LTA split again!
 

I now have three green LTA's. I have been moving my tank to its new location for the past couple of days and when I woke up this morning there were three LTA's. The last time it split was about 6 weeks ago. Each one's disk is about 4 inches in diameter with a foot that is about 1.5 inches in diameter and about 2 inches long (on average). My clown's are very confused, should I be looking at getting rid of the offspring?

You are positive this is M. doreensis? Unless I'm having a brain spasm, I could have sworn this almost never happens in captivity. This warrants discussion on RC's Clownfish and Anemones forum.

It might be worth asking as to the point of attachment. When I had LTA's they attached to the substrate, whereas BTA"s always attach to the rocks. Additionally some BTA's seem to lose their bubbles in captivity. At least that was my experience. :rolleyes:

I agree Bob, it would be very easy to confuse one for the other, and I have done it on many an occasion.

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When I got the anemone from Alan I got the whole rock. All 3 three are now attached to various smooth textured rocks around the tank. If it is a BTA then I must be mistaken, I have a picture or two of the anemone before it split in the picture form if anyone can give a positive ID.

Photos always help. Did Alan figure it was an LTA?

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I just checked my PM archives from Alan, they are BTAs...oops! What are the real differences between them?

Tony is the resident expert. I expect he can elaborate.

They can be similar looking but there are some fairly distinct differences in the tentacle shape, the verrucae, the overall shape, and their habits (espescially where they choose to attach and so on). The tentacles are usually longer on M. doreensis, they tend to spiral into a corkscrew shape sometimes (hence the common names "long-tentacle anemone" and "corkscrew anemone"). Entacmaea quadricolor can have tentacles that bubble-up hence the common name "bubble tip anemone." But BTA's don't always have bubbles and the reasons for this are not well understood; suffice it to say "they may or they may not." But the "BTA" name still references back to the species name so just because it doesn't have bubbles doesn't mean it's not a BTA.

You can do some reading on the field charactistics of these species and the other Indo/Pacific hosting species over at
http://biodiversity.uno.edu/ebooks/intro.html

Fautin and Allen are generally regarded as the forefront experts on the hosting species of anemones and this link is an online version of their book "Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones". The print version is more complete than the online version so if it's something you're interested in, you should find the printed version somewhere.

Awesome link tony!!!

I skimmed through it and there is tons of great information. I will go back and read it in its entireity though. Have been considering one of these animals down the road someday. Now I can do my homework. :mrgreen:

Man, where does he find all this great stuff... :confused: