We bought a fairly small RBTA yesterday at a LFS. There was an indentation in the foot apparently from a recent division. It otherwise looked very healthy, this LFS always has high quality livestock.
After it was acclimated I placed it fairly high in the tank (about 12-15" under a 250w MH lamp) using a plastic bag to hold it in place for a minute or two until its foot attached. The LR in this area of the tank is Marshall Islands with crevices everywhere, and the foot was placed into a good size crevice. It moved a little bit over a few hours but stayed in this general location and it looked great.
Later that night we were watching the tank and trying (unsuccessfully) to catch a suspect crab we had seen -- it may just be our male emerald mithrax crab that had molted as it had green claws and was eating algae. Anyway, as we were about to give up on the crab, the anemone started moving faster and I saw its foot partially exposed, immediately thereafter it detached from the rock and it was floating. Before I could get it, the current in the tank carried it several feet down the length of the tank then into a tunnel around the back, disappearing from sight. We looked everywhere and finally my wife found it with a flashlight -- it was in a cavern near the bottom of the tank largely surrounded by LR. I can see its tentacles and they look okay but it will get no light in this location, nor will I be able to feed it.
Getting to this area will involve tearing down a lot of the aquascape in the middle of the tank, even then it may have firmly attached to a rock making it difficult to remove. The anemone may be able move out on its own through the same space it presumably used to enter this area, but otherwise it appears trapped.
So should I spend hours removing/replacing rock and try to get it, or would it be better to wait it out and see if it moves out on its own ?
I do have blue spot & pearly yellow jawfish, and a watchman goby, so I am concerned about having the anemone in the rockwork low in the tank. And of course I am concerned about the welfare of the anemone.
We have a pair of small ~1" ocellaris clowns in the tank; we are hoping they ultimately take up residence in the RBTA even though it is not a natural host for them. In the LFS, several RBTA (including the one we bought) shared the tank with the ocellaris clowns and some were clearly starting to host in it. I did not want a carpet anemone, nor did I want the clowns to start hosing in an LPS which they may distress. And since the tank will have predominantly stony corals I decided against trying a toadstool leather as possible host.
This is my first experience with an anemone, so any help or advice is appreciated.
After it was acclimated I placed it fairly high in the tank (about 12-15" under a 250w MH lamp) using a plastic bag to hold it in place for a minute or two until its foot attached. The LR in this area of the tank is Marshall Islands with crevices everywhere, and the foot was placed into a good size crevice. It moved a little bit over a few hours but stayed in this general location and it looked great.
Later that night we were watching the tank and trying (unsuccessfully) to catch a suspect crab we had seen -- it may just be our male emerald mithrax crab that had molted as it had green claws and was eating algae. Anyway, as we were about to give up on the crab, the anemone started moving faster and I saw its foot partially exposed, immediately thereafter it detached from the rock and it was floating. Before I could get it, the current in the tank carried it several feet down the length of the tank then into a tunnel around the back, disappearing from sight. We looked everywhere and finally my wife found it with a flashlight -- it was in a cavern near the bottom of the tank largely surrounded by LR. I can see its tentacles and they look okay but it will get no light in this location, nor will I be able to feed it.
Getting to this area will involve tearing down a lot of the aquascape in the middle of the tank, even then it may have firmly attached to a rock making it difficult to remove. The anemone may be able move out on its own through the same space it presumably used to enter this area, but otherwise it appears trapped.
So should I spend hours removing/replacing rock and try to get it, or would it be better to wait it out and see if it moves out on its own ?
I do have blue spot & pearly yellow jawfish, and a watchman goby, so I am concerned about having the anemone in the rockwork low in the tank. And of course I am concerned about the welfare of the anemone.
We have a pair of small ~1" ocellaris clowns in the tank; we are hoping they ultimately take up residence in the RBTA even though it is not a natural host for them. In the LFS, several RBTA (including the one we bought) shared the tank with the ocellaris clowns and some were clearly starting to host in it. I did not want a carpet anemone, nor did I want the clowns to start hosing in an LPS which they may distress. And since the tank will have predominantly stony corals I decided against trying a toadstool leather as possible host.
This is my first experience with an anemone, so any help or advice is appreciated.
