stupid batfish has been eating my giant LTA. will LTA recover?

[jacobzking]

i bought an orbic batfish from my LTA who advised me that these are peaceful and wouldnt have any compatibility issues with my tank.

my wife today noticed the batfish picking at my 14" LTA, after close examination, a LOT of its tentacles are either completely missing (just small holes left on stubs) or half eaten.

I'm assuming this otherwise healthy LTA will survive, correct? but will the tentacles grow back?

PS: after noticing the issue, I immediately removed the batfish from the tank

 

[ogiler]

If you keep it happy it will recover.

 

[Captainfester]

+1. Nems are great at regeneration. It will take awhile though.

 

[SC Reefaholic]

From my experience the foot is the key with LTAs. If the foot gets damaged then your chances go WAY down. But if the foot is ok and the damage is just to the tenticles then keep it fed and keep your water quality good and it should be fine in time.

 

[ct_vol]

Whomever advised you that a batfish was ok with your anemone is an idiot, or rather ignorant... Read the Overview...

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+22+51&pcatid=51&siteid=21&

I bet they didn't tell you how large they got either...

 

[Toddrtrex]

Whomever advised you that a batfish was ok with your anemone is an idiot, or rather ignorant... Read the Overview...

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=15+22+51&pcatid=51&siteid=21&

I bet they didn't tell you how large they got either...

Yep, so easy to see,

Not a good reef dweller, it will eat many types of sessile invertebrates including corals and anemones.

And the bat fish isn't being "stupid", it is doing what it would normally do.

It has a chance to recover, if you REMOVE the batfish. And if memory serves this anemone has already been severely stressed, so it does have an uphill battle.

 

[Toddrtrex]

And please tell me that this info isn't still correct,

its a 300gal tank with a relatively low bioload. i do have a decent sized banded cat shark (26'), a small cortez ray, large regal tang, med true perc clown, sand sifting starfish, large LTA and 2 small bubble nems.

i do have a small skimmer; reef octo 100ss rated for 90gal, but it is keeping my nitrates low. again, i have a pretty small bioload for that big of a tank

 

[jacobzking]

And please tell me that this info isn't still correct,

pretty much, but i added a 2nd reef octo bh1000, one for each side basically. and my LTA has been very healthy for a while, so i'm sure it'll do fine. the stupid batfish has already been removed.

 

[Toddrtrex]

What lights do you have over that tank?

 

[SkullV]

What lights do you have over that tank?

He's got halides over this one.

 

[Toddrtrex]

He's got halides over this one.

That is better, but without know how many and what wattage (( it is a 300 gallon tank )), can't say if that is enough or not.

 

[SkullV]

That is better, but without know how many and what wattage (( it is a 300 gallon tank )), can't say if that is enough or not.

I want to say it was 3 bulbs at 150w each (low end of safe).

 

[jacobzking]

I want to say it was 3 bulbs at 150w each (low end of safe).

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup: