Please Please Help me

nolson

Member
To be honest with you the tank it was in was a peice of crap. It was stuck in a little critter carrier floating on the water.... Its been there for 1 week and would never open up.. Most of the lights on the tank were burnt out and the only ones that were on was an actinic bulb looked like VHO There were no daylight bulbs. It looked like it was in bad shape but I found out that it was an RBTA so I had to get it ya know besides that it already looks a ton better than it did earlier... Do you think thats why it was bleached? will the color come back?
 
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thomas712

Guest
Looks like an RBTA, time will tell.
I would try feeding it twice a week, say three or four days apart, make sure that the food is finely chopped so that it will have no trouble taking it into is mouth. Watch out for shrimp that like to steal the food right from the anemone, like the peppermint shrimp - there little bandits.
We are bouncing around on threads here

Your lighting is a little week for BTA's, personally I would like to see higher wattage myself. I have 380 watts which I also consider on the week side. I have raised my BTA's with this light from just a single Parent, I now have 8 of them. But they are not truly thriving like I would like them to. They only get so big then split. I would prefer 440 watts or a MH/VHO setup to truly make them grow and thrive well.
Thomas
 

nolson

Member
4.4827586206896551724137931034483 = my watts per gallon
4.2222222222222222222222222222222 = your watts
So im ok for right now right??
Will its color come back?
 

wannabfish

Member
I could be wrong, maybe im looking at the picture wrong or something, but i disagree. I dont believe that rbta in the pic was bleached. looks pretty normal to me.
 
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thomas712

Guest
I know, I know, however Watts per gallon is a rather lousey rule of thumb here in regards to anemonies. I believe mine survive do to there being in the upper third of my aquarium. I have five on one rock that just never seem to move. These are getting much more punch on the par value of my lights.
I am also running VHO 2 - 12,000k super actinic and 2 - actinic bulbs.
Now I said that I would like to see them thrive better and to do that they would truly need more lights. Thats yours and mine.
Now I'm no expert on par value but your 130 watts would have less par value than my 380 watts. In my case they become much less effective at about 12 inches deep in my aquarium which is 24 inches deep. I'm not sure about your PC's. In my humble opinion corals love the 420nm of the blue actinic bulb of which I have 190 watts in those two blubs, add to that the super actinic 50/50's.
To make this shorter with my BTA's being in the upper 1/3rd of the tank they are enjoying almost all of the 380 watts, this is why I have been successful with them. I simply wish you the same luck.
With regards to lighting more is usually better, par value is more than half the battle, water clarity is also important for light penitration, water quality for health, skimmer for oxygenating the water.
Perhaps Bang or Kip can explain lighting better than I can, but 130 watts seems rather low to me.
All in all I think you are off to a fair chance at making him survive and healthy again. If possible I would plan (like I have been) on upgrading the lighting if possible. In your case lets start out by feeding 2 times per week and then after a month try 3 and see if there is a big difference.
BTA's and RBTA;s are one of the lesser light requiring anemonies. Lets hope that your sucess has been as good as mine has been.
Thomas
This is a pic just after two of them split, the two front ones are obvious, the two in the middle look like one still but are two, there is a fifth just to the left back of the rock.
 
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thomas712

Guest

Originally posted by wannabfish
I could be wrong, maybe im looking at the picture wrong or something, but i disagree. I dont believe that rbta in the pic was bleached. looks pretty normal to me.

Here is a pic of kpk's RBTA, this looks healthy to me. I use this just as an example. Thanks KPK
 
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thomas712

Guest
I took the liberty of merging these two threads together, hope you don't mind. :)
 

wannabfish

Member
very nice pic of a rtba thomas. But im gonna have to dissagree again with you on the lighting aspect of keeping any bta. although they are capable of autotrophic, they can and should also be fed to survive. I have seen many bta's shy away from mh lighting by climbing under shelves. In fact, many bta's become bleached from too strong of light. I have heard of some successful bta keepers preferring to have them in vho or pc light, but not so much as to have the bta not eat. they like to know the animal is being nourished properly with food. also, if the bta in his pic was bleached, wouldnt the tips be the more likely place for the bleaching to have occured? or is it normal for them to lose the pigment closer to the base?
 

bang guy

Moderator
Bleached = loss of zooxanthellae.
Zooxanthellae are brown so...
Bleached = loss of Brown, not a loss of pigment.
The anemone is definately very bleached but it should recover.
 
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