Lemon Drop BTA

[LanglandJoshua]

I Currently I am doing research into more rare anemones, such as Lemon Drop BTA's for propagation. I have seen multiple places claiming LDBTA's. For prices ranging from $275-700. I have a few questions regarding these 'nems.

 

1. Does anyone here have one, or experience with splitting/caring for them.

 

2. If I got one or more, and split them to sell here. What would you guys feel to be a FAIR price?(This will of course be dictated by what I pay up front to buy them.)

 

3. Would you be interested in purchasing one down the road.

 

4. Is there any other type of anemone that you think I should check into for propagation, I already have several RBTA's. With plans to get more!

 

I am looking forward to seeing the feedback from WAMAS on this, as well as get a feel for interest in these anemones. Any feedback will be helpful!

 

Bellow are some photo's of LDBTA's

 

 

 

 

On the left is an orange rainbow, right is lemon drop.

 

[zygote2k]

Is there any chance they could have been dyed? Anyone remember the yellow dyed Sebae anemones that were popular back int he day?

[Origami]

High end BTA's had some trouble clearing our at high prices here in the recent past.

 

Given ease of propagation, expect prices to drop somewhat quickly as owners see a market and propagate their own.

 

Fair pricing might be $75 - the $100 in, say, 2 - 3 inch size.

 

Probably not interested in them myself.

 

BTA's propagate easily. Many anemones do not. Research those successfully split. Traveller7 has a lot of experience with nems. We don't see him much here these days but he might respond to a PM.

 

(Sent from my phone)

[monkiboy]

i'd be interested in one or two. i'm more and more into nems and have a nem tank now. i'm also trying to get a gonzo's sunburst or a coral collection "acid rain" or "inferno". i wouldn't have a problem paying according to the market. splitting is easy but still time consuming so i would think you should make a little something on your end for taking the rest with your investment. keep us posted.

[Jan]

I'd be interested in one, for fairly reasonable price.

[LanglandJoshua]

Zygote, that is a worry. From what I remember in past research there was a consensus that died anemones were a consistent color from the tentacles down top the foot. With no stretch marks or natural color variations.

 

Origami, that is exactly what I am concerned with. If there is a large cost $300+, I would have a hard time selling for less than half what I paid. Then compound the fact it may be hard to sell, and you have one beautifly simple headache. I will PM him, thanks for the advice.

 

Monkiboy, that is great to know. It's good to see there is possible interest. My biggest concern (assuming I find a real lemon drop and not a fake) is working out a fair price. WAMAS, members (myself included) are used to very low prices. It's a large part of why many of us join. By working with each other, we often pay similar pricing to wholesale or less.

 

 

[hypertech]

The ones with interesting colors don't seem to propagate as easy. There are yellow ones that aren't died. I'd be interested in a clone if one popped up but not a slice and dice. The track record for that seems great or total loss. Too risky for me.

 

I've got a green with bright orange tips now and it's the centerpiece of my tank. I could see going with more BTAs and less corals myself.

[basser9]

A real lemondrop and a flame are always in demand at 200 anything over that

and it gets harder to sell.

A solid colored yellow bta is not a lemondrop and in my experience dyed.

There are known guys on R2R and RC that have real lemondrops and flames

becarful buying from anybody else.

The purple bta is nice and is a 100 sale all day.

They are all as easy to cut as a RBTA.

 

I would be interested at 200 for a real lemon 200 for a flame

and 100 for a purple rain.

Edited March 2, 2013 by basser9

[basser9]

Heres a pic of a real lemondrop it will have a dark green body an yellow tips.

Alot of venders will get bleached RBTA/s in and think they have a lemon.

Even real lemondrops will have different amounts of yellow tips a really nice

one is very rare and worth twice what a regular lemon is worth.

[zygote2k]

an "easier" way but definitely a more time consuming way is to start a BTA anemone tank/farm and start propagating them. When you induce the right kind of stressors or water chemistry, their colors will change. there used to be an anemone farm in these parts that sold BTA's all day long to the wholesalers for $30 each.

if you use that dollar amount ratio, then you shouldn't pay more than $75 for a lemon drop if you're trying to do it to recoup your losses from the initial purchase.

[Valeria]

my two cents, from experience and research. I'm with Hypertech on this... the colored anemones are not as easy to cut as the RBTA'S. I've contacted several people about flame strand and they either lost all their cuts. I can't remember how I lost my flame but when I did all other BTA's survived, my point is that the colorful strands are very delicate. I've ordered some "reasonable" priced colorful morphs but they lost their color within a couple months. The ones that I paid their market price kept their color. I have a couple of morphs, I think I only had time to take a picture of one. Also when you order true colorful bta's don't expect a reasonable size, mine arrived the size of a nickel with 10 tentacles!

 

Needless to say but I too I'm interested in colorful morphs, at a reasonable LOL!

[basser9]

Most of what i have seen sold as special morphs of bta's are just bleached out

rbta's.

95 percent of FLAMES are not really flames and are sick RBTA.S.

A heathy real LEMondrop/FLAME will have deep colors on it just as a heathy RBTA will be deep red.

If its healthy they cut up the same as any rbta......all BTA dont ship well.

I had a real LEMON and a FLAME that i picked up in NYC for 600.00.

I cut both up and then cut them up again.....cut in four and they all did nicely.

Sadly my whole tank crashed....tank/frag tank/BTA farm when my grandchild messed with my 2 part pump.

A really nice colored lemon/flame that i could get in md/dc that is the real deal .....maybe 400.00 if it was like mine were.

[corsi1330]

i'd be interested in one or two. i'm more and more into nems and have a nem tank now. i'm also trying to get a gonzo's sunburst or a coral collection "acid rain" or "inferno". i wouldn't have a problem paying according to the market. splitting is easy but still time consuming so i would think you should make a little something on your end for taking the rest with your investment. keep us posted.

 

 

I own gonzo's nem. Bought it directly from him a couple years ago It just split a couple of weeks ago. May sell it but still deciding if I want to move it in my new tank I am setting up.

[basser9]

If you live in GONZOS neck of the woods a sunburst is everywere.

A really nice LEMondrop is twice as bright as a SUNBURST but i would still

like to have one.

[corsi1330]

Here is a pic of my nem. The baby is behind it and you can see the smaller tentacles. Momma lost a little color during this process but is starting to regain day by day. The baby has the green in it that mom had just recently lost. I am thinking just from the process of splitting? Wish I could take better pics.

 

[ctenophore]

IME not all "BTAs" propagate as easily. I've had several strains of Rose BTAs that I propagated into the hundreds of clones both in my greenhouse and under artificial light. They were like cutting xenia, I lost essentially zero. A few years ago, I picked up a neat strain of "BTA" that was vivid pink with neon green tips. I got three at the time, and one died within a day. The other two grew, and I sent one down to my old greenhouse in FL. These were kept with the other RBTAs in the same systems, except in different baskets. However, whenever we cut them, we would lose one almost every time. We managed to get up to about 5 of the "PGBTA" (pink/green bubble tip) but always lost some. This was following the exact protocol as the RBTA which basically never failed. Eventually all of them died after various accidents so now I have none. Man, those were great looking anemones. I'm not convinced they were the same species as the various Rose strains (solid red, red/green base, red/pink base). In any case, they are certainly more sensitive than regular roses. If they weren't, the market would have been flooded years ago, as Roses are basically indestructible if you really try to propagate them.

 

Good luck with it, and if you do find some neat strains, please let me know as I would be interested in buying one or more.

[basser9]

Just as with sps every generation of a RBTA that is cut or fragged seems to become easyer to cut/frag the next time.

A wild RBTA does not cut as easy as a 30th generation cut rbta.

The 2 BTA that i got in NY were as easy to cut up as any RBTA and i believe that is because they were 5 or 6 generation

cutups.

Lemondrops and flames are horrible shippers just as a RBTA is thats wild in my opinion the

only difference with the rare ones is that they are wild or 2nd gen and prone to the same problems

you have with any wild bubbletip.

So its very important to wait for a rare BTA to get big and fat and make the first cut only in half.....

be patient and once you have cut a few a few times i am sure anyone will find they are really easy to cut up.

Edited March 9, 2013 by basser9

[monkiboy]

joshua, if interested a reefer buddy/vendor i know got one in recently that he'll sell you. it's $575. i thought it looked like an odd GBTA but he said it's crazy yellow in person. let me know.

 

Edited March 12, 2013 by monkiboy

[Jan]

That's crazy. I'd make sure you'll have buyers before I invest that kind of money.

[LanglandJoshua]

I have had other sellers offer similar. Which is why I started this thread, to see what the interest was. At the moment it seems that the high end of what people would pay is $250-300. Which means there is no way I can afford to buy one at the moment. We will see how my tax returns look lol...then I will consider it. But even then the ROI on each is incredibly low. Which would force me to split them for months until selling would be an option.

[Neto]

Its the same thing as buying corals, letting them grow and sell frags...

[dave w]

This would be a perfect candidate for sexual reproduction because of rarity and price.  There have been some good academic papers written about collecting wild BTA spawn in south Australia and trying to grow them on.  Basically they mass spawn over just a few days in late summer, although southern hemisphere seasons are opposite ours and I don't know how long it would take to acclimate them.  Many anems/corals spawn with day length or moon luminosity and this wouldn't be easy to replicate in captivity.  Although if someone had a greenhouse this could be the easy part.  

 

Speaking of greenhouses, I would be interested in working with someone on this morph.  BTAs are a lot like corals, once the fertilized egg hatches it floats for 2-3 days then settles onto a substance with the appropriate "cues", like the right algae or biofilm.  The single planulae puts out a sticky little fishing line and reels in anything that gets stuck on it.  I'd think a tank with plankton friendly water movement could keep enough live zooplankton available for a high percentage of survival of the spawn.

 

I'm not sure about the forum rules for talking about a business in a thread, so if anyone has an interest in pursuing this send me a p.m., or post it if the rules allow.

[LanglandJoshua]

Dave W I would love to get into something like that, if you need a hand. Let me know lol!

[dave w]

I also think it would be a lot of fun.  But forking out the money for a dozen lemon drops would break about anybody's wallet.  And after putting out the money, you'd need to wait another year or two for spawning, then a year or more for growout.  It wouldn't be for the faint of heart, but it could be quite rewarding.  

[Mattiejay6]

http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/selling-forum-livestock/172036-lemondrop-bta.html

 

Lemon Drop for sale on R2R