Designer BTA's and Coloration

[rO.oster]

rBTA, Flame Tip BTA, Flamethrower BTA, Inferno BTA, Lemondrop GBTA, Rainbow BTA, Watermelon BTA, Acid Rain BTA, Darth Maul BTA, Colorado Sunburst BTA, Super Nova BTA

 

Ive seen some spectacular verions of the bubble tip anenomes for sale online.

 

My question is, how do the colors hold up after your purchase arrives home?  I know this is light dependant, theirs versus mine,  mine is full spectum LED.

 

 Does the colors fade inherently as the BTA grows bigger and older?  

 

What factors lead to long skinny tenticles instead of the bubble tip?

 

What would you ask the retailer to do before making a high dollar purchase, like send a WYSIWYG under 14k lighting picture for true representation?

 

Any other cautionary advice is welcome please! 

[Cintax]

On 22/01/2018 at 8:33 PM, rO.oster said:

Does the colors fade inherently as the BTA grows bigger and older?  

I have 24-ish in my tank.. There are five or six which are some sort of orange tipped type and about eighteen of what I consider to be a typical example of a green BTA. I was given the original orange one as a gift and the I received my first two green BTAs in exchange for some advice on an aquarium related topic. This was about five years ago and the colours are just about the same now as then. So my answer is, in my experience no, the colour does not fade as they get older or larger. I feel that as they get larger, the more of the patterns you can see which makes them more interesting to look at. 

 

My experience is that a BTAs colour fades when they are unwell. This can happen for a number of reasons. I thought I was going to loose my orange-tipped BTA one day. I had heard that silversides were good food for them and didn't give it a small enough piece. After it puked up the silverside, it shriveled up. It lost most of it's colour for awhile but after a few weeks It bounced back and regained it's original colouration. 

 

If I feed my BTAs they  grow and split. If I just let them filter feed they have stayed small-ish. The largest has about a five inch disc presently.

 

On 22/01/2018 at 8:33 PM, rO.oster said:

What factors lead to long skinny tenticles instead of the bubble tip?

It's hard to say, BTAs are like cats, they do what they want. Anecdotally, light and flow, but I can't be sure how since one day the tentacles are sucked in tight with little bubble tips and a few weeks later longer with no bubbles. I find mine have longer tentacles towards the bottom of the tank.

 

On 22/01/2018 at 8:33 PM, rO.oster said:

Any other cautionary advice is welcome please! 

People claim that keeping anemones is difficult and maybe it is and I am lucky. I've not had any problems with keeping mine with the exception of the story above and the few that have found their way into my MP10 when I forget the foam or filter floss on it.

[OldManSea]

There are a lot of notions about why tentacles are long or have bubble tips.  My largest, which is about nine inches across will have very long tentacles for a few weeks then I will look one morning and they are short with bubbles and stay that way for a few weeks.  Sometimes they will have large bubbles near the oral disk but with very long, thin extensions.  It has not moved in several months and gets the same light and food all the time.  I do notice that the larger it has gotten, more time is spent with long, thin tentacles.

[Cintax]

51 minutes ago, OldManSea said:

  I do notice that the larger it has gotten, more time is spent with long, thin tentacles.

Interesting. I've noticed that with mine as well. 

[rO.oster]

A lot of insightful and helpful information, thank you for you help @Cintax.  It's a heavy decision for me!