RBTA Splitting behavior

[Eman79]

About a year ago, I added an RBTA to the tank. It split after a few months, yay! Last week, I noticed that one of them was starting to split again. Now, they have both split, and I have 4. Is it normal or common for them to have both split at the same time? Yes, they are in the same water, with the same feeding schedule (my tank bred clowns won't host) but it just strikes me as odd that they have split at the same time. I have heard (and would love confirmation) that they split when unhappy, and given the timing, am a bit concerned that this could be the case.

 

[igarc009]

Your feeding schedule is what likely caused them to split. Its not uncommon for them to split at the same time. Since they are from one NEM they would have the same tendencies.

 

[flooddc]

that they split when unhappy

IMO, I don't think that entirely true. I have several different BTA's in my tank. the GBTA in particular split multiple times while the other BTAs never split.

 

[Eman79]

I didn't mean that in that they will ONLY split when unhappy, only that it was a possibility.

As an update, today I've noticed a 5th Nem, so apparently, one of them split into 3.

 

[igarc009]

Pictures?

 

[Eman79]

ask and ye shall receive. sorry for the delay. yesterday was a busy day. I actually moved one of the nems to the other side of the tank in hopes of introducing it to my clueless clowns. I wound up moving its entire rock because blasting him with water and tickling his foot proved noneffective in trying to coax him to let go. While I'm on the subject, any other ideas to get these suckers to let go? They are all on large rocks that would be difficult to move and that I don't want to part with, but 5 nems seems like a lot and I'd like to find a way to dump off a few, especially since "Danny DiVito" has taken up residence in my Yellow wrasse's cave.




Hard to tell, but this is one above the other on separate rocks. Upper attached to the rock on the right (this is the one I moved) and lower on the left.



This is Danny DiVito. The baby of the bunch, like Arnold's leftovers from the old movie "Twins" Didn't see him at first because like I said, he's hiding in a cave.

 

[bradleym]

This is Danny DiVito. The baby of the bunch, like Arnold's leftovers from the old movie "Twins" Didn't see him at first because like I said, he's hiding in a cave.

Wow, EXCELLENT reference, for the record. :thumbsup:

 

[igarc009]

Those are nice! They look super healthy...great job