BTA's and salinity

TIGER SHARK · 07/28/2003, 11:25 AM

Hello Anthony,
I know BTA's and most anemones need full strength (1.025-1.026) sea water. Depending on how hot it is any given day, I may be adding up to a couple gallons of no salt top off water and this has been enough to swing the salinity. I am just wondering what other salinity can BTA's tolerate and at what point will they being to stress out from too low or too high of a salinity.

Anthony Calfo · 07/28/2003, 12:22 PM

I'm not sure I fully understand your question/statement.

But if you are asking if the slight daily swing of SG from evaporation top off will bother the anemone, the answer IMO is no. Not under normal circumstances.

And if your daily loss of evap is enough to cause a more significant swing (over.001), then you are a fine candidate for any one of the numerous automatic water top-off devices on the market.

My sincere advice is to aspire to great consistency and stability for reef systems for most of the creatures we keep... for their optimal health.

I would suggest an evap-top off device. Do invest in a better one too if you can afford/integrate it.

Best regards,

Anthony

TIGER SHARK · 07/28/2003, 12:45 PM

Of course my main concern is the health of the BTA. I know they are very hardy animals, at least IME. I have been feeding them a lot and my 2 have double in size from when I first got them. I am wondering if lowering the salinity would stress them just enough to split.

Anthony Calfo · 07/28/2003, 01:12 PM

Ahhh... I see. If the goal is to get them to split... there are much more direct/effective ways to do so. There are articles and FAQs on this subject at length on wetwebmedia.com (inducing natural splits), Daniel Knop did a wonderful article on it in Koralle magazine last year (Germany), there are some great threads here on RC regarding the topic... and I also include pictures in my presentations on the strategy.

In its simplest form, a strategy of bisection is fast and reliably safe (as with corallimorphs) with healthy and well-conditioned animals (done best in a seperate propagation tank... avoid doing so right in the main display)

TIGER SHARK · 07/28/2003, 01:16 PM

I was actually really considering the manual approach as my BTA's are getting HUGE but I have heard many other ways also. With the bisection, is there a certain side you should cut the mouth from? Sometimes the mouth looks oval so Im not sure if cutting accross one side to the other is safer. I will check WWM too.

Anthony Calfo · 07/28/2003, 01:29 PM

most of us cut the animal in a true bisection... right through the mouth.

I think it may be best, but please do let us know of your results/opinion with contrary experiments.

Best of luck!

07/28/2003, 11:25 AM	#1
TIGER SHARK Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 807	BTA's and salinity Hello Anthony, I know BTA's and most anemones need full strength (1.025-1.026) sea water. Depending on how hot it is any given day, I may be adding up to a couple gallons of no salt top off water and this has been enough to swing the salinity. I am just wondering what other salinity can BTA's tolerate and at what point will they being to stress out from too low or too high of a salinity.

07/28/2003, 12:22 PM	#2
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,437	I'm not sure I fully understand your question/statement. But if you are asking if the slight daily swing of SG from evaporation top off will bother the anemone, the answer IMO is no. Not under normal circumstances. And if your daily loss of evap is enough to cause a more significant swing (over.001), then you are a fine candidate for any one of the numerous automatic water top-off devices on the market. My sincere advice is to aspire to great consistency and stability for reef systems for most of the creatures we keep... for their optimal health. I would suggest an evap-top off device. Do invest in a better one too if you can afford/integrate it. Best regards, Anthony

07/28/2003, 12:45 PM	#3
TIGER SHARK Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 807	Of course my main concern is the health of the BTA. I know they are very hardy animals, at least IME. I have been feeding them a lot and my 2 have double in size from when I first got them. I am wondering if lowering the salinity would stress them just enough to split.

07/28/2003, 01:12 PM	#4
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,437	Ahhh... I see. If the goal is to get them to split... there are much more direct/effective ways to do so. There are articles and FAQs on this subject at length on wetwebmedia.com (inducing natural splits), Daniel Knop did a wonderful article on it in Koralle magazine last year (Germany), there are some great threads here on RC regarding the topic... and I also include pictures in my presentations on the strategy. In its simplest form, a strategy of bisection is fast and reliably safe (as with corallimorphs) with healthy and well-conditioned animals (done best in a seperate propagation tank... avoid doing so right in the main display)

07/28/2003, 01:16 PM	#5
TIGER SHARK Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 807	I was actually really considering the manual approach as my BTA's are getting HUGE but I have heard many other ways also. With the bisection, is there a certain side you should cut the mouth from? Sometimes the mouth looks oval so Im not sure if cutting accross one side to the other is safer. I will check WWM too.

07/28/2003, 01:29 PM	#6
Anthony Calfo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 5,437	most of us cut the animal in a true bisection... right through the mouth. I think it may be best, but please do let us know of your results/opinion with contrary experiments. Best of luck!