Save a RBTA

[90sShooter]

I recently adopted ($10) a small (I would say no bigger than about 2") RBTA from a fellow reefer who was taking down their tank. He had some lighting issues (not to mention LIGHTS OUT for the last couple days...or weeks... don't know for sure..) which caused all of his frogspawns to bleach as well as the RBTA.

He is SOO cute! I became attached immediately! (litterally he attached to my hand as I was putting him in my tank.. :lol: ) I am BRAND NEW to anemones and only been reefing for about 5 months... I just want to make sure to take good care of him. So I need some pointers.

First of all, he has lost a lost of color. He is basically clear with bright pink tips. Should I be worried about this alone? How long will it take to get his color back under good condition?

When I first put him in he looked good.. and within an hour he had found himself a spot (temporarily). The next day, I walked in and he was on top of my K4! (which is on the opposite side of my 48" long tank and 20" high with no rock near it lol) so I immediately turned the powerhead off and waited for him to get off. It was the weirdest thing! he was actually going through the tiny grate guard on the Koralia! So a couple hours later I went back and he had left the powerhead and planted himself on the base rock below (in what I thought would be a PERFECT place for him). The next day, I came in and could not find him. After a couple minutes of searching, I found him behind a rock between the rock and the back wall up halfway in the tank. Not thinking anything of it, I wanted to be able to see him so I removed the small rock in front of him (he was planted on the rock below and the back wall..) Today he moved down to the right and behind the next closest rock... like he is trying to hide. Not sure if he is getting too much light since he is so bleached and has not had light in atleast several days... (BTW I am running 6x54w T5's) or he is just scared in a new tank?

We fed him two days ago and today and he seemed to take it down both times.. So I think that is a good sign... I will try to take pics tomorrow to give an idea of color and maybe help get an idea of his health.

Also what do you guys recomend to feed them? I just got some fresh fish from the grocery store and cut a tiny peice off... I also picked up a scallop... Is that good or no?

Any pointers? from anything that I have wrote do you see anything I should worry about? Any basic care advice? Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[scaz]

scallops are great. your lighting is very good, but can be a little much for a BTA. Bleaching is ofcourse bad, but it can get it's color back. Will need to keep feeding it for a while.

Good luck and don't force anything.

 

[12gallonbaby]

leave it be wherever it chooses. mine picked behind a rock but comes out almost all the time now because of my clowns hosting in it. find it some clowns to take care of it.

 

[fatdaddy]

All 3 of mine like to find two rocks that are close together. They then come out when the lighting is on. When they are bigger, they stay out full time.

Sounds like yours will recover in time.

 

[Toddrtrex]

You are going to have to acclimate it to your lights.

Either, shorten your photo period, raise the lights up, or put some window screening b/t the tank and the lights.

 

[90sShooter]

Thanks everybody for your input. I will be keeping a close eye on him over the next couple weeks and update with his progress..

I will try cutting the photoperiod a little for the next couple days, but I am already running an 8 hour photoperiod... with actinics running about 11 hours.

From what I am reading on other threads, I think this is pretty normal. He is probably hiding to shade from the light a little until he gets acclimated to it and also as protection because he is an unfamiliar tank... I think he will recover in no time.

Also, I am currently looking for a pair of clowns for him, but do you think it is took early? Since he is not in the best of condition, will hosting clowns worsen the situation? or help it?

Thanks again guys!

 

[Toddrtrex]

You will need to cut the photo period down for more then a couple of days. It came from a tank with little or no light.

I would cut it down to 4 hours for the first week, 5 the next, so on until you get back to your normal photo-period. Think of it like the first summer day, if you go out side for 8 hours, you are going to burn. But, if you start out slowly you won't.

As for the clowns, while there is no guarantee that they would be hosted by it right away, there is still a chance. If there were, that would just add stress to the anemone. Give it time to settle in, regain its zoax, and to get a bigger.

 

[90sShooter]

OK, will do!

That is exactly what I thought... I figured they probably would not be hosted right away, but I definately dont want the clowns to worsen the situation. Plus like I said the Anemone is very small...

 

[90sShooter]

OK I went to check on him today and he doesn't look too hot... he moved again.. now he is on the back wall under a pump and next to my powerhead. I snapped some pics so tell me what you think... When I first got him he looked prety round and all his tentacles or whatever were full bubbles... Now he looks like he is trying to split (his foot is shaped like a peanut instead of round) and on his right half his tentacles are semi deflated... Check out the pics and tell me what you think..

How hardy are these guys? What are his chances of survival? Thanks for your help!

 

[90sShooter]

Nobody? I just want to make sure he is going to make it...

 

[Toddrtrex]

It does look like it is trying to split again. Have a feeling it is because of stress and it is trying to "save" a part of itself.

They can be fairly hardy, as far as anemones go. At this point all you can do is keep your water in check, it safe from powerheads. Adjust your photo-period, and just give it time.

 

[-BlackJack-]

If it goes behind rocks again, let it do so (as long as you can check on it). They often hide to recouperate and regenerate. Both my anems went into hiding when they first went into my tank. Nothing unusual. They'll come out when they need light or food, then they'll work on finding the spot with the best conditions for light/food/flow.

Feeding: Silverside, krill, etc. Just make sure the pieces are small enough to fit into it's mouth. The mouth will stretch a little, but in anycase, make sure the piece is no more than twice the size of the closed mouth at first. I have a new GBTA that is about 2-3 inches. I feed it a slice of silverside no bigger than 1/4" square.

Here's a great site for overall care, behavior, and conditions for most anemones, though Karen is partial to BTA's.
http://www.karensroseanemones.com/

 

[Mike31154]

Those bubbletips look magnificent in the photos, if a little bleached. The base looks to be in good shape. I've had a GBTA for just over a year and although the tentacles are currently fairly straight, mine looked a lot like yours when I first introduced it into the tank. As it acclimated and grew, the bubble tips disappeared. Looks to me like your RBTA will be fine. The fact that it's got the energy to move so much and you haven't observed the mouth gaping (or have you?) bodes well for it's future in your tank.

 

[90sShooter]

Thanks for the reassurance! I found a possible cause for the deflated tentacles... Today as I did a water change, I found a little peice of the anemone in the tubing that pumps to my HOB fuge. In the pictures, the grey pump is the pump to that tubing. So it appears it may have gotten too close and a peice of it got sucked in. Atleast he escaped, and now has moved to the center of the tank under a overhang of rock. If he was to stay there (very unlikely) I would be stoked!

As far as his body, he does not look better or worse today, so I guess I will just give it time...

Thanks for all the help so far!

 

[90sShooter]

*Update*

He seems to be doing MUCH better! He is eating on a daily basis and has not moved in over a week so it looks like he found his home for now...

Here is a pic I took today... He is still very bleached but looking much happier...

 

[klepto]

good to see him start to recover there.
One piece of advice that I will lend: break up the pieces of fish to small chunks~ although they will grab a huge piece and expand to swallow it, in my opinion it is better (just like with clowns) to feed them smaller feedings- regularly. (most people go with silversides- but im sure the fish you bought and the scallop are also great options).

dont forget to give him a chance do digest stuff and then crap it right back out it's mouth- cnidarians such as your anenome lack a true anus. this is another reason i prefer not to throw large chunks of food that wont really get utilized and then have to get forced back out.

just my thoughts.

Hope he continues to recover- good work on saving it from your 'fellow reefer'- had you not gotten it into your tank when you did I doubt it would have made it. Looks like you can already see some zooxanthelle recovering!

what kind of skimmer are you rocking?

 

[90sShooter]

Thanks Klepto for the advice, I try to cut very small peices (probable about the size of a zoanthid) and feed him daily with the fish. Like you said, small portions regularly. Atleast for now while he is recovering...

As for a skimmer, my setup is pretty simple... I have no sump, only a HOB Fuge and a Remora HOB skimmer... It seems to be OK, but not excellent...

Thanks again for the feedback!