My BTA Q's

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

I am worried about my bta. We just bought it last saturday afternoon and it was looking good then. It was doing everything I thought it would do after I acclimate it to the tank and put it in the aquarium. It immediatly showed it bubble tips and then started looking for a perfect place for it to stay. Saturday night it totally inflated and was still looking for a good place. The next morning we found it on the other side of the tank..we figured it got swept up by the current. So there it was sitting in the sand foot side down. My husband decided it wasn't a good spot for it to stay so he moved it to the rocks agian. It then attached itself to the rock but was slowly going under the rock. I thought that maybe we should leave it alone. We were worried about it and decided to turn the rock over so the anemone could get more light. It looked better all its bubble tips were fully inflated. After I read Karens rose anemone website I realised that maybe we made a big mistake turning the rock over. What do you think? Well later that night when the MH went off it started to slowly close up and then spewed black and brown stuff. Then it started to get all stringy. It was like this for hours, it freaked me out, I thought it was dying on me. So I went to the computer to search frantically for some pictures of a dying anemone. It took a couple of hours then I came across karens site. She shows you pictures of a deflated anemone pooping and a dying one. I can't figure out which one mine is doing. It was getting late so we went to bed and the whole night I worried about it. I got up extra early to check up on the anemone. It looked normal again..then a couple hours later it was deflated again and still is. How long do they deflat is it normal for them to do it for hours at a time..even with the MH lights on? I want to feed the anemone but I don't think I can feed it while deflated or can I? Someone please help.
Its in our 120 gallon tank.
ph 8.2
NH3 0 ppm
NO2 0 ppm
NO3 0 ppm
SG 1.023
CA 340 ppm
PO 0 ppm
KH 12/214.8 ppm
Temp 81.2F
time and date tested 9:45pm 4-15-07

 

[hogben]

I have had some deflate for as long as a couple hours if I have fed heavily and they have a lot of crap to expell, they do a lot of minor deflating/inflating that looks like a long deflation. Deflating can happen at anytime of the day even with lights on.

I would say that moving it around to where you would like it, sand to rocks, turning rocks, etc is a losing battle. The only time I would manually move one is if it is in danger of suiciding into a powerhead or overflow.

They will usually move to any place they like. I’ve had some attach to bottoms of rocks that then stretch all the way up and around the rock to reach the light.

Check Karen's site for anemones doing strange things. She might have pics of some of the twisting they can do to themselves also. Which looks painful but is pretty common.

Sounds like your anemone just needs some alone time. They can go for a while without food so I wouldnt worry about that, and it might need time to adjust to your lights still.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Thanks for the response..I think I was overacting..lol oh well I was just very concerned. Its doing fine now and I fed it a piece of raw table shrimp it gobbled it up. I guess it was still getting rid of some waste from its meal before I got it. It seems happy now with bubble tips and everything. I read on karens site ..to feed the BTA a silverside. My LFS doesn't sell silversides..Do you think I could get some at the grocery store? I hope I won't have to go to san antonio to get silversides.

 

[jeeperrs]

You can get them at any of the large pet stores in the freezer section. Also, where is the websit witht he pictures you have been talking about? Thanks!

 

[hogben]

I think any fresh meaty food will do as long as no preservatives (fresh). I've tried krill, even some mysis, but they really respond to those silversides. I've read of some using fresh scallops or squid from the market also.

 

[hogben]

I'v also read there is a difference between fresh water and salt water silversides, I dont know if there is any truth to that but its worth investigating.

 

[nikecivic]

Is it okay for it to be on the sand? I've had my GBTA for about 2 weeks and initially it stuck to the side of a rock and slowly move about 3 inches from the first time it was left in the tank. Its foot is partially touching a rock (10%) but most of it is on the sand. It looks very healthy and looks like it might be getting big. Also, I have fed it silversides.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9740885#post9740885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jeeperrs
You can get them at any of the large pet stores in the freezer section. Also, where is the websit witht he pictures you have been talking about? Thanks!

This is karens website.

www.karensroseanemones.com

I've found this website to be very helpful and I wish I could thank karen personally for putting together such an informable site about BTA's..If karen still goes to reef central..THANK YOU Karen!