow, Sherman’s, Hawaii punch

 

[TCseh]

Bump

 

[harrylarry]

How does a high end nem know it’s in a tank with a cheap nem?

 

[TCseh]

How does a high end nem know it’s in a tank with a cheap nem?

That's what this thread is trying to figure out.
People say for some reason you can't put colorado sunburst or any other high end nems with stuff like rainbows or even together.
My picture I sent was of a person who did that though.

 

[Spare time]

They are all the same species, so it shouldn't matter.

 

[harrylarry]

That's what this thread is trying to figure out.
People say for some reason you can't put colorado sunburst or any other high end nems with stuff like rainbows or even together.
My picture I sent was of a person who did that though.

Yes I see that but let’s say a $1000 nem and a $40 nem are in the tank together. Do they know that one is more expensive than the other? If so, how? I didn’t think the nems were that smart but I could be wrong? Do they talk to each other and ask how much they were sold for?

 

[TCseh]

Yes I see that but let’s say a $1000 nem and a $40 nem are in the tank together. Do they know that one is more expensive than the other? If so, how? I didn’t think the nems were that smart but I could be wrong? Do they talk to each other and ask how much they were sold for?

I guess. Even though they are bubble tips people say you can't mix the nice ones with the cheap ones or even mix the nice ones together.

 

[TCseh]

They are all the same species, so it shouldn't matter.

That's what you would think. Alot of people say otherwise. That's why I opened this thread to find the people who have done it and if they succeeded or failed and what they did.

 

[rossco]

I thought the same thing - that there is no good reason they should not co-exist. Still do actually.
I put a seemingly healthy Colorado Sunburst in my Nano with Red BTA, a couple Rainbow Bubble Tip, and Green with Pink Tip BTA. A few days later the Colorado went in a cave, deflated, ended up detaching and died. Still have all the others.

 

[Troylee]

The only stories I’ve ever read of a Colorado in a mixed tank was tons of carbon ran on the system.. that seemed to be the key.

 

[TCseh]

I thought the same thing - that there is no good reason they should not co-exist. Still do actually.
I put a seemingly healthy Colorado Sunburst in my Nano with Red BTA, a couple Rainbow Bubble Tip, and Green with Pink Tip BTA. A few days later the Colorado went in a cave, deflated, ended up detaching and died. Still have all the others.

That's tough. Did you have carbon running a uv sterilizer? Did you dip the anemone for infection. And what size was your nano?

 

[rossco]

That's tough. Did you have carbon running a uv sterilizer? Did you dip the anemone for infection. And what size was your nano?

No carbon. Just the sponge filter and ceramic media in the back. No dip. Anemone was tank raised and from my LFS. It was a manual split that had fully healed.

 

[TCseh]

No carbon. Just the sponge filter and ceramic media in the back. No dip. Anemone was tank raised and from my LFS. It was a manual split that had fully healed.

I wonder what would have happened if you had carbon and a uv sterilizer since people say it helps.

 

[Nano_Man]

The best idea is pick one nice type of BTA anemone and stick with it . The best I’ve seen is black widow imo . I run a small nano and they are all the same type no problems

 

[D-Nak]

There's always that ONE person who says, "yes, I've done it, I don't understand why you can't do it." Yet there are 100 other people who say don't do it because they've tried it and failed. Anecdotally speaking, that means it probably shouldn't be done because the rate of success is low.

And no, they don't talk to each other (obviously). It just so happens that the more expensive anemones (CSBs, ChSBs, infernos, etc.) are the ones that are less widely available in the hobby, yet the demand for them is relatively high--supply and demand dictates the higher price. Rainbow, red and green BTAs are common and reproduce quickly so the price is low. Shermans, Black Widows, and purple passion morphs tend to be in the middle of the pack. Wild BTAs tend of be all over the place in terms of price and the rate of success equally varies.

And yes, they're all BTAs so they're the same species, but some people assume they're just color morphs so therefore they're all the same. But that's not necessarily correct. I believe that color indirectly indirectly affects the BTA's hardiness--it could be due to different species of zooxanthellae within the BTA and that zooxanthellae could affect a BTA's color. For comparison, different color morphs of SPS behave similarly, such as Acropora youngei--the green slimer is a quick grower and is extremely hardy while the blue yongei doesn't grow nearly as fast and tends to RTN/STN at a higher rate than the green morph. Same species, just a different color.

If you were to try it, here's what you should do to maximize your rate of success: run lots of carbon as well as an oversized UV sterilizer. This is done to mitigate chemical warfare, aka allelopathy. Some people also believe the low rate of success mixing BTAs could be due to bacterial infections, but if a BTA is properly treated for bacterial infections (typically with Ciprofloxacin or other gram-negative antibiotics) and quarantined for an ample amount of time, I suspect that once it's introduced into a tank with other BTAs, they should all be fine. Yet, we see high-end anemones wither away and die.

Withering away is also key--the demise of the sick BTA typically happens so slowly that owners don't notice right away. They also may not notice that the CSB in the tank isn't growing while the other BTAs are growing quickly and reproducing. In other words, they're thriving while the CSB is struggling. That is not indicative of success.

Lastly, yes I've tried it. And I will never try it again. I watched my CSB slowly get smaller and smaller until I had to move it to a QT tank. I eventually had two tanks--one with a CSBs and another with rainbows and purple passion morphs.

It's simply not worth losing an expensive anemone just to attempt to mix them, and be that one person who says "yes, I've done it, I don't understand why you can't do it."

 

[TCseh]

There's always that ONE person who says, "yes, I've done it, I don't understand why you can't do it." Yet there are 100 other people who say don't do it because they've tried it and failed. Anecdotally speaking, that means it probably shouldn't be done because the rate of success is low.

And no, they don't talk to each other (obviously). It just so happens that the more expensive anemones (CSBs, ChSBs, infernos, etc.) are the ones that are less widely available in the hobby, yet the demand for them is relatively high--supply and demand dictates the higher price. Rainbow, red and green BTAs are common and reproduce quickly so the price is low. Shermans, Black Widows, and purple passion morphs tend to be in the middle of the pack. Wild BTAs tend of be all over the place in terms of price and the rate of success equally varies.

And yes, they're all BTAs so they're the same species, but some people assume they're just color morphs so therefore they're all the same. But that's not necessarily correct. I believe that color indirectly indirectly affects the BTA's hardiness--it could be due to different species of zooxanthellae within the BTA and that zooxanthellae could affect a BTA's color. For comparison, different color morphs of SPS behave similarly, such as Acropora youngei--the green slimer is a quick grower and is extremely hardy while the blue yongei doesn't grow nearly as fast and tends to RTN/STN at a higher rate than the green morph. Same species, just a different color.

If you were to try it, here's what you should do to maximize your rate of success: run lots of carbon as well as an oversized UV sterilizer. This is done to mitigate chemical warfare, aka allelopathy. Some people also believe the low rate of success mixing BTAs could be due to bacterial infections, but if a BTA is properly treated for bacterial infections (typically with Ciprofloxacin or other gram-negative antibiotics) and quarantined for an ample amount of time, I suspect that once it's introduced into a tank with other BTAs, they should all be fine. Yet, we see high-end anemones wither away and die.

Withering away is also key--the demise of the sick BTA typically happens so slowly that owners don't notice right away. They also may not notice that the CSB in the tank isn't growing while the other BTAs are growing quickly and reproducing. In other words, they're thriving while the CSB is struggling. That is not indicative of success.

Lastly, yes I've tried it. And I will never try it again. I watched my CSB slowly get smaller and smaller until I had to move it to a QT tank. I eventually had two tanks--one with a CSBs and another with rainbows and purple passion morphs.

It's simply not worth losing an expensive anemone just to attempt to mix them, and be that one person who says "yes, I've done it, I don't understand why you can't do it."

Thank you for teaching us your experience. I agree with you when it comes to listening to the 100 failures instead of the 1 success.

I made this thread to find someone like you, who has actually tried. It's hard to take someone's advice when they don't have experience on what they are advising.

I made this thread hoping alot of the people who have done it could teach us, and we could find the common denominator for how they did it. It seems those people are so few and far between that the information is nearly impossible to find.

From what I have learned I am definitely not going to mix any high end bta's until I get myself a tank perfect for them and I could have trial and error without losing any.

 

[maharsreef]

I have a 200 gal with 100 gal sump. Over rated 400 UV sterilizer, and run carbon actively. I keep CC Flame Tips, Supernovas and Colorado SB together. Been doing so for years. All duplicate themselves on a normal basis. I also sell them off as to keep from over crowding. Each variety has their own space/rock, however at times have shared the same space. I've never experienced nem death or withering. Although in my 20 yrs experience, I have lost many corals for some reason or another! Hope this helps in others decision making. I will say, nobody should be paying more the 400 for these nems these days. The market is flooded with them.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I originally started out thinking I could mix them...and they co-existed quite well. Over the last few months, my rainbows started thriving whereas my other color morphs started disappearing. As such, I am now in the boat of 'do not mix'

 

[OrchidMiss]

@OrionN @Eagle_Steve
Either of you have any input?