2 Weeks and my BTA has still not eaten
- Thread starter JMLufkins
- Start date
knowse
New member
Try cutting the meat off the bone and soaking it in selcon. My bta's don't like fish they prefer thawed shrimp. Right now, I also have 6 dime size bta's in what I like to refer to as the "ICU". None of them were eatting. I've been feeding them with a blender mash that I made. They're now starting to eat and color up. HTH.
What is the process of it feeding?
How long should it take for it to respond to the food being around it's tentacles. I do believe it still can sting because my serpent star tried to take a silver side from it and quickly made a retreat. it still has the same color, but noticed last night that it has detached itself from the rock that it has been on for over a week. Hasn't moved just detached.
How long should it take for it to respond to the food being around it's tentacles. I do believe it still can sting because my serpent star tried to take a silver side from it and quickly made a retreat. it still has the same color, but noticed last night that it has detached itself from the rock that it has been on for over a week. Hasn't moved just detached.
SWonly
New member
Mine is recovering still, it was bleached and couldn't sting. Now when I present it with food at first its tentacles retract and then after a few seconds I will release the silverside and they will hold the silverside tightly, and the mouth will then widen and move up towards the food and take it in. Mine is easily 10" across, and I feed it around 4 silversides a day. It also has a pair of maroon clowns within it.
Is yours on the move? Or is it completely detached? Any chance of pictures?
Is yours on the move? Or is it completely detached? Any chance of pictures?
JM when you feed it do you just set the food in its tentacles? I find that the anemone responds better if you put the food up against it tentacles and wiggle it around a little bit like its something alive that just got stung/caught, the cries of 'AAHHH it burns' are optional but seem to help. 
Also maybe try some different things your anemone may not like silversides. Other things people have had success with that I know of are krill, frozen formula 1, and frozen prime reef.
Also maybe try some different things your anemone may not like silversides. Other things people have had success with that I know of are krill, frozen formula 1, and frozen prime reef.
knowse
New member
Try turning off all your powerheads/pumps and see if they can enlarge their mouths around the food items if they've lost their stickyness.
The anems in the ICU do different things when feeding, a few that are still sticky will fold around the food, the others use their mouths to surround the food. Turning off ph's helps them to be able to feed.
The anems in the ICU do different things when feeding, a few that are still sticky will fold around the food, the others use their mouths to surround the food. Turning off ph's helps them to be able to feed.
BTA
BTA
Simon, you made me laugh with your screaming sound efx while feeding your anem.
My BTA's don't like silver sides either. Mine will eat table shrimp (uncooked) cut into 1/4" pieces, soaked in selcon, and they like freeze dried krill! Go figure.
I read somewhere that, anemones like somewhat nutrient rich water, and some people that use RO/DI, have trouble keeping them. Luckily for me, I use RO/DI water without any trouble.
I nursed a seabae once, and soaked it's food in garlic extreme. I had to use a syringe to inject the food into it's mouth, because it's insides were coming out, but it eventually came around (three months later) and I traded it for one the BTA's that I have now.
You could also try garlic extreme to initiate a feeding response.
BTA
Simon, you made me laugh with your screaming sound efx while feeding your anem.
My BTA's don't like silver sides either. Mine will eat table shrimp (uncooked) cut into 1/4" pieces, soaked in selcon, and they like freeze dried krill! Go figure.
I read somewhere that, anemones like somewhat nutrient rich water, and some people that use RO/DI, have trouble keeping them. Luckily for me, I use RO/DI water without any trouble.
I nursed a seabae once, and soaked it's food in garlic extreme. I had to use a syringe to inject the food into it's mouth, because it's insides were coming out, but it eventually came around (three months later) and I traded it for one the BTA's that I have now.
You could also try garlic extreme to initiate a feeding response.
it has reattached itself to the rock. Maybe i will try to feed it something different. I was feeding my other fish emerald entree or somthing like that with various things in it. Could it get enough from that floating around the tank to sustain itself.
When I feed it a SS. it put it in the tentacles and move it around a little. it never responds. SS just sits around the mouth as long as 2-3 minutes before the clown will come in there and move it out just from it's movement or drag it out cause it's there. This thing is such A PITA
When I feed it a SS. it put it in the tentacles and move it around a little. it never responds. SS just sits around the mouth as long as 2-3 minutes before the clown will come in there and move it out just from it's movement or drag it out cause it's there. This thing is such A PITA
Like SWonly mentioned if its not holding on to the food and moving it to its mouth on its own you may need to hold it for it. This is a kind of a pain but fairly simple.
You just gently hold the food against its mouth for a bit, after a bit you will get a feel for how long, it starts to swallow the food. If it swallows the food,which can take several minutes, without closing up around it odds are good someone come along and nip/pull at the food. This doesn't seem to really 'bother' the anemone except they often times partly or fully pull the food out of the anemone's mouth. To combat this I have just put the net I use to catch fish in the tank next to the anemone. This seems to get my point across fairly well.
You just gently hold the food against its mouth for a bit, after a bit you will get a feel for how long, it starts to swallow the food. If it swallows the food,which can take several minutes, without closing up around it odds are good someone come along and nip/pull at the food. This doesn't seem to really 'bother' the anemone except they often times partly or fully pull the food out of the anemone's mouth. To combat this I have just put the net I use to catch fish in the tank next to the anemone. This seems to get my point across fairly well.
Amphiprion
Premium Member
It may be that nematocyst fire or density has decreased (stress-induced, starvation, etc) or that response sites are not recognizing the cues of the food you are trying to feed. Like you said, try a different (maybe crustacean based) food and see if you get a better response. Anemones from an area (or tank, etc) will not create response sites that aren't normally needed--in other words, it most likely wont recognize a protein it is not used to because it requires even more energy to do so.
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