Lights and feeding for anemones

[Myke7]

I have kept anemones for the last three years of some kind. I just got a new one for my cube. It's the first BTA i've had. From what I have been told these need less light and are not hard to keep. My favorite anemone is the sebae. I had one that was about 3 1/2 years old and very healthy(not bleached). It did not make the last move :cry. I have not been able to find another sebae to replace my old one so I'm looking for info on the bulb anemone and how to feed,care for this great looking BTA.

[Bill S]

Mine get spot fed about once a week. They pick up some food from tank feedings. I have 7 in my 215. I get a split every month or so.

[edawgm]

the other day i was in pollys pet shop in universal city and they had a sedae there if you are wanting another one. give them a call and see if they still have it #658-0420

sorry don't remember the price of it

[thedude]

BTA's like relatively high light actually. One thing to remember is that if you're feeding it big things (krill, silversides, etc.) the anemone isn't gaining anything as it most likely regurgitates the food at night. For feeding, you can't beat basting one with cyclopeeze.

John

[edawgm]

I get a split every month or so.

just asking since i am new to SW but BTA split in to 2? sorry if this sounds dumb but we just noticed that we went from haveing 2 BTA's to 3 yesterday

[brewercm]

They reproduce by splitting. They can also split if they are highly stressed but as long as they are doing fine and water quality is good it's just a natural thing.

[erick]

I have a BTA, loves lots of light, even moved itself to the side where it gets sunlight in addition to the MH lighting. It is hosting a Maroon clown, and the clown feeds it everyday! I feed a variety of frozen foods, and it readily accepts anything the clown brings him. No regurgitation whatsoever....It was the size of a 50 cent piece less than a yr ago, now larger than a softball!!

[Myke7]

Thank you all for the info on the BTA. I have read more than enough info on this subject in the last couple days. It can get very confusing , low light/high light/feed/not feed, I even read somewhere in all that info not to let a small BTA host. Most of the material did say that BTA's are happy under 4+ watts per gallon of PC. This brings up another question though. What spectrum light is best? I have upgrade lighting on my 29 gallon biocube ( 2-36 watt atinic, 1-50/50bulb, 1-10000K bulb )all 36 watt.

bstreep --- When you do the weekly feeding do you soak the food in anything and do you use a turkey baster?

thedude--- I tried the silversides with the sebae and in it would go and out it would come just as fast. I tried to cut it into small parts and had the same results. I thought my sebae was just picky.

[Bill S]

I DON'T do silversides either. My BTAs are all over the place. On small one is 3" from the top of the tank, directly under a 400w MH. He's ticking me off 'cause it's right between some nice frags I got from Ace. Others vary from high to low - they will find their spot and stay there. I don't soak anything. Usually krill, shrimp or squid. I use tongs. They DO sting - and you don't usually find out for a few hours.

[blueboy]

rather than a turkey baster i use a large syringe with a length of rigid air tubing attached. this way i can reach everything without getting wet.

[Myke7]

Blueboy--- what do you feed and do just pull it into the air tubing or load up the syringe

[blueboy]

i feed my BTA's a mixture of cyclopeze, mysis, and enriched brine. well, that's what i feed the whole tank. and i just thaw the cubes in a coffee cup(i have a designated one!)and suck it up into the tubing with the syringe. this device also works pretty good for moving small zoo colonies. i just use the vacuum to suck them against the tubing and move them to were i want them, then just push the syringe and they're released. works with shrooms too, as long as there's not too large of a rock attached. i used a short(3/4") piece of flexible air tubing to attach the syringe to the rigid tubing, the same way air stones are connected in the riser tubes of and old UG filter.