Anemone Feeding?? (RBT)

[Speedfreak95]

Hey guys Ive read and heard different stories about how people feed there nems.. Ive had a condi for about a month feed it a decent sized shrimp once a week and hes a monster about doubled in size and looks very healthy..

THis is where im confused.. I bought a rose bubble tip.. its fairly small so i fed it a small piece of shrimp last week.. Over the past few days I noticed its small not bubbling out and looked weak.. I gave it a small piece of shrimp yesterday and low and behold today when I got home it was all out and full! So i figured I would try to give it another tiny piece of shrimp and it didnt want to seem to take it and my damn cleaner shrimp kept stealing it haha..

Any piece I give to my condy its like a snake and gobbles it right up are the RBT really slow moving and slow to feed it to its mouth? My 3 cleaner shrimp in the tank are relentless when Ive tried to feed the rbt its like a 10 minute affair trying to fight them off for it to eat.

Also why would the RBT not seem to bubble out it would look deflated and small am i not feeding it enough? I run a 4 bulb t5 and its been settled in one spot since i got it so i assume its happy with the amount of light.. I just wanna keep this thing healthy for $70 i dont wanna see it die

 

[Gibsonnnn]

Had an issue with my 3 cleaner shrimp as well when I first introduced my RBTA over 2 months ago. Every time I would try to feed the BTA, the shrimp would pick at it and rip all the food out of its mouth. A lot of the time peppermint shrimp are either hit or miss in removal of aiptasia and found them to be more of a hinderance than a help. I knew then and there it was either the shrimp or the BTA.

I ended up getting rid of the 3 cleaner shrimp and then anemone's health improved drastically. It no longer had any competition for its food.

On a side note, when an anemone's tentacles are long and stringy, that is when it is searching for food. If it is bubbled up it is perfectly happy. I usually feed my BTA 2 or 3 days per week mysis and he has been doing great.

Hope this helps!

 

[Speedfreak95]

okay! I have a pretty good amount of flow in the tank do you spot feed them or just add mysis like you would normally feed the tank?

 

[Tsancho82]

This is my only experience with nems and I've only had mine 3 months to the day. Thou it's not expert advice, it's what I've come to notice. The more I feed mine the more it looked deflated, now my Clowns feed it from time to time so I have no control over that.

I only feed mine a good sized piece of krill every Wednesday and it gets to its mouth pretty quick. My question is how are your shrimp taking it from your nem? Once my BTA gets its arms on it, there's no letting go, my clown has even tried taking the krill from it with no luck.

Mine deflates about once a day on this feeding schedule, either to expel waste, or it's irritated by the clowns (Maroons) or honestly, just because. I've noticed BTA's, thou hardy, they are quite picky. Doesn't take much for it to deflate, but I've never seen it completely deflate. Mine has decided to have long arms rather then the bulb looking type and when it deflates it keep one arm inflated, I have no idea why. They do what they do I guess.

 

[addictedreefer]

BTAs are not aggressive feeders (IMO the least aggressive by far of all the host anemones). They get most of their energy from the light, and IME only occasionally will accept small meals.

 

[Gibsonnnn]

okay! I have a pretty good amount of flow in the tank do you spot feed them or just add mysis like you would normally feed the tank?

Yes, I spot feed my anemone. Turn the powerheads off and just squirt some mysis in with a turkey baster.

 

[KSU_WILDCAT]

On a side note, when an anemone's tentacles are long and stringy, that is when it is searching for food. If it is bubbled up it is perfectly happy.

Kind of curious where you got this information? Everything I read they have no idea why some have bubbles and some don't.

 

[rt67ghy]

I had a GBTA and for the whole of 1 month it moved around looking for its place to settle. During that time I didn't even feed it. When it finally settled I started feeding it. It's best to test it by offering it a very small piece of shrimp and if it eats, gradually increase the size. I used to feed mine every 3 days until I was feeding half a shrimp (2" in length) and it never refused food after its first feeding. It almost tripled in size in 3 months, coloured up nicely to a greenish-rose colour and had all the bubbles inflated.

 

[Speedfreak95]

Alright thanks for the info! im going to try to spot feed it some mysis tomorrow or give it a small piece of raw shrimp. Its been settled in the same spot for about a week i guess its happy where it is.

One more question through out the time im around the tank it will go from deflated to bubbled up to deflated multiple times is this just normal? haha sorry Ive just kept an eye on the tank alot more and noticing this

 

[rt67ghy]

Bubble tips do do that although the frequency varies. I wouldn't worry too much about it since it's settled down. If it eats then it should be fine.