Feeding my GBTA

[critofer]

Hey guys,
I was wondering how I should feed my Lime green bubble tip anemone. It will be nice and open in the morning, then later in the day it gets small and i will see it looks like kinda shriveled up and has its mouth open and just stays like that for a few hours. then goes back to normal. I think its just hungry.

I haven't had it for very long. What should i be feeding it, how much? Is something wrong with it?

Thanks

 

[celamb89]

The shriveling is a sign of stress and bad health as well as the open mouth... You should not feed until it recovers.

Anemones can be hard animals to keep all do the BTAs are the easiest of them...
What are ur params?
What lighting do u have setup?
Whats the color? do u have any pics?

Even when the nem is in good health and is stable, they do not require much feeding, maybe once a week. All do, the feeding varies from tank to tank, from never to 2-3 times a week.

Good Luck!

 

[critofer]

Nitrates are 20.
Nitrites are zer0
ammonia are 0
ph is like 8.1

I cant get my nitrates lower that 20 even after waterchanges and i feed a mysis cube everyother day. I have 10000k and an arctinic T5H0 Lighting. the color is like a very very light green/brownish color.

I will take pics tomorrow

 

[celamb89]

ok... ur nitrates seem high and can u measure ur phosphates?

How many gallons do u have? whats the depth of the tank? so with the lighting u have a 10000k MH?? how many watts? and one t5HO acnitic? watts? nems require a lot of light, BTAs not as much as carpets but they are still nems...

Im not an expert of any sort just really like nems and clowns hehe

IF the color is fading it could be bleaching (loosing its zooxanthellae), pics will help determine the health and bleaching of the nem...

I had a similar problem with nitrates, I did 3 large weekly water changes (30%) and started dosing vodka, I also use rowaphos to keep my params at 0...

Right now I would concentrate in lowering the nitrates and letting the nem attach where its comfortable (it will attach where its needs are met, lighting and flow), it will need time, space (clowns, corals), good water quality to heal and recover...

Sorry about mixing info I just write as it comes hehe :S

 

[critofer]

My tank is a 29 gallon. 30 long x 12 wide x 18 tall. The nem is placed in the middle of my tank. he has been like the same color since i got him. What is Vodka dosing? and whats the other thing you said to keep your params at 0?
Btw i dont have metal halide, both lights are T5H0. I had another anemone that died because itgot sucked into a pwerhead. but before it died it look amazing! It was a condy anemone

 

[Anemonebuff]

I never had any issues with BTAs and nitrates. IME they do not care if nitrates are high. You can get your PO4 down with RO/DI waterchanges and using GFO. BTAs like meaty foods like krill, squid, and silversides. You can feed them directly about once a week to two weeks. I found feeding daily or very often will get them to split. BTAs will also "deflate" from time to time. It is thought that they are expelling and refilling their internal water. They usually expel wastes and excess bacteria during this process and it looks like brown stringy stuff.

T5s are fine for BTAs, especially centered in a 29 gallon.

 

[FloatingFish]

How long has your tank been set up?
When did your other anemone get chewed up?

I never feed my RBTA. It only gets what might float into it when feeding my fish.

 

[DZs]

Nitrates are 20.
Nitrites are zer0
ammonia are 0
ph is like 8.1

I cant get my nitrates lower that 20 even after waterchanges

I have had nitrate tests go bad. I kept getting the same reading, Then I took my test and compared it LSF. Mine read 20, theirs below 5. Twice this has happened to me over the course of a year. Last bottle was only two months old of use.

 

[critofer]

Were can I get krill, squid, silversides, etc for my nem? Publix or LFS??? Can I feed it fresh shrimp from the publix fish area? (the shrimp i am talking about is on ice and is raw. not the kind in a bag.)

 

[streak]

I just feed mine about every 3-4 days with commen uncooked shrimp.. i have read in some horror stories about silver sides but i still feed those too.. every 2-3 feedings i soak the food in selcon.. dono if it helps.. but i usually make sure that the nem has expelled last meal always.. check my avatar..

ohh i take off the shell of the uncooked shrimp and thaw it first with tank water same with silver sides.

 

[celamb89]

the lighting should be ok! but with a small tank ur gonna need to do weekly water changes to keep the parameters low, what I meant with keeping params at 0 was having 0 nitrates, 0 phosphates, 0 nitrite, 0 amonia... Nems need a good water quality, lighting and they will settle where their needs are met (flow, light, water quality)

If you just got the nem, I would 2 weeks before feeding it... if its mouth is open and its still shriveling, feeding it will just stress it since its already struggling... I would wait until its established and with a closed mouth...

Hope its doing better!

 

[critofer]

I have had if for like 3 weeks now. In the morning the mouth is shut and it looks good, but in the middle of the day it will shrivil up and the mouth opens, then a few hours later it gets big again and its mouth shuts. I dont know what it is!?! I am going to go to the LFS tomorrow and get some food, and 6 gallons of water. do a water change then make 6 more gallons of water. then do another change in a few days. hopefully that will drop my nitrates to zero =D