RBTA Question

[Leandrae]

BTA's can do pretty good under PC lighting depending on the depth of the tank, anemone position, and feeding.

Right now, your anemone is still adjusting to your tank; the water, the flow, the lighting etc. Ideally, it would have been nice if your clown had not immediately jumped in it however you at least have size on your side with the anemone being 8" and the clown being 1" as you mentioned. You can probably expect to see your anemone shrivel up pretty often while it adjusts over the next week to month. As long as it does not start bleaching staying shrivelled far more than being expanded, it should be ok.

As far as feeding goes, only offer food if it's expanded as it's not likely to take anything while it's shrivelled. Place a small piece of silverside (not a whole one) on the tentacles. If the food sticks to the tentacles, keep your shrimp and the clown away from it so it can get it to the mouth. If it drops the food, don't keep trying to get it to take it as this will stress the anemone out even more. Wait a couple of days and try again.

All that said, assuming good water quality, BTA's will do even better under better lighting. I started with a tiny and bleached out BTA 3 years ago under PC's. It did pretty good and grew a little bit. After 2 months, I switched to 2x150 mh 20K's. It grew quite a lot and started to get their color back. It grew big enough and started splitting. Then I changed to T5's and they did not do as well (which may have been because the bulbs were of an unknown age as I bought it used) When I set up my 120, I went with 2 x 250 mh 14K and they are exploding in my tank. I now have 8 anemones in my tank. I added a 5" rose 6 months ago and it is now 14". I never directly and intentionally feed my anemones, they only eat whatever they catch when I feed the tank.

I do recommend upgrading your lights when budget allows.

Sorry for the book length, anemone's are my thing =)

-Janel

 

[tquick]

ok just a theory maybe the need both or one or the other in moderation. I have 20 of them. I keep them under metal halides and vho and at the very top. I alos have some in a nano tank with only 48 watts total of pc ligts lol. The one in nano tank is the size of 2 fist side by side. The ones in the grow out tank under halides are the size of about 1 fist. So light is not the factor. I do however feed mine every 3 days with silversides and they do fine with taking them and eating them. Make sure you make them small enough that they digest them. If you give them too big of a piece you will see it spit it out in a day or 2. My theory is this if you have one under pc they need to be have food given to them no less then every 3 days. If under halides you dont have to feed them the absorb the light and get nutrients that way. But i like mine fat and health so i try to give them both if possible. Makes them grow bigger faster and easier to cut the bigger they are. Good luck im going to say its getting use to its enviroment but watch the clown and make sure its not overkilling its welcome in the rbta. I have had a clarki mutilate one to no return. I have a maroon hosting in one now and hes probally the most gently one i have seen in RBTA. Maybe i got lucky with this one. He is kinda of slow too lol

 

[Mike31154]

First time I fed my BTA, the cleaner shrimp also stole the food. Give the cleaner shrimp a piece first and then feed the anemone. Once it's better acclimated, the tentacles will become much more sticky and the cleaner shrimp will be less likely to come near it at feeding time. I still feed my cleaner shrimp a little chunk of something before I feed the nem, even though it's fully acclimated and healthy.

 

[spw4949]

Ok, ok I didn't mean to start a brawl in here!(JK) Janel, thanks for all the advice, I appreciate all of your input especially with all of your experience. Hope I can pick your brain in the future? It is definately opened more than closed I'd say 70% open vs. 30% closed so that's good. As far as the lighting goes, I can see there are obviously some different schools of thought(which makes it tougher). Now, all of my experience is from 10 years ago & I know the hobby has come leaps & bounds since then & I also know that I have alot to learn & I'm fine with that, I'm not trying to be a know it all by any means. In my personal opinion I feel like the 2x96w should be plenty, I remember keeping anemones when I started 10 years ago with full spectrum fluorescents(they were like 20-25w each) and had them for years, & they did great. I think I'll try feeding again in a couple of days & see if it will accept food, (I'll try silverside pieces), I'll post and let everyone know what happens. Thanks to everyone for all the input(even though we all don't agree, I think that helps us all in the longrun) I appreciate everyone's opinion.

 

[spw4949]

Ok so for anyone who cares, the anemone ate today, took a feeder tuffy(about 1.5"0 like a champ. Seems to finally be settling in nicely......

 

[tmz]

Glad to hear it. Don't think this was mentioned but they are sensitive to sg swings.I would keep it relatively constant at 1.025. Good Lucki.

 

[spw4949]

That's where my SG has been & I (much like everyone else here) am religious when it comes to checking, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Nanz]

Great! Im glad its eating now

They look like they are dying when they expel waste. I had a 8 inch RBTA just split last week. It was a strange looking process but now I have 2 RBTA amenones and each of my maroon clowns have their own, hehe.

Good Luck with your amenone... They are fascinating creatures and very beautiful.