my BTA needs help again

M Woodhill

New member
im outa home today and my mom likes my rbta very much. she fed her with almost an entire prawn.

jesus help! thats the entire quota for her. and now she moved a little bit outa amid the rocks and opened her mouth

is she dying? or what am i supposed to do to help her?

for god's and her sake, do wish reply come asap

thanx
 
How big is your RBTA? Did she cut the prawn into little chunks? Personally I think that the only thing you can do is wait and see, do not touch or aggravate your RBTA while it is trying to digest the feast. I do not know much about BTA, is overfeeding a major concern?
 
im outa home today and my mom likes my rbta very much. she fed her with almost an entire prawn.

jesus help! thats the entire quota for her. and now she moved a little bit outa amid the rocks and opened her mouth

is she dying? or what am i supposed to do to help her?

for god's and her sake, do wish reply come asap

thanx

If anything, it would either not swallow it at all or barf it up. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Movement of the anemone can be due to lighting, nutrients, flow, etc.
 
If anything, it would either not swallow it at all or barf it up. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Movement of the anemone can be due to lighting, nutrients, flow, etc.

I have heard of a lot of people losing nems because of feeding silversides im not sure if it was because of the size of the silverside or because it went bad.
 
thanks

seemingly it returns a bit

my mom used her fingers to tear the prawn into small chunks probably just 1 inch or less times 1 inch or less

the BTA got outa amid the rock but still stays on the rock
 
and besides

how many times or how frequently must i feed my BTA

and how much?

then i can post a notice thhere in case my parents or sisters repeat such mistakes
 
I feed my RBTA and GBTA about 2-3 times a week with chopped silversides. From what I've read and seen on RC it's somewhat dependant on their lighting as they get a good amount of their nutrients from their zooxanthallae
 
sorry guys

but is it normal BTA deflates in the dark

now it deflates completely and look like a ritteri when my lights shut down and the moon light glitters
 
I have a few things to add to your understanding of BTA's:

First, assuming you have a healthy specimen with adequate lighting, direct feeding is not entirely necessary. Feeding will cause an excess of nutrients in the animal causing it to grow much faster than without feedings. Many like to feed for the simple fact that it looks cool, and you are giving it human qualities that it likes being fed. Truth-be-told, it can't not feed. If a food particles touches its tentacles, it will attempt to eat it. That leads to the second point:

Second, no, you cannot overfeed an anemone. Once they take in food, then they "decide" (though there really is no thought process, they have no brain) whether to eat it or expel it. If there is too much food at once, it will expel some to allow it to digest the rest (think of having your mouth too full). BTA's are fully capable at self-regulating how much it can or cannot digest. It is, however, not advisable to give it such portions that cause it to expel any food. This is a net loss in energy, and can contribute to a decreased health of the animal.

Three, as 2Addicted touched on, silversides. The current state of knowledge on the affect of silversides on the health of anemones is that the food has gone bad, or essentially expired, perhaps to just being old, or from multiple freeze/thaw cycles during and after shipping. This allows bacteria to colonize the said fish and transfer harmful bacteria to the anemone. Sickness has not been attributed to quantity of food, but quality. I recommend only feeding raw, human grade seafood to anything in your tank - with the exception to my rule being PE mysis. Foods packed in water or juices seem to have a lower risk of bacterial contamination than those that are not - though I do not have any empirical evidence to back that claim up just yet.

Deflation is common, and natural. It is how they expel waste, and bring in fresh water to the body tissues. Some people have theirs deflate/inflate on daily cycles. You only need to become worried if it stays deflated or becomes deflated consistently or for long periods of time when your lights are on.
 
thanks to all those who helped!!!!

thanks to all those who helped!!!!

and thanks for the detailed info.

mine goes regularly deflating when the lights off and return boob when on.

is it ok?

i think she is very sensitive to light but fortunately she almost stays put with a move about few inches. seemingly shes accepted the rocks and cervice

as far as now, it has not expeled anything out or she did so when i am asleep or go out?

but seems like shes always hungery. whenever she sees shadows move around the tank, she lengthens her tentacles
 
I am not surprised you didn't see it expel anything. The probability is high that if it did, you missed it and the remnants were consumed by your CUC.

When it comes to anemones, you can't place human (or other high order animal) traits on them such as hunger or happiness. It has not brain, so any activity you see is merely reaction to stimuli. Whether or not tentacle lenthening is directly related to the BTA's "desire" to eat is unclear to me. I have seen BTA's with short, stubby, bubbled tips accept meals as readily as those with long thin tentacles.

Staying put is a good sign. They also like their foot in the shade and head in the sun, so it is good it has found a crevice to call home.
 
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