I thought I would share my experience with my first BTA. I figure someone else who gets their first anemone one day might read this and learn something from it or be able to compare it to their new anemone as well.
My tank is a 29g with a 20g sump. My light fixture is a reefbreeders value led currently set around 35-40% whites and 30% blues. The tank has been set up now for around 4 months. I've had over a year of experience with this reef tank and have done plenty of research on anemones to the point where I felt comfortable buying a BTA.
The nem I bought was on sale at an LFS for 50% off, a lot of the nems were in really bad shape but the one I picked was one of the best looking ones left. Now for some pictures...
When I first started acclimating him. I temp acclimated for 15-30 min then drip acclimated for around an hour or so I believe...
You can see some of the waste that was in the bag in the picture. Other than the waste, his tentacles seemed pretty well formed. Unfortunately, when I bought him, I couldn't get a good look at his mouth so I did take a risk.
Once in the tank, he inflated quite nicely. I placed him under an overhang in my aquascape. I figured he could start off in a shaded area and then move around as he gets acclimated to my lighting.
These are some pictures of how he looks during the daytime now, about 12 days or so after introduction to the tank.
I'm not sure if he is splitting, but he does seem pretty healthy. If he does end up splitting, awesome, if not, I don't mind. I have tried spot feeding him once or twice so far, but he didn't seem interested. The food did not seem to stick to his tentacles either. However, I know that BTAs do not NEED to be fed, so this doesn't concern me too much.
Over the past 2 weeks, he hasn't moved at all from the initial area I set him in under the overhang. I'm still paranoid and cover my mp10 and turn off my koralia every night when I'm not near the tank and will probably do so for a month or two, just to be safe.
The BTA does deflate fairly often, at least once a day for several hours at a time. Usually around 4-5 pm I see him deflated and he will reinflate during the night time after the lights have turned off. If you're curious, my whites run from 11-8 pm and blues run 10-9ish. Sometimes when he deflates, his mouth is gaping, but during the day I have never noticed his mouth gaping, always closed well. I imagine him deflating this often will eventually subside, so I'm not too concerned about it. Here's an attempt at taking a pic of him retracted into his crevice today.
I'll try and update this thread every so often, again so newer BTA owners can compare their experiences with mine maybe. I'm also open to any suggestions, advice, etc. Thanks for checking it out!
My tank is a 29g with a 20g sump. My light fixture is a reefbreeders value led currently set around 35-40% whites and 30% blues. The tank has been set up now for around 4 months. I've had over a year of experience with this reef tank and have done plenty of research on anemones to the point where I felt comfortable buying a BTA.
The nem I bought was on sale at an LFS for 50% off, a lot of the nems were in really bad shape but the one I picked was one of the best looking ones left. Now for some pictures...
When I first started acclimating him. I temp acclimated for 15-30 min then drip acclimated for around an hour or so I believe...
You can see some of the waste that was in the bag in the picture. Other than the waste, his tentacles seemed pretty well formed. Unfortunately, when I bought him, I couldn't get a good look at his mouth so I did take a risk.
Once in the tank, he inflated quite nicely. I placed him under an overhang in my aquascape. I figured he could start off in a shaded area and then move around as he gets acclimated to my lighting.
These are some pictures of how he looks during the daytime now, about 12 days or so after introduction to the tank.
I'm not sure if he is splitting, but he does seem pretty healthy. If he does end up splitting, awesome, if not, I don't mind. I have tried spot feeding him once or twice so far, but he didn't seem interested. The food did not seem to stick to his tentacles either. However, I know that BTAs do not NEED to be fed, so this doesn't concern me too much.
Over the past 2 weeks, he hasn't moved at all from the initial area I set him in under the overhang. I'm still paranoid and cover my mp10 and turn off my koralia every night when I'm not near the tank and will probably do so for a month or two, just to be safe.
The BTA does deflate fairly often, at least once a day for several hours at a time. Usually around 4-5 pm I see him deflated and he will reinflate during the night time after the lights have turned off. If you're curious, my whites run from 11-8 pm and blues run 10-9ish. Sometimes when he deflates, his mouth is gaping, but during the day I have never noticed his mouth gaping, always closed well. I imagine him deflating this often will eventually subside, so I'm not too concerned about it. Here's an attempt at taking a pic of him retracted into his crevice today.
I'll try and update this thread every so often, again so newer BTA owners can compare their experiences with mine maybe. I'm also open to any suggestions, advice, etc. Thanks for checking it out!
