RBTA changing colors??

[Phyxius]

We have or my wife acquired a RBTA that was a light pink color when we first got it. Its colored up since we first got it and grown nicely since then. Lately it has started getting a silvery snow like splash coloration to it like someone splattered spray paint on it which is really nice looking and I have seen it before on other BTA`s. The last few days the tips have also started changing coloration to green. Its only the tips kind of like a Flame tip Anemone has yellow but this one has green.
Has anyone ever had a RBTA morph its color pattern before? Its kind of nice to watch it do this but unusual also.

A few months ago when we first got it and it was moving around tank and poking out in middle of the other corals in pic. Here it is all pink and no other colors

Pic today showing some of the silvery spots and the green tips. This is only half of it showing as the rest is behind the rocks. It has grown tremendously. Sorry for the bad pic as battery on my Canon XTi was dead....You can see the green tips clearly now though

 

[Woodstock]

That is beautiful.
The red BTA's I had in my reef tank never changed colors but the ones in my anemone tank did. They became lighter and lighter under four T5 bulbs so I switched to MH. Now they're hiding.
My carpet anemone that is in the same anemone tank changed from dark green to a dark purple color.

Mine changed due to light but I don't think your lighting has changed.

 

[Phyxius]

Thanks Doni,
Thats the same light pink one you saw when you came over that was up at the top of the tank we had gotten. And still the same lights so no change there or no change in diet except maybe from our food and from the orig sellers food... Definitely changed colors since you saw it last. I`m hoping it splits and retains this color as it would be nice to have 2 this way Was just curious if others had any RBTAs that had colors swings like this before

 

[Jeremy0322]

I read somewhere on here that they change colors due to the spectrum of lighting you are using. And if they are old bulbs there is a chance there was a spectrum change? Maybe that isnt the word im looking for, but its an idea...haha. Anyways, its a beautiful anemone, i wish i could have one

 

[CATALYST]

Mine changed color. When I first got it, it was a taupey brown color. Then it bleached out to white. When I got the color to come back, it turned totally green with pink tips.

 

[cheeks69]

Anemones will change color depending on intensity but the spots are unusual with Anemones but do appear with zoanthids.

 

[mantid]

This actually brings me to a question and an idea that I have had for some time. zooxanthellae is the symbiotic algae inside of the corals that give the corals their color in many cases. I have heard and it makes sense that this zooxanthellae can move from one coral to another, even to different species, and multiply, along with its color, within the new "host", creating completely different color patterns and variations. Before I really understood what a coral was I had a friend with a 200+ gal reef basically prove that this could happen, but I really didn't have appreciation for it until now that I have a different understanding of corals.

Then again, I could be pulling this idea out of my rear, and maybe its just a change due to stresses of introduced different corals, lighting, ect.

Opinions?

Could this be a possibility for Phyxius' RBTA?

 

[cheeks69]

zooxanthellae is the symbiotic algae inside of the corals that give the corals their color in many cases.

This can happen particularly to SPS corals when under insufficient lighting they increase the zooxanthellae and they turn brown. Corals, Clams and Anemones have natural pigments that can change under different type of lighting. My RBTA changed from maroon to pink when I increased the amount of light in my tank.

 

[mantid]

so um, no zooxanthellae swappage then? not a possibility, you don't think? Aside from the lighting issue.

 

[Dentoid]

Mantid, I recall reading, can't locate to source, that zooxanthellate animals will pick-up free floating algae to incorporate as zooxanthellae, I guess you could loosely call this swapping. The only color zooxanthellae give to zooxanthellate animals is brown and possibly drabby-green, as this is what color they are.

 

[cheeks69]

The only color zooxanthellae give to zooxanthellate animals is brown and possibly drabby-green, as this is what color they are.

Ditto !

 

[CA Reefer]

One of my RBTA's morphed it's color a little about a year ago. Not on the tips like yours but on the main disk. It now has an iridescent green/blue sheen with the rose color. Looks pretty sweet...

Interestingly though it's split twice and the new nem's don't keep the green/blue sheen.

 

[Phyxius]

Well I thought I would post an update to my color changed RBTA.
It was getting rather large after its final move to the top of the tank where it has stayed put ( second picture I posted above) It loved being fed and has stayed content there and then for 2 days it seemed to be a little smaller and not coming out as much. I now know why as behind the rock where most of the body was it apparently decided to split and I now have 2 of these guys in the tank. Great part is the orig one is coming back out again and stayed put where it was, the bad part is the new one is ALL over the tank like Houdini. Here one day and gone the next so its been a joy trying to figure out where its going to pop out next and try and move things in its path. Already lost a baby Tyree Green Leather to it as well as a Acan frag. This thing can be in one spot and anchored at noon and 2 ft over at 1:00. It has literally traveled all 6ft of the tank and back where the other has moved no more than a ft since we put it in. Luckily I knew they did this and was prepared. Wife loves having her new little baby in the tank.................
She really doesn't realize how much she owes me for having this in the tank yet LOL

On a side note also it did lose about half of its bubble look after the split which is kind of odd also. They now have more off a long tentacle look to them than a bubble look. I wonder if thats lost forever or if it will come back, It looks strange mixed like that.

New pic showing the split in the lower right portion with orig one at the top peaking out. Its actually about in the same place the other started at which is also about where the foot is on the top one. Sorry for the white washed pic as the halides really dont do well with the camera

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

As I'm sure you know, they typically move because they're unhappy where they currently are. Regardless, that is an absolutely STUNNING specimen!

 

[Phyxius]

As I'm sure you know, they typically move because they're unhappy where they currently are. Regardless, that is an absolutely STUNNING specimen!

Oh I`m quite aware LOL. I wish it would have split with the happiness of the other one

I`m just used to to the other one always in spot A or within a ft of spot A the whole time we have owned it. This ones wants to be everywhere and moves hourly just to keep me on my toes.

 

[mps9506]

so um, no zooxanthellae swappage then? not a possibility, you don't think? Aside from the lighting issue.

Dentiod is spot on with his answer:

Mantid, I recall reading, can't locate to source, that zooxanthellate animals will pick-up free floating algae to incorporate as zooxanthellae, I guess you could loosely call this swapping. The only color zooxanthellae give to zooxanthellate animals is brown and possibly drabby-green, as this is what color they are.

But to add on, and I am not 100% sure how this works in anemones, however in corals the coloration you generally see is caused by proteins that essentially protect the zooxanthellle by reflecting certain wavelengths of light, resulting in the vibrant greens/reds/yellows etc that you see. This allows the coral to essentially regulate what light the algae receives. There are many articles on how this works.



I wish I had advice for Phyxius. I don't know much regarding anemones and coloration though.