RBTA

[erikharrison]

I just got a RBTA today from AD. I have a maroon clown that is bigger than it is, will it be ok with that? It loves it!

[Texreefer]

It will beat it to death if the clown is bigger,, those maroons are pretty aggressive and will harrass that RBTA until there is nothing left.. just keep an eye out and if it stays closed up i would move one or the other

[urban79]

lost one cause of that.

[erikharrison]

greaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt....

[Ram_Puppy]

cross your fingers buddy! :)

[erikharrison]

I'll just have to net the little booger.

[Ram_Puppy]

I am thinking my anemone is going to be just a tad bit bigger than my clowns, but if there is an issue w/ size, I will take the clowns out and put them in a temporary home until the anemone is up to size.

[erikharrison]

my clown is a little bigger, but he is wigggling and slapping that anemone like crazy. It is a maroon, seems to be a little pushy.

[ClownReef®]

greaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt....

Research!!

Ive done a few impulse buys, and more often than not it ends in tragedy. Like Tex said, if the clown is bigger (and P. biaculeatus are aggressive indeed) it will beat it to death. See how it does, if the clown seems to be doing more damage than good, id suggest you separate them both.

[Bill S]

You can also try putting something over the anemone for a while. Don't know where he is, but egg crate or something similar might help? A maroon clown is likely to kill it.

[erikharrison]

cool, ill just remove it. Clown, I do alot of research, but I haven't really read anywhere that maroon clowns beat the tar out of their anemones. That's why I posted, lol.

[Ram_Puppy]

Erik,

I have seen clowns beat up on smaller anemones, but i don't think it's a reaction that you see 100% of the time. when my original RBTA died (tank overheated) it took months, it bleached split, and then the two halves shrunk (could not initiate a feeding response any longer) over the course of months.

The clowns (maroons) didn't care it was bleaced and kept right along hosting in them, but as the anemones got smaller the clowns just lost interest and left them alone.

rather than remove the anemone, I would try to isolate the clowns - clowns are tough as heck, while anemones are sensetive - keep the anemone in the main tank, feed the trash out of it and get it big, and either isolate the clowns behind some egg crate or something, or move them to a different tank.

my two cents. :) good luck!

[erikharrison]

I think I am going to remove it. I'll probably use it in trade for a mated pair, BUT I am worried about the other fish and nameably Houdini, my eel, eating them. Will the anemone protect them well? If I got babies, the anemone would be big enough for them as is now. I could get some store credit for the maroon, and just wait till my anemone is full o'krill.

[hanknmorgan]

I almost bought one of those little RBTA's at AD yesterday too. Jason told me that he had already sold two of the three that day. The last one was uber tiny, so I decided to pass. Hope it works out ok with your marron. I was reading up more on RBTA's last night and I did find a writeup somewhere where a guy got a decent size one and his marroon just mongered that thing. He tried partitioning the tank but the anemone didnt survive it's overzealous hosting.

[cpreefguy]

Erik, didnt you just experience a tank crash that killed alot of your fish? Maybe you should wait until your system stabilizes before adding any new livestock.