BTA out of place!

[itchy]

My BTA attached its foot in the middle of my sun polyps....any ideas on how to get it to move? During the day it seems to be as happy as can be the minute the lights go out it is on the prowl. Can anyone help???

 

[schadiest1]

sorry to say, but anemones will go where they please... you can move him by hand, but he'll just go where he wants.

 

[bigb]

It obviously likes that spot in your tank. Move the polyps if possible. He will then most probably move on.

 

[itchy]

Well here is the thing...I can not move the polyps because they are attached to the rock..I know anemones go where they would like. What I wanted to know was is there a safe way to move the BTA with out injuring the foot. Literally he is dead smack in the middle of a huge colony of polyps. The BTA tends to prowl at night so I guess I will wait and see what happens after lights are out tonight. I only hope what is under his foot survives.

 

[dory36]

My BTA has been on the move now for a couple of weeks. I'm constantly moving corals out of his way since he's already killed two and damaged some others. Good thing I'm home all day during the summer so I can keep an eye on him. One thing that seems to help is to nudge him with a pair of tongs. This sort of gets him out of the way so I can safely move my corals. But, if yours is actually on top of your polyps, you're probably not going to be able to move him. I'd wait until your lights go out tonight and see if he moves.

 

[ophiura]

The only other thing you can do is make it uncomfortable to be there, such as directing a bit of current at it.

 

[itchy]

thanks Dory, I love these anemones but right now I am not real fond of it. I will have to try and take a pic so everyone can see just how in the MIDDLE the BTA planted itself into my polyps. I was planning on fragging these polyps because there were so many of them but I think my BTA may have just fixed that issue for me...Looks like I am at the will of the anemone today.....

 

[am3gross05]

try moving the rock to another part of the tank. anemones like to go where the light is at and if you move the rock to where there is not as much light maybe he will move.

 

[itchy]

Thanks for all the info....I couldn't get him to move all day yesterday. I tried high flow and turned the lights out. Well sometime during the night he moved...and YEP he moved right to the filter intake.... . I managed to get him out intact however I did notice a small tare in the foot. The BTA is on the move again trying to find it a nice spot...now my question is will the tare repair itself? I will keep an eye on it and make sure it does well and any sign of dying the BTA will have to go. :notsure:

 

[dory36]

Hey, Itchy! My BTA mowed over my bubble coral last night on his travels and he killed half of it!

Keep an eye on the tear in his foot. I'm sure it'll be fine. The owner of my lfs told me that he had one split completely in half in a powerhead and it lived. :notsure:

 

[itchy]

thanks Dory...sorry to hear about the bubble coral. I guess if we plan on keeping these THINGS we have to expect a loss or a battle occasionally. I have had great success with other items that some have had complete tragedy out of so I guess I am getting my come around from this BTA. lol After I got him out of the intake he hid under some rocks but is fully open and sticking his tenticles out as to say "I am just checking things out before I sucked somewhere again" ....lol

 

[dory36]

I took my BTA back to my lfs tonight!

I hated to do it, but he just wouldn't behave himself! My poor clownfish is hanging out in the top right hand corner of the tank. I pushed my magnetic cleaner next to him...he used to host it! How's your BTA doing, Itchy?

 

[itchy]

Well since the episode with the filter intake he is behaving rather well. In the same spot now for about a day and a half. Today is another day so we will see. My lfs here wont take anything back, so if you buy it your stuck with it....no quarantees nothing. That is why I buy most of my stuff online.
Sorry you had to take yours back but it is really not worth losing other corals over, I woke up in the middle of the night to see what the hell my BTA was doing.....lol. Thats not good!!!! :sleepy:

 

[dory36]

Itchy...I was so worried about my clown Bozo missing his BTA. I found him checking out my torch coral tonight after the lights went out!

:jumping: :cheer: