Different BTAs Swapping Pigments?

[acroholic]

I've been thinking about trying a flame tip anemone again. I've been talking with a couple online Vendors about them, and one thing I learned lately from a couple of them is that if you have a flame tip or another unique type (lemon drop, rainbow etc) in the same tank as a regular rose BTA, they can swap pigments. I was told that keeping a flame in the same tank as a rose can lead to the flame dulling out over time.

Their advice is to keep unique (read expensive) types in their own tanks to preserve the unique coloration..

News to me. Anyone heard this?

 

[lilrobb]

True - there is an extensive and highly over my head article by Lajeunesse pointing that corals exchange zoozanthellae and are able to change colors...

 

[hfleming]

I will be a good test. I have two large green bta's and I just added a small rose bta this week.

I have never been happy with the green bta's color. They are more brownish/red than green. They really just end up looking brown.

 

[demifelix]

I know for a fact that frogspawns swap pigments (mine are doing that) but not sure about bta. I guess it makes sense though.

 

[jeffmuse]

Speaking of unique anemones, has anyone ever seen a lemon drop anemone in person? They are extremely rare... wish that I had one

 

[mvm]

I think Dave has one.

 

[rbredding]

demifelix;650646 wrote: I know for a fact that frogspawns swap pigments (mine are doing that) but not sure about bta. I guess it makes sense though.

is THAT what's happening to my frogspawn???

I have a new branch that is all coming up grayish-purple.. (rest of the colony is green or purple..)

 

[dawgface]

Any idea on the distance one can swap pigments from another?

 

[misu]

interesting, I added a small rose nem a few months ago and I had my old huge GBTA in there too and now the small rose is turning green at the base. I thought it's because of the different light but this would explain it.

they're about 3 ft away but I don't think that's very important with our high flow reefs

 

[jbadd99]

Wow, that's interesting.

As others have said, I picked up a RBTA a month or so ago and it goes back and forth between Rose, Green, and Orange.