feeding RBTA

[-Keith-]

I've had a RBTA for more than 2 years. During this time, I have only very rarely target feed it - maybe one every other month on average. I only lightly feed my tank. The RBTA has split once and seems healthy.

I would like to see if I can get it to split more often, and assume that regular directed feeding would help. A couple weeks ago I started feeding ~1/10 of a medium-sized shrimp every 3 to 5 days, which is devoured within seconds.

My question is what would you recommend to to feed and how often?

Thanks

 

[zoomfish1]

Check this site out:

http://www.freewebs.com/karenssaltwater/index.htm

Karen is THE authority on RBTA's. This site should answer all your questions, but I feed mine 2-3 times a week. Either silversides or raw shrimp (minus the vein)

 

[Princess Di]

Honestly, I am very surprised that you have had one survive for over 2 years with no direct feeding and light feeding of the tank. You are extremely lucky!! My tanks are fed everyday with direct feeding of nems at least twice a week. You can check my gallery for pics, although I need to update. My large tank now has around 25 rbta.

 

[Anemone]

Yes, feeding it more often will cause it to grow, which will make it more likely to split. Direct feeding 3 times a week is plenty. If you have a good skimmer/good water quality, I'd suggest going without water changes for about a month, then doing a fairly large percentage water change (along the lines of 25+%). If this doesn't cause a split, another large water change a week later should do the trick.

I discovered through sheer laziness that only cleaning my tank and doing a water change once a month (as versus weekly like I used to do) results in split(s) within a day or two of the water change almost every time.

The same clone won't generally split more than once every 3-4 months (unless it does a multiple split within a few day period), but when you have a bunch of clones, you will get a bunch of splits, all on different schedules.

FWIW,
Kevin