Overfeeding BTA

[stevetcg]

Is it possible to overfeed a BTA or will it just spit out excess?

I have a bleached and starved BTA and it just keeps eating. Should I feed it twice a day if it will eat that much? ANd like fish, they prefer a variety to their diet, correct?

 

[Jacwil]

I think feeding a nem once a week, maybe twice is plenty. Nem aficionados chime in!

 

[davocean]

I think even twice a week is alot IMO.
Guess it depends on what and size of food?
Overfeeding can actually stress and induce splitting.

 

[stevetcg]

I think even twice a week is alot IMO.
Guess it depends on what and size of food?
Overfeeding can actually stress and induce splitting.

Even when its totally bleached and has consumed its tentacles down to little nubs? We are near death at this point, I believe.

Pea sized pieces of fresh seafood. I have squid and shrimp at the moment.

 

[garygb]

I have gone through periods of frequent feeding 3-5 times per week, and periods of less frequent feeding, 1 or 2 times per week with the magnificas and RBTAs I have. I haven't really observed much difference from high feeding to lower feeding, except when I'm feeding more, they do appear to grow faster. I believe that they will either refuse the food or expell the food when overfed.

 

[garygb]

I just realized I didn't answer all of your questions, I don't believe it's necessary to feed twice per day. And yes, variety is appreciated I believe. I can tell my anemones have a more vigorous feeding response with fresh foods that are regularly varied. The foods you have, shrimp and squid are great, you can add to that small pieces of scallop, oyster, silverside (though some report problems with this, I haven't so far fortunately), krill, and mysis.

 

[davocean]

Even when its totally bleached and has consumed its tentacles down to little nubs? We are near death at this point, I believe.

Pea sized pieces of fresh seafood. I have squid and shrimp at the moment.

Usually bleached unhealthy nems are shy to eat, so not sure your deal, pics would help.
Tents down to nubs sounds odd, especially if eating as you describe.

 

[StillerNat]

i have never fed my RBTA directly in the 10 months that i have had it. It has more than doubled in size since i got it. it was about 4" open and now it is 8" ++. i am sure it gets food from my snow clown and i do feed with mysis and cyclops and occasionally i drop in some oyster eggs for my chalices.
i have heard to many horror stories of people feeding their nems silversides and then dying the next day and possibly wiping out a tank.
mine is bright, vibrant and bubbling up nicely and i won't mess with it.

 

[davocean]

Yeah, on a side note, I did not feed either my crispa or doreensis the first year and a half of owning them, and they turned out to be huge monsters.
Light is their main source of energy, though bleached it may be harder to use that light, and I do agree feeding may help recover better, but go light, maybe just mysis.
Too many peeps stress on the feedings, some NEVER spot feed in an effort to keep them smaller.

 

[BongoSolo3]

Even when its totally bleached and has consumed its tentacles down to little nubs? We are near death at this point, I believe.

Pea sized pieces of fresh seafood. I have squid and shrimp at the moment.

When I got mine, it was just like this - it immediately became totally bleached as well, and had nothing left but little nubs.

Someone recommended to me that a badly bleached BTA needs to be fed more often, in small amounts. So I began to feed ~2 mysis every other day. Worked like a charm, but takes time - I've been doing it for about 3 months now and its slowly coming back.

Water quality could also play a role...

 

[stevetcg]

Usually bleached unhealthy nems are shy to eat, so not sure your deal, pics would help.
Tents down to nubs sounds odd, especially if eating as you describe.

Its certainly shy to eat. If I dont hold food to its oral disk, it will fall away. Eating response is minimal so I basically have to hold the food to its mouth until it grabs it. Takes 2-3 minutes to take a pea sized piece of food in and for the mouth to close again.

Here is a picture from a few days ago. Today the mouth is very tight and he seems a bit firmer than he has in days past.

 

[BongoSolo3]

Yes, it looks pretty bad, but I can tell you that mine looked worse.

Mine also was reluctant to eat. I turned of all flow and let the pieces of mysis sit on it's mouth, and eventually it would slowly start sucking in. The key was having the flow turned off, otherwise they will just float away.

 

[stevetcg]

Update: after every other day feedings for a week and a half, yesterday when I went to feed him some shrimp I was greeted with a violent feeding response and self feeding.

Progress!

He doesnt look much different, but I know the feeding response is a great sign.