can't get bta to eat anything. its about 3 inches.

[tvrsir]

not bleached, mouth tight, under 325 watts of t5. tried silversides,shrimp, fish flakes nothing it would keep down.

it would spit everything back up after around 6 hours. completely whole.

 

[ocellaris123]

How long have you had him for? It took both of my BTA's a couple of days to begin feeding when I first got them.

 

[phunkie99]

how large of a piece of food do you feed?

 

[ocellaris123]

Good point phunkie, if you are feeding food which is too large they will spit it back out later on. Make sure you finely shred the food before feeding.

 

[tvrsir]

it wont even eat flakes which gets really soft in the water. also with silversides about 1/4 of a inch long. shrimp maybe a pee pod size. also i see a bunch of btas with slightly long elongated tenticles. mine seems to be like really shorty and slight bulby.

 

[phunkie99]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13992845#post13992845 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ocellaris123
How long have you had him for? It took both of my BTA's a couple of days to begin feeding when I first got them.

 

[tvrsir]

2 WEEKS

BTW ITS ON A ROCK NOT THE SUBSTRATE

 

[herozero]

I was about to post this very same question. Mine is a few weeks in my tank (these things are super stressed when shipped) and spits out the silversides I feed it (more like 12 hours later). According to the anemone FAQ they spit out what they can't digest (fish bones, etc.) but mine is more or less coming back up whole. I've also heard they can take WEEKS to really acclimate to a new tank. Sort of wish I went with a frogspawn or something

 

[Lmecher]

Maybe it has been a long time since they have eaten. I rescently aquired one that had not been directly fed in years. It rejected food at first, I just kept trying, I'd had feed w/ 1 or 2 mysis, eventaully it accepted it. Almost seem as if they forget. If your anemone is not sticky I'd try to push it into the tentacles near the mouth to help it hold onto the food, the key is teeny tiny pieces. with small pieces it is less likely they'll regurgatate it.

 

[Toddrtrex]

What are your water parameters ( with numbers ). IMO, that isn't what I would call a healthy BTA, the tentacles are too short, and too sparse.

 

[Lmecher]

Yours dose not look as bad as the ones in these photos yet, if you can't get it to eat it is on it's way.

http://www.karensroseanemones.com/starvinganemone.htm

 

[MarineFlake]

Having had a few failed BTA's prior to the one I have now which has been with me for a couple years, I would say leave it alone. If there is plenty of lighting, it should be fine. I couldn't tell how long you have had it, 2 weeks? Light acclimation is a big deal, if it is new to your tank, much less changes to alk, ph, etc. At any rate, if it won't eat or cannot eat, your only real choice is to wait it out. There is no magic bullet for getting the animal to do what we want it to when we want it to, they tend to have their own time line ; ) The pic looks ok to me, tight mouth is good, through they will deflate and look terrible when they, shall we say, expel their waste. My vote is that it be left alone unless it starts to shown sign of physical deterioration. This I learned when on my 2nd attempt to keep a BTA, only later did realize, I most likely removed a perfectly healthy BTA from my tank because I was so paranoid it would die and 'poison' the rest of my stock. What ever you decide I hope you will go slow, keep your tank parameters in good shape and observe before you act.

Happy Reefing!

 

[herozero]

Lmecher: great link, thanks.