BTA eating clowns??? HELP!!!!

[marin8n]

My brother and I set up our 75gal reef early march. About two months after cycling the live rock and add a clean up crew, we purchased a pair of ocellaris (about 1.5"). Shortly after we decided to try a anemone hoping the clowns would take it as a host. We chose a rather large Green BTA, about 8-9" diameter when inflated. The clowns soon took to it well. Wake up one morning and we no longer have a pair, only one clown was to be found. No trace of the second one anywhere. So we replaced him. Not to long after, same thing, another clown dissapeared. This went of for a few months, we went through about half a dozen clowns, each dissapearing within a week or so. During this period of several months, my brother had been feeding the anemone krill, and it split twice in a few short months. Tragically I have now lost over half a dozen clowns, a goby, a Royal Gramma, and a Powder blue tang. All without a trace. The other night I noticed my last clown (about 2.5") dead and in the grasp of a emerald crab. Along with the crab, my peppermint shrimp, cleaner shrimp, and brittle star were all devouring the carcass. I find it hard to beleive any of those creatures would have killed the clown. My dad mentioned seeing the BTA swollen, appearing to have devoured something. Perhaps it stunned its pray, tried to devour them, and spit out the carcasses, that were quickly devoured by the cleanup crew. I have no clue. I have removed all three BTA's under the strong suspicion, but I have never heard of an BTA being aggressive towards fish, especially host clowns!!! Anybody have any ideas???? HELP!!!!!

 

[oceandream]

Is the one remaining clown aggressive? Maybe she is killing the other clowns.

 

[*bta*]

i have never heard of BTAs eating the clowns that host in them, maybe you have some kind of predator in your tank you havent seen, that could have been on the LR

 

[marin8n]

Now I'm down to zero clowns, but every time I had a pair, they were exactly the same size and species.

 

[marin8n]

I have 2 different species of pistol shrimp that I had paired with a mandarin goby and a randalls goby. The gobies have since disappeared, but I see the shrimp come out from their holes in the sand during feeding time.

 

[*bta*]

i doubt they were a pair if they were the same size unless one was a little bit bigger
small one = male
big one = female
maybe the anemone was so big that they both could live peacefully in it?

 

[wocka]

well if they were the same size they would fight to find dominance

 

[marin8n]

One thing that leads me to beleive it was not an aggressive clown, is when one of the pair would disappear. I would not add a clown to replace him for a few weeks, and the lone clown would disappear within a week or so as well.

 

[greenbananas87]

Originally posted by *BTA*
maybe you have some kind of predator in your tank you havent seen, that could have been on the LR
don't clowns host to escape these threats?

 

[marin8n]

and it seemed to be working fine, that's what leads me to beleive it was the BTA's that were eating the clowns. That, and the fact my brother was feeding the BTA rather large chunks of krill. The anemone did split twice in only 2 months, we quit feeding it after the first month. I thought maybe it was eating the clowns, mistaking them for a ball of krill, and thats where it was getting the energy to split so often. Any thoughts????

 

[wocka]

maybe ur clowns were so scared they ran in its mouth, ive read some kind of anemone on the internet than when the clown is really stressed in scared it will hide in the anemone mouth. i think it was something made up though

 

[sammyg]

How long after you added the clown pair (the very first time) did one disappear?
Is the same clown surviving, or do you just periodically lose one and replace it, and then the other dies after that?
Are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels under control?
Are all the other fish healthy? (i.e., is it only clowns that are dying?)
Have you ever seen a fish bully a fish that later died?
When your fish disappear, it probably means your crabs and shrimp just devoured it once it died, and you only caught them in the act once. It doesn't necessarily mean the anemone swallowed it whole.
It's hard for me to swallow (ha ha) that an anemone could eat a clown, since that seems contrary to nature. But I've never had an anemone, so I couldn't say for sure.

 

[thomas712]

Check for mantis shrimp

 

[marin8n]

Originally posted by SammyG
How long after you added the clown pair (the very first time) did one disappear?
Is the same clown surviving, or do you just periodically lose one and replace it, and then the other dies after that?
Are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels under control?
Are all the other fish healthy? (i.e., is it only clowns that are dying?)
Have you ever seen a fish bully a fish that later died?
When your fish disappear, it probably means your crabs and shrimp just devoured it once it died, and you only caught them in the act once. It doesn't necessarily mean the anemone swallowed it whole.
It's hard for me to swallow (ha ha) that an anemone could eat a clown, since that seems contrary to nature. But I've never had an anemone, so I couldn't say for sure.

1) about 1-2 weeks
2) It was NOT the same one surviving, If I didn't replace the missing one, the other would disappear within a week or so as well.
3) Ammonia 0, nitite 0, nitrate 20, pH 8.2, gravity 1.0225
4) my powder blue would bully new tankmates when they were first introduced, but it never attacked a clown. The disappearing clowns started before the powder blue came along anyways.
5) The only fish I have left now are my bicolor blennie and my yellow tang. I lost all those clowns, 2 gobies, a royal gramma, and my powder blue tang are all missing now.
I am going to set a bristle worm/mantis trap just on the chance it may be one of them I have never seen.

 

[yellowtail]

how is it going?

 

[marin8n]

I just got home from a vacation and I found my yellow tang missing it's eyes, gouged up dead, and stuck to the overflow. The person that was feeding them said he was fine the night before. Hmmm, better get that trap set soon!!!