RBTA not eating

[small alien]

I've had a nice RBTA for about 2 1/2 months. It is hosting a pair of naked Oce clowns. I have tried to feed it krill and PE mysis about 8 times since I've had it. It reacts some but eventually just releases the food and it falls to the bottom of the tank. The nem appears healthy though it did not open for several days when the clowns first went in and now that it's back out, the color seems a bit faded. I expect the color to rebound now that it's back out in the lights.

Thoughts? :hmm6:

Thanks.

 

[SLove1104]

Just a thought... When my clowns weren't hosting my nems, the nems would eat the table shrimp I fed them, but once my clowns started hosting, they stopped eating. I suppose this is because they are getting enough food from the clowns...

 

[DZs]

My BTAs eats all the time and really fast, by the time I'm done feeding the last nem, the first one is done. I've only seen my female clown give a piece of food once. That was back when I had two nems, she would take food away from one nem to give it the other one. Since there are now 5 in my tank... Female clown has stop that. I guess she love them all. A friend of mine has a GBTA, his eats really slow and has to stop the flow around his nem. Takes it a good 5mins or so before it will open it's mouth to eat and the food just kind of sits on the tentacles... I do know my BTAs are very stickie and his isn't. I wish you luck.

 

[small alien]

Thanks. I do turn off the flow. I don't know if mine is very sticky or not. I'll give it a little hug and see. Any suggestions on other foods? Should I be concerned? Thanks.

 

[bues0022]

What are you parameters (with numbers)?
How long has the tank been setup?
How long have you had the BTA?
Where did you get the anemone from? (LFS, local, do you know if it was propagated or WC)
What size tank do you have?
What lights do you have (type, bulbs, age of bulbs)?
Can you post a picture of the anemone? It would help a lot.

To determine if it's sticky or not just just touch the tentacles. If they stick slightly to your fingers it's sticky!

 

[small alien]

Thanks for askin'.

Parameters are 0 Am, 0 Nitrites, O Nitrates, ph 8.1-8.2, temp 78-80, salinity 1.025. Tank is a 75 gallon has been up 6 months, 6 bulb T-5 HO fixture (bulbs 6 mos old). Nem is about 7 inches below the water's surface. Have had the nem for about 2 months. Got if from a good local LFS. I do not know if it was wild caught (would've been a good question to ask). I can't get a picture today but I'll try tomorrow. Mouth looks good, not gaping. Color is reasonable though I tiny bit faded as I mentioned. Nem is about 8" across when open. Looks quite healthy.

Thanks.

 

[bues0022]

Has it always had a "poor appetite", or is this a recent development? Have you changed anything else with your tank lately - even things seemingly benign? hmmm, your tank sounds pretty decent...

 

[small alien]

Yes, I would say it has always had a poor appetite. I've seen it fold up around some food a couple of times but I always find the food on the bottom later. I'm trying hard to think of changes. Nothing major. Added a large colony of hydnophora recently but it's away from the nem.

 

[bues0022]

Does your T5 fixture have individual reflectors? Has the color been fading or increasing at all, just just held steady? It kind of sounds like it might be a bit stressed from the move to the LFS (wherever it started), then to your tank. It may just need some more time to get comfortable hopefully. I'll wait for your pictures and hopefully if anyone else has ideas they can also post up. It sounds like you are doing everything right though.

 

[Nakzter]

I would try some frozen scallops. Thaw it before you feed it though...

My nem's loves this stuff and they are only $3.99 for a big bag at the asian market. I would think he would go crazy for food if he doesnt get target fed at the pet shop....

 

[small alien]

Thanks for the tips. Yes, the fixture has individual reflectors. I'll try the scallops (maybe we'll have some as well!). The color was very strong when I got it and for the first month. The slight fade seemed to coincide with a period of 3-4 days where the nem didn't really open which coincided with when the clowns first start hanging out in there. I think I can notice the color is coming back. It never got even close to bleaching like I've seen pics of.

Thanks!

 

[ocellaris123]

If it isn't interested in one food, try another. When I had my blue carpet anemone he would only eat rods food and squid, but would completely ignore krill.

 

[small alien]

thanks. I'm going to get some silver-sides and some scallops tomorrow. Color is continuing to return to normal. Thanks.

 

[bues0022]

Skip the silversides. They have been known in some occasions to cause the demise of otherwise very healthy anemones. Stick to human food-quality meaty foods.

 

[small alien]

It seems like I always here about people feeding silversides to their nems. But you sound like you know of what you speak. I'll skip the silversides.

Thanks for the tip.

 

[bues0022]

Yeah, a lot of people feed their nems silversides, but I don't really like the practice for a few reasons. First, they are not human food-grade quality. That means that though they are kept frozen during transport, there's a higher risk (and almost no consequence) to the fish going through several freeze-thaw cycles. They probably don't thaw all the way, but enough to let bacteria start to grow. Would you eat a silverside? I think it's best practice to feed your nems things that if they are quality enough for us, they will work for them. Also, most who feed silversides do not chop up the fish at all, merely thaw and feed whole. It is rather hard on an anemone to attempt to digest such large chunks of food, and often will spit it back out half-digested. You might not even notice if this happens at night and you have a good CUC - therefore you may not realize you are not nourishing the anemone, but hurting it. It takes energy to attempt to start the process that never finishes - kind of like anemone bulimia.

Here's a little write-up I did about feeding anemones:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1835320

 

[small alien]

Gave the ol' nem a little shoulder rub yesterday and it is not sticky at all. Is that a problem? Looks great.