LTA reaction to light

[mrbill70]

Hi everyone,
I've been struggling with this LTA for the past few weeks. When I got him he looked pretty good, but wouldn't attach or find a spot. He doesn't move around the tank, he just wont dig in or attach to anything. Originally when I purchased him, I had him under 130w pc lighting. This is in a 20g high tank. So, to help this guy out, I have upgraded my flow (switched from a single maxijet 900 to multiple microjects to disperse flow around the tank..in addition to my sump return flow) as well as upgraded my lighting. I now have a 250w 14k mh pendant suspended 12 inches above the water's surface.

Three weeks after the fact, the anemone still looks the same. In the past two days it has attached to the end of a piece of liverock/sand, but other than that it remains the same. It still doesn't want anything to do with food (raw people shrimp/formula 1), and unless it has been eating tiny bits of cyclopeeze floating by, it hasn't eaten anything in three weeks. Since the lighting intensity has gone up a great deal, I have started the new light cycle out at 4 hours and will work my way up. Over the past few days, every time the lights turn out, the anemone goes from mostly expanded to completely closed (no tentacles visible at all). He stays completely closed for maybe 20-30 mins, then opens up gradually over the course of a couple hours. I just want to make sure im not cooking it with the new light, or if there is anything else I could possibly do to help it out.

This is about 1.5 hours after the light went off.

 

[KyleP]

Feed him. I know you said you tried, but you may have to let the food sit on his mouth for up to thirty minutes. I had to do this with my LTA. After about three to four feedings he will be able to put food away pretty quickly. Mine regained stickiness also, and began to bury his foot down into the sand. The key is food. You may have to put him in a tupperare container and let the food sit on his mouth that way. It keeps the current or anything else from disturbing it.

 

[GSMguy]

i see this often FEED SILVERSIDES SOAKED IN SELCON TINY PEICES

the shrimp for the anemone is like eating a steak the size of your head get it started small

you can not cook an anemone with llight. you could stick a 1000w 6.5k metal halide in a lumenarc 12 inches from an LTA and it would be happy just keep the temp below 84 and there is no too much light for an anemone

 

[rssjsb]

also, different nems seem to prefer different food. try some different things - I would start with mysis, maybe try some chopped silversides, krill, or squid. as CSMguy says, start with very small pieces, like the size of a pencil eraser.