I think my bta ate my saddleback

[Tracy415]

I have had my bta for a month. It's just beautiful. My percula didn't bother with it so I decided to buy a saddleback on Friday and yesterday the bta hosted him. I was so happy. This morning the bta didn't look good at all. It was shriveled up and now my saddleback is missing! I am fearing the worst! Do you think he ate my clown? :sad1:

 

[OrionN]

Saddleback often dig into the mouth of the anemone and go in completely. BTA does not have strong enough sting to eat fish.

What I think is that your saddleback dig into the anemone and is hurting him. You better remove the saddle back once he get out of the anemone. Even then I don't know if the anemone will make it. Once they get into the anemone, the clown will eat it from the inside.

 

[Tracy415]

My clown is still missing and my bta looks close to death. I don't think the clown is in there cause the bta is so small now. This is just terrible. My bta was so beautiful. I also feel bad for my clown. This stinks really bad

 

[likefish]

wish my BTA would eat my saddlebacks!

They are brutish little ogres!!!!

Good luck with your nem. Im struggling to get mine to stay put where i can see him. Maybee he is hiding form my saddlebacks

 

[Straight_Chaos]

I would check the ammonia levels ASAP. I have had a pair of clowns croak wedged in the rocks on the bottom. Your clown my be XXXX in the rocks and killing you BTA!!! Check your levels ASAP to prevent disaster if thats the case.
If not that, then IDK. My RBTAs could not eat a live fish if their life depended on it!

 

[Tracy415]

Ok well this is just crazy. I got home from work and the clown appeared. It looks terrible seems like it's near death. My nem looked back to normal. Two hours later the clown is gone again and my nem is shriveled up. The whole thing baffles me. Maybe it was hiding in his mouth...who knows?

My levels are all at zero. I do a 10% wc every week faithfully.

 

[Jamie1210]

Tracy, read what above poster Orion wrote. Your clowns are most likely diving into the 'nems mouth and causing it a LOT of stress. You need to do something fast. Either get rid of the clowns, or get rid of the 'nem. I hate to sound so extreme, but it's either take action now, or try to wait it out and see if they stop--bad idea IMO, because it just causes unneeded stress.

 

[Tracy415]

I defiantly plan on returning the fish but my lfs is only open thurs to sun so tomorrow it's goin back for sure.

 

[Tracy415]

Saddleback is dead.

 

[OrionN]

???
It is dead? is the dottyback harassing it?

 

[Tracy415]

I think it was in my nem way too long and it died after being mia for a day

 

[OrionN]

Let us know how the BTA is after a few days

 

[Tracy415]

Nem still looks awful. It amazes me how two creatures who thrive together normally can at times work the opposite. Hope my bta.survives this. Fingers crossed and I'll keep u updated

 

[sqwat]

Saddle backs host carpets Wich are way tougher then bta. I don't mean tough like easy to keep but I see one that lives in the mouth of this blue carpet at my lfs. He goes all they way in and the carpet doesn't seem to care.the only thing I don't like about btas is that they fully close when pooping or exchanging water.this is when rough clowns do the most damage cause its not open for them.its good to havpe 2 btas so whenone closes the clown can go to the other.I love ltas they only close a little when pooping and carpets the same.he might be fine if oft alone I wouldn't get it another clown they look better and live better without one sometimes

 

[dc]

I thought they were hosted by several different anemones? I rarely see any saddlebacks in the pet store here so I've never even heard of them going inside of the anemones. Kind of cool.

@ Tracy hopefully it will recover for you.

 

[likefish]

sorry to hear bout your clown and good luck with the nem.

Wanted to thank you for this thread though! It prompted me to remove my 2 maniac saddlebacks before they had a chance to do any damage to my BTA. Did a swap for 2 ocilaris that were hosting a BTA at my LFS. Tiny little fellas. Hopefully all goes well.

Again good luck with yours!

 

[velvetelvis]

What I find interesting is that latezonatus (which are part of the saddleback complex) are hosted by BTAs in the wild. I wonder if they also display this "diving" behavior, or if they've evolved to treat these hosts differently...

 

[Tracy415]

My rbta is looking better each day. I haven't fed it in over a week cause it's under my rock and I can't get to it. I guess it will move once hungry.

 

[Winwood]

What I find interesting is that latezonatus (which are part of the saddleback complex) are hosted by BTAs in the wild. I wonder if they also display this "diving" behavior, or if they've evolved to treat these hosts differently...

I have never owned any latz but my guess is they probably don't. I have never heard of that behavior being reported by people who have kept them.
The only clowns I've seen exhibit this behavior are saddlebacks, and I believe it is more of a function of where haddoni carpets are found, often exposed in sandbeds with little to no structure around them. It's just my opinion but I assume the fish exhibit this behavior to avoid predation or being harrassed by other clowns that share the anemone.

 

[phender]

In addition haddoni carpets will often pull themselves completely under the sand when being harassed, leaving their clowns completely exposed. If the clowns dive into the mouth, then they will stay hidden even when the anemone disappears.