Pep shrimp okay with GBTA?

[internexus]

Purchased a green BTA yesterday and im just wanting to know that it will be okay having peppermint and camel shrimp in the tank. Today I was watching one of the peppermints discover the anem and go over and dork with it a bit, it appears the skin is tough enough to keep from being picked at by the shrimp and he did wander off after a moment. Just want to be sure.

 

[ReefNeck]

Shrimp will walk all over anemones and even steal their food. They usually do not hurt each other at all though. Just make sure when you feed your BTA that he actually gets to eat the food and it does'nt get stolen by the shrimp.

If it becomes a problem you may have to find a way to keep the shrimp away during feedings.

 

[Lance M.]

I have a cleaner shrimp that will steal food from my bleached lta (not really sure on id). In order to combat this I'll throw some "decoy" food in there for the shrimp and then feed the anemones.

Also just my experience with camel shrimp, they will jump if your tank is open top so just a heads up.

 

[internexus]

Thanks guys, I picked this GBTA up yesterday afternoon, i've tried feeding it some clam meat yesterday and today as well, on a skewer. All he does is closes up. Is this normal behavior for the first few days? Has great color/bubbles and looks extremely healthy, kinda upset I can't get it to eat.

 

[Lance M.]

I would leave it alone for another day and let it acclimate to your tank and then try to feed it. I hand feed my anemones. I place the food on the tentacles. Try not to touch it too much as this may be why it closes up. And I know people don't recommend putting your hands in the tank.

Also I have had this problem with a bleached bta that I got a month ago. For the first couple weeks I tried to feed it but it would just close up, maybe thinking something was attacking it. But it finally got use to it and now grabs the food and swallows it very quickly.

 

[internexus]

So when I am feeding it do I want to let the food lightly touch it or just have it hover above until it reaches w/ the tentacles to grab it? Thanks

 

[Lance M.]

With my new anemones, I let the food touch some of the tentacles and then the anemone should take it in. With my gbta I've had for a year I just through the piece of food in the tank and let it land on the anemone and it immediately takes it in.

 

[timrandlerv10]

just my experience, prolly isnt valid, but here it is:

i spent $35 on a baby bta.
i spent $150 on shrimp

i have 2 big beautiful btas.
i have no shrimp.

YMMV.

 

[Lance M.]

$150 on a shrimp!! Wow. What kind of shrimp was that? A gold one? lol

 

[internexus]

The elusive platinum plated shrimp!....... I am actually curious myself on what particular shrimp this was. Post pics! Did you witness the death btw? I was wondering was the shrimp just walkin across the top and was trapped or somethin else?

 

[SuperNerd]

if the shrimp are really hungry they will try to take food from the anemone. I have some peps with some GBTAs. They don't bother each other. You could always target feed the shrimp if you're worried.

 

[Reefynewby]

IME, the shrimp will steal more from unhealthy anemones than healthy ones. My anemones will take the food and close immediately, covering and swallowing it in minutes. I've seen bleached, unhealthy anemones that don't sting well. The shrimp are more prone to stealing from them.

 

[Mavrk]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10964759#post10964759 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lance M.
$150 on a shrimp!! Wow. What kind of shrimp was that? A gold one? lol

I think they meant that the bta kept eating the shrimp. the 150 was spent on several shrimp.

 

[Lance M.]

It's funnier thinking it was a $150 shrimp.

Still that's a lot of money on shrimp I think after the first 2 or 3 he would of learned.

 

[timrandlerv10]

yeah, THAT'S WHAT MY WIFE SAID




thanks for bringing that back up