BTA, is he ok?

[azfishgal]

OK, I bought this green BTA a few days ago and he has been moving around a little bit trying to find a place to stay. He has gone inside of the little cave, completely, yesterday. I wasn't even able to see any of the tentacles. Well, now he's trying to go to the top of this rock, but he's not letting go of his foot. This looks painful to me. I'd give him a helping hand, but I'm afraid of pulling on him. I can't get down inside that little hole to ease him off. Will he be ok?

 

[mach03infront]

what type of lighting from where you got him might not be as strong as yours just give it time.... did you try and feed it let?

 

[kingfish8302]

hey congrads on the bta! I would justlet him be for a while. Messing with mite stress him out even more. Bta's do all kinds of things that look painful but they keep doing. If its painful they'll start to stress then you can give them a helping hand.

You were just like me when i got my first gbta a few months ago.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by Mach03InFront
what type of lighting from where you got him might not be as strong as yours just give it time.... did you try and feed it let?
Well he was under flourescents at the lfs, but now he's under 250W 14K MHs. I did put him in a lower lighted area, because he was not under MHs at the lfs, but seems he's liking the light and trying to get to it. I just don't understand why he won't let go and keep moving up the rock. It's like he's trying to, but his foot is holding him back.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by kingfish8302
hey congrads on the bta! I would justlet him be for a while. Messing with mite stress him out even more. Bta's do all kinds of things that look painful but they keep doing. If its painful they'll start to stress then you can give them a helping hand.

You were just like me when i got my first gbta a few months ago.
Just call me a mother hen.

He doesn't seem stressed, just s t r e t c h e d.

 

[kingfish8302]

Originally Posted by azfishgal
Just call me a mother hen.

He doesn't seem stressed, just s t r e t c h e d.

. At night when my lights turn off and the moon lights turn on he starts strectching and then goes back to normal after a while. He also does during the day once in a while. Still have no clue why.

 

[azfishgal]

Well he has come back down next to the cave opening and I had to move my fuzzy mushroom, again, so he wouldn't touch it. I wish he would pick a place and stay there.

I read on another thread that anemones are not exactly reef safe. Is that true?

 

[kingfish8302]

Their only reef safe if they dont move and stay in one spot. If they are moving around they sting the corals as it's moving. So far mine has never move from the spot i first picked

.
Oh by the way check out my dairy again i got my first corals from the lfs. There only frags but $5 each on a large piece of lr. One is a frag of 3 polyps zoos and another with 2 shrooms.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by kingfish8302
Their only reef safe if they dont move and stay in one spot. If they are moving around they sting the corals as it's moving. So far mine has never move from the spot i first picked

.
Well, aren't you lucky!

 

[tangwhispr]

to get him off a rock, direct a powerhead where he is attached, a small airpimp will work better tho.

 

[perfectdark]

Dont move it.... a torn foot of an anenome can and most likley will kill it.. they can stand a torn tenticle or 2 or 5...but not a torn foot. If he was under PC's at the LFS and now is under MH's he will need to get acclimated to them. BTA's dont require a ton of light, in fact they shy away from light that is too strong. He is doing just fine by the looks of your pics, they are mobile animals and they will move to where they are happy. As long as its eating and has good color it is fine. If it doesnt bubble up dont worry some never do and its not an indication of an unhealthy anenome. The only issue you may run into is it moving around some of your corals.. they dont play nice with others.

 

[scsinet]

My BTAs do this all the time. He looks like he has good color and his tentacles look just right. I wouldn't worry a bit. They survive in the wild without our "help."

 

[kingfish8302]

hey azfishgal what color does your bta look under the moon lights?

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by kingfish8302
hey azfishgal what color does your bta look under the moon lights?
Well, I don't have moon lights yet, but now that I have my MHs on for seven hours I'm going to take out my 10K T5s and only run my actinics when the MHs are not on. Tomorrow will be my first time doing this, so I'll have to report back. Under normal MHs it's green with pink tips.
Right now I can't see him though, he's back inside the cave. He doesn't seem to shy away from the lights at all, the exact opposite. When they are on the gets real big and stretches out like you see above. Then when they go off he goes back into his cave. I just wish he would make up his mind, because I have to keep moving my fuzzy mushroom so he won't sting it.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by PerfectDark
If it doesnt bubble up dont worry some never do and its not an indication of an unhealthy anenome. The only issue you may run into is it moving around some of your corals.. they dont play nice with others.
I was wondering about this, because he's not bubbled up that much. Also, what's the best thing to feed it. I gave him some mysis shrimp today and he did eat, but I was thinking he needs something larger. Oh, is it normal for them to eat cleaner shrimp skeletons? I noticed he had antenna in his mouth. (Both shrimps were accounted for, so it wasn't the actual shrimp.)

 

[zoiescout]

My rbta eats krill and silversides.

 

[perfectdark]

Originally Posted by azfishgal
I was wondering about this, because he's not bubbled up that much. Also, what's the best thing to feed it. I gave him some mysis shrimp today and he did eat, but I was thinking he needs something larger. Oh, is it normal for them to eat cleaner shrimp skeletons? I noticed he had antenna in his mouth. (Both shrimps were accounted for, so it wasn't the actual shrimp.)

You can feed it any raw fish... Shrimp, clams, silversides...etc. you name it. Depending on the size of the animal will determine how big of a piece. My RBTA is finiky it wont eat silversides for some reason, it will grab it and pull it in but 2 minutes later it unfolds and drops it. But if I offer it a chunk of clam it gobbles it right up. The Exoskeleton of a shrimp is consumed by my inverts all the time, my anenome and my hermits all seem to look forward to it. Go figure.

 

[reef diver]

BTA's like crivices, and will put the foot DEEP into the rockwork, believeing it hidden, and stretch out, yes it looks painful, but then again, a BTA has no bones.