BTA question

[jtxstate]

I have had a BTA for about three months, it has been healthy for the time i have had it, but everytime i feed it, my tom. clown takes the food out of the BTA. Even when the tom. has placed the food in the BTA he just takes it out again. And now my BTA is not accepting food. any ideas? can i still save the BTA form death? Also what is a good choice of food for the BT?

[JimD]

What kind of lighting do you have?

[betiuminside]

If you have good lighting, I don't think she will die, but you could try to use like clear pvc tube or a any other type of clear tube that will prevent other fish to eat her food. My shrimps always get her food, so.. I just put the tube on top of her and and wait 10 min... is she doesn't eat it, well.. she is doing good with the lighting and she don't want to be fed.

[sharkboy]

Don't mean to steal the thread but what should you feed an anemone and what is the best/easiest way to do it? How often? Is lighting alone enough?

[Ross]

Its a good idea to feed them mysis shrimp or small pieces of fresh seafood from the grocery store. Every few days will be fine, you can feed more often if they'll eat it.

[jtxstate]

i running 2 150 watt MH and 2 blue PC (current outer orbit).....can i feed frozen, or is it best to go get fresh seafood?

[betiuminside]

I think you light setup is good, I feed my Sebae frozne squid cubes... but like 1/4 of the cube only. once's a week. I tried fresh shrimp as well... she will love that!
I feed her a lot because I only have PC... but you should be ok. just watch for decoloration.

[GaryP]

Try distracting the clown with some food in another part of the tank while you are feeding the anemone. I've fed my anemones mysids, table shrimp and silversides at various times. Any meaty food will do. They only need to be fed 1-2 X per week. While they do get most of their nutrition from their symbiotic zoanthellae, like all corals they need some other nutrients from other sources in order to grow. Mainly they are looking for things like amino acids. The zoanthellae mainly produce sugars.

[jtxstate]

thanks guys, she (bta) was hiding in the rocks for a few days and wouldnt grab food, but she came out today and **** shes big! id say about 9 to 10 inches, maybe more. can i get her to split? or i guess the question is...when and what causes a BTA to split, i know the rose BTA at CB pets when i worked there split like three times! lol it was funny...the two clowns hosted the clam and left the BTA alone, i always laughed to myself when i was ringing someone up, silly clown, your in the wrong place...one day that clam might just close with you in it. just thought id add that. thanks again.

[Bill S]

If you can get it out of the tank, just cut it in half. Do a search on my post about it.

[mharris7]

anemones do have to be fed. Photosynthesis of symbiotic zoox doesn't provide them with all the nutritional requirements they need. I like to feed them Formula 1 flake food as it is a combination of several different nutritional sources and is easy and clean to use (vs. frozen slimey fish parts - which a nice, just messy). If you feed elsewhere in the tank the clown should stay away long enough for the BTA to close on and swallow the food.

Personally I would not try to encourage the anemone to split. If you leave it alone it probably will at some point anyway. Otherwise you just risk injury to the anemone.

[Ram_Puppy]

i used to feed mine shrimp till my heater boiled that tank.

[JeremyGlen]

Your nice clean formula one flake adds lots of phosphates to the water though.

I've always fed my anemones frozen texas 51/60? shrimp from HEB. I just cut it up into small pieces and "help" the anemone catch a few pieces. If your clown grabs one or two its fine since there will be more than that in the anemone. I used to feed my carpet comet goldfish cause it was cool to watch them get eaten. The smaller long-tentacle would eat smaller goldfish occasionally.

[jroescher]

So how big will an anemone get before it splits, if it's not stressed in any way?

[GaryP]

They can get huge. I've seen some that were a couple feet across. Being stressed in some way will also encourage them to split as a means of increasing their chances of survival. My LTA would split 3:1 every time we moved the tank. I was overrun with them at one time because we were moving so often. The really large ones will just clone off small anemones occasionally.

I had a RBTA climb and straddle the grates in an overflow once. It was basically impaled and the only way I could get it off was to split it with a razor blade. I got two nice, small RBTA as a result.

Try checking this out:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemonereprofaqs.htm

[mharris7]

Your nice clean formula one flake adds lots of phosphates to the water though.


I've always run the Tunze phosphate absorbsion product (iron based) in a cannister filter with carbon so I never noticed phosphate problems. I'm still a big fan of the nutritional value. I've had it correct problems with Tangs HLLE as well as being a good food for anemones.