I got a RBTA clone from a frag swap

[cainchristy]

Hi. This is my first time posting in this forum. I am going to attempt to attach a photo of my RBTA to this, hopefully it will work!

My tank is a 92 corner, 135lbs of live rock, HOT refugium, 175 watt HQI metal halide, 196 watts of PC, mag drive 18 on a closed loop with rotating deflectors on 2 of the outputs. Aqua C Remora Pro skimmer with mag 3. I do biweekly water changes of 30 gallons. I use Aquadoser to drip RO/DI top off water with Kalkwasser in it. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate always 0, Alkalinity 4, or dkh-11, Salinity 1.025. Temperature at 79.4 constant. Calcium is 460, and ph is 8.2.

Alright, I hope that is all the information you'll need to answer my question. I got an RBTA about 3 weeks ago, at a frag swap. It is beautiful and my clowns found it after the first week. It stayed where I put it, in the middle, close to one of the rotating deflectors, so it gets lots of "waves".

The problem I'm having, or maybe not having, you decide, is this. No matter what I feed it, minced silversides, Aqua Yums Squid, mysis shrimp, half a whole silverside, etc. it will eat greedily and quickly consume. About 8 hours later, sometimes a little longer, it deflates all pathetic looking and regurgitates it's food. It looks like it hasn't digested at all! Looks the same as when it went in. Is something wrong? Am I feeding the wrong thing?

Here is a picture:
http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/512/98356RBTA_view_1.jpg

 

[z_rivers]

nice lookin anemone, good luck with it.

 

[finding nemo]

I think the problem may be one of two things,
1 is the food may be to big for it to digest.
2 which I think is the problem is, he is full and does not need the food and thus spits it out.
How often are you feeding?
He looks healthy but just a tad bleached out.
I would feed every other day, small pieces, maybe a 1/4" piece of silverside and see if he will digest it.
Let us know how he does with that ok?

 

[cainchristy]

Thanks so much Finding Nemo. I was trying to feed every other day, but at first I didn't mince the food up, I just gave him a whole cube of Squid, about the size of a small gumball. When I tried the silverside, I gave him half of one. The next time I tried, I still gave him half of one, but I minced it. I guess I was overfeeding then.

I fed him another squid cube today, since I haven't fed him in about 4 days, and he hasn't deflated any during that time. He still looks perky, but it hasn't been 8 hours yet, either.

I thought he looked a tad bleached and had asked a few people to check my photo somewhere else, but none seemed to think he was bleached. Thanks for the tip. I thought I might be losing my mind there for a minute.

I'll keep you guys posted. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything wrong.

Any tips on what I need to do to help him over the bleaching?

 

[z_rivers]

sorry i didnt see you had a trouble post. IMO your anemone doesnt look bleached one bit. RBTAs come in different colors, some dark and some light, yours looks just fine. as for feeding, all you can do is keep trying. try to feed him everyother day with meaty foods (ie silversides, krill) about 1cmx1cm in size. keep offering it to him. when hes ready he'll accept it.

 

[knowse]

Try deboning the silversides and using smaller pieces. My bta's only like shrimp, and I also soak it in selcon or selco.

 

[cainchristy]

Thanks for the help everyone. The anemone still hasn't deflated from when I fed it yesterday, so hopefully it is going to keep it down this time. I'll keep you updated. Thanks again!

 

[cmhollis]

Here is the photo:

Nice looking RBTA! Keep us posted.

 

[z_rivers]

Try deboning the silversides and using smaller pieces

good luck! that would take waaaay to much time. if you have a picky eater that doesnt like bones try feeding it squid.