What should I be feeding my BTA?

[cesau]

I purchased a BTA and a Maroon Clown together about 2-3 months ago. In the store, the BTA was about 8-10" in diameter and had nice full bulbs that sometimes would deflate just a touch and become long 3-4" tentacles.

The first day I had the anemone, the clown started to host in it immediately. I fed it some live brine shrimp. It took its tentacles and put the food it caught directly in its mouth. Two days later I tried to give it some frozen (well, unfrozen) Krill. Much to my surprise it almost immediately turned from its full pink/red color to a shriveled up green mess. At that point I really thought I killed it. It spewed out a bunch of white slime which was waste I'm guessing. It's size reduced by about 50%. After a few days its tenticles started to reinflate a little, but to this day, it hasnt looked the same as when I purchased it. The color comes close to the original color, but it's bulbs have never inflated and its tenticles have never gotten over a 1" length. Any further attempts to feed it after that point (for the last 2 months) have resulted in immediate deflating tentacles to where ever the food touches it. (Even the same live brine shrimp it happily ate at first). So far I have tried Krill, Brine shrimp (frozen and live), Blood worms, Kent Zooplex and Kent Micro-vert.

I know the clown fish feeds it waste and the like, but I've read that more often than not, anemones will slowly starve to death from owners not properly feeding them. Is there another food I can try? Is this behavior a sign of a bigger problem?

(Additionally, I have a 55 gallon aquarium with a 250watt MH light - tank has been cycled for almost a year)

Is it possible that the clown fish is just stressing it? Should I try isolating it for a while in a 10 gallon hospital tank?

 

[salt newbie01]

You might try feeding the anenome more meaty foods, the frozen mysis and brine shrimp do not have enough nutrients in them. Try silversides. Or you can buy whole raw shrimp at the grocery store - just thaw it in tank water, peel and feed. You may need to cut it in half depending on the size of your anenome. You can also put some vita life or other marine vitamin in the water while it is thawing to help add nutrients.
Hope this helps,

 

[phender]

It could be that the clown is stressing it. If you decide to isolate the anemone make sure you have good filtration, water movement and light in your isolation tank and cover all filter and/or powerhead intakes.

I hate to offer any diagnosis without knowing anything about your tank, but it is possible that it could be a water quality issue. You might want to run some carbon, if you don't already, to see if that helps. You also might try not feeding it for 2 weeks and see if it perks up on its own.

 

[cesau]

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

I do keep a mix of carbon and phosphate remover in a hangon filter. When I first setup the tank I had a problem with cyanobacteria and have kept mixing in phosphate remover with the carbon since that incidident, figuring it wouldnt hurt anything. I do also have a skimmer (not a great one, but a start - I think its a cyclone 150, or seaclone? something campy like that)

I'm still at a loss for the tactile response to food. I think I will try not feeding for a week or two and see how that goes. Further reading suggests that feeding an anenome once a week to once every two weeks would not be harmful. If theres still no sign of improvement I'll probably isolate it for a while to see if I can control some of the variables better (that and to keep a gellatinous mess from plaguing the tank).

 

[blface]

Mine also love silversides.

 

[cesau]

Just a follow up.

Thank you all for the suggestion of silversides, they definately did the trick. My BTA is back to its original size and seems very happy. I have been feeding it 1 sliced up minnow 2-3 times a week for about 3 weeks now. *whew*

 

[NeuroDoc]

Where does one buy silversides? Are they sold frozen?

 

[a4twenty]

my LFS doesn't carry silversides, so i give mine krill. he seems to like it and i don't worry about the preservatives found in store bought shrimp.

 

[Buster4900]

Silversides are sold frozen in most fish stores. Frozen Krill is another great food for BTA's.