My Noobish RBTA Questions

[_Mitch_]

I'm getting my first RBTA this week. I have a couple of questions, though.
1) How do I attach RBTA when I get it? From what I've read it seems I should turn my powerhead/canister off and allow the Anemone to attach itself for a couple of hours. Is this correct?
2) If my Anemone decides to go on a hike, will it basically instantly kill my other corals if they get stung? I'm not sure how potent the Anemone's stingers are.
3) Now this might be a little bit harder to judge, but where do you think the RBTA would be most happy in my tank? I'm thinking here:

More details about my tank can be found here. Thanks for any help!

Oh, and I'll be putting screening over my Powerhead soon to protect the Anemone.

 

[Reef1589]

anemone's 98% (this is not a scientific factual % im judging..) of the time dont go where you want them to, and yes... alot of people do turn down the flow a little bit, it helps the anemone attach to the rock..

and with a BTA no, its not gonna instantly kill your corals, depending on which coral it is, but yes if the rbta does touch some corals, it will do damage to the area of contact..and depending on how long it lasts could kill the coral.. ive had frags get breifly touched by a rbta.. and had no serious issues.. accept you could see where the rbta touched, and it usually healed over..


and you cant predict where it will be happy... it will choose that for itself i've found my BTA's to always go lower in my tanks though.. and have kind of a medium type flow about them.. (but ive seen some higher in tanks with higher flow.. so its hit or miss )

 

[_Mitch_]

Thanks for the advice Robbie!

 

[garygb]

BTAs want to attach in a cave or crevice in the rocks. If you provide that from the start and place the anemone there, maybe you'll be lucky and it will stay put. I wouldn't turn flow down completely, as the anemone might not like such still water and move to try and find more flow.

 

[_Mitch_]

Gary, where I stated I'd like to place the 'nem there's a nice crevasse that it could nestle up in. When I was diving in Fiji and the Solomon Islands this summer, almost all the BTA's I saw looked like they were in a crevasse. Example:

Really crappy picture, but you get the idea.

 

[tallreefguy]

BTAs want to attach in a cave or crevice in the rocks. If you provide that from the start and place the anemone there, maybe you'll be lucky and it will stay put. I wouldn't turn flow down completely, as the anemone might not like such still water and move to try and find more flow.

+1 this has been my exp. with BTA's. They don't like their foot exposed.
If it tumbles around your tank for more than a day, it's probably not going to do well. IT should attach within a few minutes up to a couple of hours.

 

[garygb]

Yeah, if there's a crevice, it will likely be a good place for it. I have had luck gently placing E. quadricolor in a place I'm pretty sure they will like, i.e., holding the anemone there until it's "foot" attaches.