The BTA will host many types of clownfish including Ocellaris, Percula, Maroon, and Gold Maroon Clownfish. If you can get a clownfish to host your new BTA, it will help the anemone to acclimate to your aquarium faster since the clownfish will feed scraps of food to the BTA.
Bubble Tip Anemones (BTAs) range in color, shape, and size, though green is the most commonly found color of BTAs. A rarer form of BTAs is red, and they are often referred to as Rose BTAs. If you are new to keeping a reef or just want an anemone, these are the best option for you. They are much easier to keep in comparison to any other anemone.
When placing the BTA in the aquarium, minimize the handling of the BTA and support it by its foot as much as possible, and turn down the flow of the filter and cut the intensity of the light down. Be sure that it is in a crevice of rock where it can easily anchor its foot. After the BTA has anchored its foot on a rock, turn the flow and light back up to normal. If it is anchored in a place that you don’t particularly want, you can direct a gentle flow of water onto the BTA, and it should move to find a spot more suited to its needs.
One thing to be aware of, though, is the fact that anemones are in fact living invertebrates and can move around your aquarium, and prefer to anchor their foot on rock (CS1001) rather than sand. Once anchored, though, do not try to move the BTA because this could damage the foot and be terminal for the BTA. If the BTA anchors near coral, be sure to move the coral out of its way since it could grow and sting the coral, which could be fatal to your coral.
Feeding BTAs is rather easy. You can either decide to feed them or not to feed them. The better option is supplementing their photosynthetic diet with certain meaty foods like krill (SF7136). If you decide to feed meaty foods to your anemone, be sure to not feed pieces that are too large for the BTA’s stomach because this has the potential to damage it and can be fatal. Use a feeder stick or a pair of tongs (HYD163) and touch the piece of krill to the tentacles of the BTA, and they should grab onto it and take it into the stomach. Be careful not to poke and damage the anemone.
Lighting for BTAs should be high output lighting like T5 HO lamps and Kessil Tuna Blue (KE134) lighting. This is because BTAs are also photosynthetic. They contain zooxanthellae that provide nutrients and allow for you to not feed the BTA, though supplementing their photosynthetic diet with meaty foods is recommended.
The correct water parameters are essential for all anemones because they are fickle creatures and will often not survive in the wrong conditions. The first condition of owning a BTA is that the aquarium must be 6 months to 1 year old, meaning that it has to have been running for this long before you put a BTA in. This is because the aquarium is still going through pH, nitrate, and other parameter fluctuations, which can be fatal to the anemone. The water parameters need to be as follows: temperature; 75-78 degrees Fahrenheit, salinity; 1.024-1.026, pH; 8.0-8.4, and Nitrates; < .10 ppm.