Are RBTA's weird

[dwl]

... or is mine just, shall I say, mentally challenged?
We bought a nice little (3" to 5") RBTA about a month or so ago.
I put it where I wanted it to be (of course), which was on the front side of a nice-sized rock. About a day or so later, it moved onto the top of that rock, which is just fine. The next day it moves under the top lip of this rock where you cannot really even see it. As a matter of fact you have to almost stand on your head and sometimes even use a flashlight just to see that it is still there.
At any rate, it expands and contracts which is normal I think. So, it is pretty much upside down, on the underside of a pretty good sized rock, sticking it's tentacles up through holes in the rock. It has been doing this for almost a month now.
I have no way to feed it directly, but from what I can see of it, it appears to be healthy, well, at least I can still see that it is there and inflated.
I assume that I should just leave it alone and let it do what it wants rather than trying to get it out from the underside of it's rock and try again to get it to sit where I want it to, right?
Sometimes it almost seems as though it were in this cave not knowing how to get out. How long should I leave it there?

Thanks.

 

[seapug]

You are best to leave it alone and let it move to where it wants to be when it wants to be there. Otherwise you run the risk of having it let loose and blow around the tank until it ends up getting pureed by a powerhead or sucked into an overflow. Never fails.

 

[dwl]

So, they will not go to an area of the tank that is "not good for them"?
I should just assume this little guy knows what he is doing, even thought he is hiding in the dark yet sticking tentacles through holes?
Should I try to feed it by hand feeding the protruding tentacles?

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

BTA's will move to a place thats not a good place to stay not only for the bta but for you as well. If you can't feed them because they are in a spot were you can't reach them. Then thats definately not a good spot. Because they will slowly starve to death there. You haven't fed it in a month?..I would try and see if the food will stick to its tentacles. If its tentacles are still sticky then it will take the food to its mouth. Feed it raw shrimp, silversides or krill.

 

[dwl]

wicked,
It is very odd the way it is sticking its tentacles through the holes in the rock. Usually it just has a couple of tips sticking out of the top of the hole. For the last 3 days or so, it has almost looked as if I had a very small anenome sticking out of each of these 3 or 4 holes, each one having 6 to 12 pretty full length tentacles sticking out.

I was thinking that same thing myself. I had never successfully hand-fed it for the whole time I have had it (month plus). I tried two or three times, but could never get it to grab and hold it's food.

Last night, when I was feeding my tank, I grabbed a good sized piece of shrimp and hand fed one of the sets of tentacles protruding through the rock, and the second set actually held the food and retracted below the hole. I can only assume that it did in fact eat.
As for the anenome starving, I cannot say one way or the other, but when I can actually see it, it looks pretty good.

At any rate, are you suggesting I try to remove it from the hole and place it in a different place in my tank?

Thanks.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Can you take a picture? If its been in that hole for a whole month haven't loss color, size and it actually took the food you offered it. Then I would leave it alone and it might come out on its own. If its not grabbing food, losing color or shrinking in size I would move it but only if its showing any of these bad signs. Before I move the bta I would cover all the power head intakes with cheese cloth. Because the BTA will be moving around again but hopefully to a better spot. Once the BTA settles in its new spot then remove cheese cloth.

 

[dc]

You can try changing the direction of your waterflow to see if that will entice it to move. You can't make it be anywhere it doesn't want it to be.

I would be encouraged that it did eat if it grabbed some food. I've use a lift tube to feed my anemones, the food falls right into it.

 

[dwl]

OK, here are a couple of pictures, sorry for the quality, I have an older point-and-shoot camera, this is about as good as it gets.

I will try to get better pictures posted.
The snail in those pictures is about 1" to 1 1/4" tall to give an idea of the size.

By the way, any hints on how to put images directly into the posts??

Thanks.

 

[dc]

Scroll down below the picture and there is a tag you can use

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/1/154153Anenome_side_view.jpg

insert it into the [ img] tags in your reply.

Well it's definately crammed in there, but they are known to survive a powerhead, so as long as you can get it to eat you should be ok.

 

[dwl]

... so leave it alone?

 

[timrandlerv10]

you have a 150MH and 130 PC for that tank? how old are your bulbs?
what kind of lighting did the nem have before you got him?
what kind of pumps/flow do you have in your tank?

My first thought was that he found a happy place, but didnt like the light (maybe he was in a low light LFS tank?) so he moved somewhere shady, and is building up his 'tan' until he comes out in the sun.

you wrote you gave him a 'good' sized piece of shrimp...i have seen lots of other people have greater success by feeding smaller pieces more often--the nems regurgitate less, are more likely to consume the whole thing, and it will be easier for them. you can feed more often as well (which allows you to feed a greater variety of foodstuffs).

my vote is leave him alone, and let him come out on his own. if you want to encourage him, maybe redirect some of the powerheads and if you think its too much light and he's still acclimating, then maybe put one or two layers of window screen on the top of your tank, and remove one every ten or so days.

i think btas are like 3 year olds: they may not do what you want when you want, but they wont starve themselves.

Good luck!

tim

 

[dwl]

Yes, I have 150w MH and 130 watts of pc actinic on the cube.
The anenome was in a lower-light environment at the lfs (a couple of T5's at least 2 feet above the small holding tanks, I did not ask how long they had it before I bought it) where I got it and I assumed there was some light stress and also drew the same conclusion about it moving to a shady area and build up it's 'tan'. I really did not think the Iwasaki put out that much light (compared to a 10k Ushio that I used to use), so, I did not think i t too much light. The thing is, I am pretty sure it is acclimated to the lighting, since it is sticking WAY out of the holes in the rock now, not just several tentacles but, in one of the holes I think I can see it's base (or foot), I half expect to see it's mouth, but it is also sticking several tentacles out of 2 other holes. These holes are only about 1/4" to 3/8" max, if that in diameter. (I am tempted to open up the hole size to see if it will just come on out.) It almost seems as though it is light-acclimated, but just cannot figure out that it needs to come around the side of the rock rather than up through a few holes, does that make any sense?
Sorry about the vagueness about the size of the piece of shrimp. I was feeding my tank with frozen Mysis and frozen Cyclop-Eeze. To me the Cyclop-eeze are pretty small and the Mysis are much larger, but still on the small-side. I recently bought some Rod's food and it has 'chunks' of 'stuff', some of which are shrimp. The other day when I fed the tank, I grabbed an approximately 1/4" square chunk of shrimp out of what I was feeding the tank with and hand-fed the anenome (well, about 8 to 10 tentacles that were sticking out of the second hole), it took the food and, I assume it ate it.
As for it regurgitating or expelling waste, I think I saw some excretion about 2 weeks ago or so, but with it's location, it is very difficult to tell. I did not notice anything after the piece of shrimp.

As for pumps and flow, I have a Mag7 for the return, but it is also pumping water up into the refugium, which is about 18" above the sump, and it is also feeding a phos-ban type reactor. The stand is pretty tall also, so there is between 5 and 6 feet of vertical height to get the water back into the tank. I estimate this flow to be about 300gph or so.
Inside the tank I have a single Koralia 3 which is actually directed above and a little to the side of where the anenome is. I may try directing it's flow a different direction, but I have not done so yet.
So, other thaqn shrimp, what should I (trying to) feed the anenome?

Thanks.