GBTA question

[Mrramsey]

Hi guys, I just stocked my first corals Yay!.. To make it easy on myself I bought the rocks they were attached to since this was a tear down of a local reefers tank. One of the rocks had two gbta's on it and he didn't want to remove them for fear of damaging the foot.

I know my tank is very young for a nem but at any rate I will give them a go but had some questions regarding feeding. The guy I got them from gave me some frozen oysters that he would thaw and feed to them. My question is how do you actually feed them and how often. I have only corals in the tank now and no fish.

If they start looking like they are in poor shape after a week or two I will find them a home.

 

[Amoo]

1-3 times a week if you want them to grow, not at all if you don't. They are photosynthetic and can live without supplemental feeding, but it's just so damn fun to feed them.

Even in a young tank, as long as you have an ATO, which if it's your sig tank you should be fine, that should keep your parameters pretty stable. Just keep an eye on things. I would recommend trying them for 2 weeks and seeing how they do. Chances are they might move around as it seems every BTA likes a different amount of flow. As long as they are only moving you're still okay. If they begin the inflating/deflating cycle, it's time to pull and start treatment or find somebody who knows how to treat them and hand them off.

 

[Mrramsey]

1-3 times a week if you want them to grow, not at all if you don't. They are photosynthetic and can live without supplemental feeding, but it's just so damn fun to feed them.

Even in a young tank, as long as you have an ATO, which if it's your sig tank you should be fine, that should keep your parameters pretty stable. Just keep an eye on things. I would recommend trying them for 2 weeks and seeing how they do. Chances are they might move around as it seems every BTA likes a different amount of flow. As long as they are only moving you're still okay. If they begin the inflating/deflating cycle, it's time to pull and start treatment or find somebody who knows how to treat them and hand them off.

Thanks Amoo that gives me a direction. I will keep monitoring them. I do have some frozen clams that they are accustomed to. I will try feeding them in a day or two.

 

[Mrramsey]

1-3 times a week if you want them to grow, not at all if you don't. They are photosynthetic and can live without supplemental feeding, but it's just so damn fun to feed them.

Even in a young tank, as long as you have an ATO, which if it's your sig tank you should be fine, that should keep your parameters pretty stable. Just keep an eye on things. I would recommend trying them for 2 weeks and seeing how they do. Chances are they might move around as it seems every BTA likes a different amount of flow. As long as they are only moving you're still okay. If they begin the inflating/deflating cycle, it's time to pull and start treatment or find somebody who knows how to treat them and hand them off.

I fed them a bit of clam today which they immediately took. How should they look when they are "happy". Do the tips stay inflated most of the time? Just trying to when they are good and when they are not so good.

 

[Amoo]

Let me give you my personal experience and I'll try to add what I have read.

According to my reading the tips will sometimes be bubble like and sometimes be stringy. There is nothing factual to determine when one will be the case and when another will be the case. Feeding, lighting...etc, some just are more "bubbly" then others.

In my own experience they never fully deflate unless they are unhappy. I've had my tentacles go from stringy to bubbly and back and forth on the same nem a lot, but it shouldn't be closing up completely unless it's ****ed.

As an example, I have a 4" Metallic Disk, red BTA that normally stays fully expanded with his tentacles mostly stringy and the bubbles barely noticeable. That's just his norm. I had to move him to a different tank yesterday, and during the move and for the first hour or two he was completely shrunken up, tentacles retracted. I woke up this morning and he decided to split. He is tightly bunched up with tentacles bubbly, but he is not deflated.

Hope that kinda answers what you are looking for. If you have any questions, and you want to post some pics it can be easier for us to tell what the mood is. I also find taking pics a great way to track progress, whether I decide to post them or not.

 

[Mrramsey]

Thanks Amoo. I think he's fine. The one Barely moved at all and the other is content where he is. He did retract for an hour or so yesterday expelling waste I suspect.