I was feeding my new BTA a piece of silverside, and was using the tongs to fight off my pair of pacific cleaner shrimp, because this is one slow eating BTA. The clowns used to try and steal the food also, but I guess they figured out if their BTA doesn't eat....it won't be their BTA for long. So i'm fighting the shrimp, and along comes my Pseudochromis.....and swims right into the BTA looking for the food! The BTA wasn't giving it up, so the Pseudochromis swam away. Is the BTA able to "decide" who it's going to sting and eat, or was it busy with the silverside and the Pseudochromis just got lucky? I'm glad it worked out the way it did, because that Pseudochromis is one really cool fish.
That was strange...
- Thread starter macperry
- Start date
I asked a similar question once. When we moved our tanks from one house to another everyone freaked out and hid in the same corner - it just happened to be the corner our crispa's in. Our yellow watchman goby was there too, with quite a few tents. touching it, but didn't seem to be reacting. We gave it one last scare out of the corner and it was fine.
I was told that they really don't have the option to sting or not, the mechanism fires on contact. But here's what I think happened, and I could be totally off so take it for what it's worth.
I've noticed when our crispa stings/touches things the tentacles turn greenish and shrivel a bit. I don't know how long it takes for them to build up the nematocysts strong enough again, but I assume when the tentacle looks normal again they're on full power.
I wonder if, in your case, so many tents had already fired off nematocysts because it was eating (and has to fight off the occassional shrimp) that the fish got lucky and didn't hit too many, realized what kind of stupid thing it was doing and got out
I've noticed my bta's tentacles shrivel a little like the crispa when it's touching food, so I assume the same thing is happening with it too.
These are just the thoughts of a person that spends way too much time in front of her tanks, or in front of the computer trying to learn more about what's in her tanks, so take it for what it's worth, and wait for more opinions
Glad things turned out okay with your fish!
I was told that they really don't have the option to sting or not, the mechanism fires on contact. But here's what I think happened, and I could be totally off so take it for what it's worth.
I've noticed when our crispa stings/touches things the tentacles turn greenish and shrivel a bit. I don't know how long it takes for them to build up the nematocysts strong enough again, but I assume when the tentacle looks normal again they're on full power.
I wonder if, in your case, so many tents had already fired off nematocysts because it was eating (and has to fight off the occassional shrimp) that the fish got lucky and didn't hit too many, realized what kind of stupid thing it was doing and got out
I've noticed my bta's tentacles shrivel a little like the crispa when it's touching food, so I assume the same thing is happening with it too.
These are just the thoughts of a person that spends way too much time in front of her tanks, or in front of the computer trying to learn more about what's in her tanks, so take it for what it's worth, and wait for more opinions
Glad things turned out okay with your fish!
)...is swimming around just fine, so your theory might be right on. I hope he doesn't get in the habit of doing that...sooner or later he's gonna be dinner...Usually these guys know just how close they can safely get, obviously sometimes they miscalculate and we end up with missing fish.
I'm amazed at how closely my flame angel gets to the crispa. I've seen it swim by and touch the foot of the nem before! I guess they know where the most danger is.
This same fish thinks it's a treat if the nem spits out some of its food from the night before, it goes in as far as it can to pic the food from the nems mouth. Usually the clowns will end up chasing it out though. Sometimes I wonder if the nem is "baiting" other fish in for a meal, but that might be giving it too much credit
I'm amazed at how closely my flame angel gets to the crispa. I've seen it swim by and touch the foot of the nem before! I guess they know where the most danger is.
This same fish thinks it's a treat if the nem spits out some of its food from the night before, it goes in as far as it can to pic the food from the nems mouth. Usually the clowns will end up chasing it out though. Sometimes I wonder if the nem is "baiting" other fish in for a meal, but that might be giving it too much credit
