Keeping RBTA

[LuckySingh]

hi u all..i hve a 57 gl display tank under 300wt of MH...
my tank is fully Lps dominated tank mainly with high end chalices and sme softies...

All these years been in maintaining reef tank I hve always hesitate to keep an anemone thinking it tends to move a lot and will sting and destroy my corals when i am not hme...I am pretty busy with my wrk and dnt get hme till night...

would really like to keep a RBTA now and need sme info that how much they tend to move and what r the things i need to keep in mind while my anemone is acclimating and not settle yet...water and light parameters...any info should help..
thinking about goin with small RBTA if that is much more easy to keep...

[Mr Cob]

use pantyhose on display tank powerheads or some type of netting. They easily get caught in the intake part of powerheads.

Let them go where they want and move frags/corals around as needed. Once they settle then you can rearrange your corals. They normally roam around for a week and then select a spot and stay put. Change the flow and they pick up again...at least that's what happens in my experience.

My GBTA's never killed any corals but all of the RBTA's I have had have always been able to kill corals when touching. At the moment my RBTA moved after I change some flow and it has claimed a spot next to my Neon Green Palau Nepthea colony...they are both touching but I don't see any signs of stress from either. This same RBTA has killed several caps, SPS frags and some LPS.

[LuckySingh]

how much they move in a day..bc i am always out for about 10 to 12 hrs day till i get hme...and no one is hme to nurse my tank during that time

[350gt]

If they move anything like my late GBTA(tore up by powerhead), they are quick movers... And I am home ALOT!

[Mr Cob]

how much they move in a day..bc i am always out for about 10 to 12 hrs day till i get hme...and no one is hme to nurse my tank during that time

just depends....I have seen it all. Be prepared. But for me...my RBTA and Onyx clowns are my favorite so I give them first choice on everything. If your corals are more important to you (and I know you have some prized pieces) you might want to think about setting a temp tank up for your rare expensive corals until the RBTA settles down.

[Gseclipse02]

get one from some ones tank ones from the wild always seem to be hit or miss ...

my Flame RBTA barely/rarely moves one time one of them moved about a foot but as soon as i put my mh on he tank it went back to its old home and has yet to move

[Bill S]

OK, from my years of keeping RBTAs:

They move. Yes, once they find a spot they like, they will stay put. FOR A WHILE. Then, they take a trip around the tank or two.

Once they split, which mine do quite often, they seem to wander a bit, and then one or both end up back where they started. You HAVE to KEEP the tank anemone-proofed. At ALL times.

They will kill off anything around them. That's just their nature. If you keep one, make sure that everything in your tank can be moved.

As noted earlier, try to find someone's clone. I have them occasionally, but when I do they are usually put up for adoption in the exchange program. Of they 20-30 or so clones I've had, I've never lost one that wasn't my fault: One in a powerhead, one by trying to get it off a rock and it got too cold. Mine are EXTREMELY hardy, and there are many, many clones of mine running around on MAAST.

[kkiel02]

I know this is late but here you go.

Do my anemones move? Very rarely (I have three BTAs, one flower/rock anemone and a maxi mini carpet). Actually the only time they have moved has been after a split. You can see this coming though as it will start stretching out. I always place my BTAs where they can get medium flow if they stretch out and medium to high light. They have always stayed put even through all my moves.

If you had that tank filled with SPS I would likely tell you no but with LPS(especially hammers, frog spawns and torches) the anemones actually lose the battle. Now my chalices are kept on the other side of the tank so I cannot tell you how they would do.