Anenome Help Please

[tnias]

I have tried unsuccessfully many times to keep BTA's. All the tanks have been mature but they eventually die. My current tank is a 215 gallon tank. I upgraded from a 150 gallon tank 3 months ago but the live rock has been in use for almost 10 years with some additional rock added 5 years ago when I upgraded from my 75 gallon. The chemistry is very stable and my few SPF corals grow like crazy. I thought I would give a BTA another try because my clownfish always love them when I put them in.

I put it in the tank about 2-3 weeks ago and it immediately secured itself to the rock area I placed. The clownfish within a couple hours were all over it. I worry they were being a little rough on it but it seemed generally healthy. It would delflate 1-2 times a day for about an hour then reinflate and look fine. I assumed it was just adjusting to the new home. At night it gets pretty pale, which may be normal but since I have not had them survive long in the past I don't have a good history of behavioral observation to know for sure.

I came in the office yesterday and it had moved, upside down, and retracted. I picked it up to examine it and the mouth was closed and the tentacles while thin were not the shriveled appearance when it fully deflates. I was going to get rid of assuming it was on its way out but I thought to give it one more try. I moved it and flipped it over. This morning it was 50% flipped and not secure but the mouth is still closed and the tentacles are thin but not shriveled. I turn off the pumps and examined it again and other than smaller than when fully open it still has good color. I flipped it back over and observed it. The pumps are off so I watched it open and then move under the overhang of a monti-coral for shade, maybe?

I am not sure if this is the beginning of the end or if it just needs a little time to adjust. I did squirt Rod's twice since it has been in the tank and it eat the food well. I have not seen it poop or really open its mouth but once.

Any advice?

 

[ThRoewer]

I don't know what makes BTAs happy. I manage to keep them for a while but ultimately they shrivel up or just die.
This is especially frustrating since I have little issues with keeping giganteas and magnificas alive and well. And those are supposedly the most demanding and difficult anemones to keep long term.
Yet I have little to no longer term success with the beginner level BTAs... They deflate and look like they are sick one moment and then look perfect the next... until they one day don't come back from the deflated state and disintegrate. I tried the Cipro treatment that works like a charm with giganteas and magnificas, but it doesn't seem to have any positive effect on BTAs.
So I'm pretty much at my wit's end and in the same boat as you.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[ocellaris123]

What morphs are you guys trying out?

 

[ThRoewer]

I tried several wild green ones and a couple of captive cloned RBTAs.
The ones I got from other reefers usually do better than the ones I got from stores, but all periodically deflate and look like crap only to look okay again a few hours later.

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[tnias]

I usually go with red but I decided to try green this time. I think I am 0/5 on keeping them alive more than 6 months over the past 9 years. My clownfish have been laying in the rock where it was so I guess I need to try again because they love some nem. Maybe try a different kind.

I will look into QT it first but have to figure out how to deal with lighting cause I only have the crappy LED's that came with the aquarium I bought.

 

[ocellaris123]

I tried several wild green ones and a couple of captive cloned RBTAs.
The ones I got from other reefers usually do better than the ones I got from stores, but all periodically deflate and look like crap only to look okay again a few hours later.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I have had the same luck with the wild green ones. They just seem to deflate and wither after a few weeks while my rainbow rose morphs do well and thrive. I did put them in together so whether this is an issue with mixing or not I do not know.

 

[CTaylor]

FWIW my bubble I recently tried died as well. I had one in my previous tank for several years before power outtage killed that tank, so I "know" how to keep them. That was a rose. This one moved into a cave, then back out for some light, ended up getting smaller slowly. It ended up getting less of a sticky base and looked just not happy, ended up in the PH :-/ .... BTW it was in the LFS for over a month, looked GREAT there, and I was told it didnt move at all.
I now have a ritteri for just about a month looking great. So I don't thnik it has to do with your tank overall conditions, just the pickiness of a particular bubble (???).. I get orion knows though!
I'm glad in a way you posted yours and I saw the others that bubbles are NOT fool proof (anymore?).

 

[Uncle99]

I doubt they travel well, I see many in poor condition.

Got this from a reefer, 3 years old now

They get quite unhappy if water chemistry fluctuates

 

[Wind]

I hope you don't mind me tagging, but do people feed reef roids, or powdered foods to anemone? Albeit, I think they prefer actual pieces of food?

Also, in terms of eatting, how fast or slow do they eat? I see that they engulf, but then open up again? Or are they supposed to remain closed for an extended time, like 15+ minutes?

 

[Wind]

I doubt they travel well, I see many in poor condition.

Got this from a reefer, 3 years old now

They get quite unhappy if water chemistry fluctuates

What color or name is that BTA?

 

[Uncle99]

What color or name is that BTA?

It's orange/red with tiny black dots (under normal lighting)

The reefer I got it off called it a sunburst.

I call it an orange/red BTA.

Feed once a month, one squirt of Mysis

Many Nems are fed way, way to much, so it will either split, or die...

You can throw as much light as you want, they just move when uncomfortable, light is food.

Most are brown and green, be patient and get a great colour, if you find this, your likely getting a good specimen.

BTA real slow eater.

 

[Wind]

It's orange/red with tiny black dots (under normal lighting)

The reefer I got it off called it a sunburst.

I call it an orange/red BTA.

Feed once a month, one squirt of Mysis

Many Nems are fed way, way to much, so it will either split, or die...

You can throw as much light as you want, they just move when uncomfortable, light is food.

Most are brown and green, be patient and get a great colour, if you find this, your likely getting a good specimen.

BTA real slow eater.

Thanks. I thought you had to feed it often. By chance, do you have different pics of it? As in before, during, and after meals, or how it looks like after a few hours of light?

That's a nice specimen you got there.

 

[Uncle99]

Thanks. I thought you had to feed it often. By chance, do you have different pics of it? As in before, during, and after meals, or how it looks like after a few hours of light?

That's a nice specimen you got there.

I have kept nems for over 25 years, IMO, Nems come in poor condition.

This BTA, specimen comes from our coral specialty shop, was in their display for a year. It clearly had bubbled tips, to me, a good sign. Again if obtained through on line, they don't ship well, but some members report better success by using certain medications.

I do not have any pictures of it shrunk, it does not shrink much, just at night where the tentacles go from 2" to 1". It's much easier for them to process small amounts, thus, the inflate, deflate is mitigated.

For feeding I do two things. In the twice a day fish feeding, once a day I will ensure 2-5 Mysis shrimp fall on him.

Once a month, I direct one cube, Mysis, blown directly at him.

In addition, I have seen my female clown, spit food at him. Not sure of the frequency.

He loves a ton of flow, positions himself right in front of a Hydor 240gph pump which turns on for 1/2 hour, each hour.

In its natural environment, chucks of food don't drop in his mouth every day or two, so it does not make sense to feed often. When you do feed chunks of anything, he will shrink to process, inflate, then shrink to expel waste. Bigger the piece, longer the process. Too big and he will barf it out. This IMO is stressful.
It also put crap in your tank.

The nem gets virtually all its needs from light. You obviously have enough light in the correct spectrum as you keep SPS. You have exactly the right conditions for a BTA, big water, great light, stable water, mature tank, successful corals.

There are a number of reasons for shrinkage.
-poor condition to start. Could take months to die.....(maybe?).....or pull through.
-damage.
-poor water conditions or unstable.....(not your case)
-insufficient intensity of lighting and/ or incorrect spectrum....(not your case)
-a change in light source...(what lighting did he come from, LED, T5, MH)
-fed to much.....(unless you want it to split)
-touched or moved in any way.....(you mentioned this)
-harassed......(clowns can bug, but I have not experience them kill, peppermint shrimps, rare, but they can kill BTA, keep in mind that peps do eat aptasia which is a Nem.

In your case you appear to be providing a good environment.

No matter what, never touch him again. The foot is quite sensitive and any damage can be fatal. You have almost zero control on where he sits. By almost, I mean, by adjusting flow, you can make him move, takes weeks, and who knows where he might go, he may not like the change and may stay put. I have moved corals to compensate for the movement. Mine has not moved now in more than 2 years, so I make no changes in flow.

Do not feed him again until he fully expands (through light period) for at least 2 weeks, then, feed as described.

The expansion of tenticles indicates happy and that photosynethic processing is underway. We want this to be the primary nutrition source.

If at any time he starts to "come apart" discard. Sometimes, there's no obvious answer.

Maybe something in this rant will help.

 

[Wind]

I have kept nems for over 25 years, IMO, Nems come in poor condition.

This BTA, specimen comes from our coral specialty shop, was in their display for a year. It clearly had bubbled tips, to me, a good sign. Again if obtained through on line, they don't ship well, but some members report better success by using certain medications.

I do not have any pictures of it shrunk, it does not shrink much, just at night where the tentacles go from 2" to 1". It's much easier for them to process small amounts, thus, the inflate, deflate is mitigated.

For feeding I do two things. In the twice a day fish feeding, once a day I will ensure 2-5 Mysis shrimp fall on him.

Once a month, I direct one cube, Mysis, blown directly at him.

In addition, I have seen my female clown, spit food at him. Not sure of the frequency.

He loves a ton of flow, positions himself right in front of a Hydor 240gph pump which turns on for 1/2 hour, each hour.

In its natural environment, chucks of food don't drop in his mouth every day or two, so it does not make sense to feed often. When you do feed chunks of anything, he will shrink to process, inflate, then shrink to expel waste. Bigger the piece, longer the process. Too big and he will barf it out. This IMO is stressful.
It also put crap in your tank.

The nem gets virtually all its needs from light. You obviously have enough light in the correct spectrum as you keep SPS. You have exactly the right conditions for a BTA, big water, great light, stable water, mature tank, successful corals.

There are a number of reasons for shrinkage.
-poor condition to start. Could take months to die.....(maybe?).....or pull through.
-damage.
-poor water conditions or unstable.....(not your case)
-insufficient intensity of lighting and/ or incorrect spectrum....(not your case)
-a change in light source...(what lighting did he come from, LED, T5, MH)
-fed to much.....(unless you want it to split)
-touched or moved in any way.....(you mentioned this)
-harassed......(clowns can bug, but I have not experience them kill, peppermint shrimps, rare, but they can kill BTA, keep in mind that peps do eat aptasia which is a Nem.

In your case you appear to be providing a good environment.

No matter what, never touch him again. The foot is quite sensitive and any damage can be fatal. You have almost zero control on where he sits. By almost, I mean, by adjusting flow, you can make him move, takes weeks, and who knows where he might go, he may not like the change and may stay put. I have moved corals to compensate for the movement. Mine has not moved now in more than 2 years, so I make no changes in flow.

Do not feed him again until he fully expands (through light period) for at least 2 weeks, then, feed as described.

The expansion of tenticles indicates happy and that photosynethic processing is underway. We want this to be the primary nutrition source.

If at any time he starts to "come apart" discard. Sometimes, there's no obvious answer.

Maybe something in this rant will help.

Thank you for your post. I may be a bit sensitive to the looks of it because the bulbs are inflated just around the inner radius of the anemone, some of the outter bulbs are a little thinner. But sometimes it's all around fluffy, I don't know if its due to the anemone being footed into a crevice and it enjoying positioning towards the light that way which is causing the shape to be a lil different or what. When I first got it, all the bulbs were inflated fully for a day or 2, but a few weeks in not all the bulbs look as inflated as before. Mostly the ones around in the inner circle / mouth.

Sometimes I broadcast feed reefroids, cubes into the tank and I suspect it actually getting landing on the BTAs, since I see it grab the food and shrink in as if to eat it. The thing I dislike are the cleaner shrimps stealing the food. I'm afraid the prying will actually hurt the BTA.

I will cut down the direct feeding, granted I don't actually use too much reef roids, maybe once a week of tank feeding.

Another smaller BTA I got sometimes looks super deflated and exposing its mouth as if to poop? But then a few hours in, it'll look inflated back and fine. I don't know if this is a sign of hunger, or just normal? lol

It seems like the behavior varies from BTA to BTA. lol

These things are pretty cool, one was getting stung w/ a torch and it moved a few inches to the right and re positioned itself. haha.