Straying RBTA

[yellowfin tuna]

oh no.... city of angels... so sorry to hear the demise of ur rbta......

dun wori..... try to put a comb at ur overflow.... then get a new rbta.... if not ur clown will feel insecure without the anemone.....

[andylee]

I'm sorry to hear about that.. my condolences..

Cheer up sis

[May&Bruce]

awwwwwww...sorry to hear that cityofangels

[...rushes off to check that our BTA can not go down the gurgler too....]

[cityofangels]

Circus Tank: I do regular water changes and at the moment, I do have carbon & phosguard in my sump. I don't think the carbon would have prevent this accident.

yellowfin tuna: I do have sponge at the top of my overflow, before it goes into the sump so I simply have no idea how it went down my overflow. The sponge on top is basically suicide prevention for little fishies. However, I guess it wasn't enough to stop the RBTA from going down the overflow. And my Golden Maroon does seem a little lost, swimming up & down the tank, looking for the anemone.

andylee & May&Bruce: Many thanks for your condolences!

[Flame-Tail]

Wah what hapened??? How did it manage that? the hole of the piping is sooooo tiny.

It's ok will keep a lookout for you for an anemone if you interested.

If you need help with water change.. let me know k.

Cheer up.

[cityofangels]

Flame-Tail: Yeah.. Think my anemone really wanted to commit suicide. I've already done my water change last night. 1 whole tub!

[Flame-Tail]

Flame-Tail: Yeah.. Think my anemone really wanted to commit suicide. I've already done my water change last night. 1 whole tub!

That's good. If need any help let me know. I'll call you tonight. got some stuff to pass you. It's at my place already. Will call you when i'm home.

[fishtalk1517]

the red beauty up heaven liao.... Its a nice piece to own... don't take it too hard... will help u look out for another beauty to hse ur clown

[cityofangels]

the red beauty up heaven liao.... Its a nice piece to own... don't take it too hard... will help u look out for another beauty to hse ur clown

Yeah.. Really heartache..

[May&Bruce]

my son just called me to tell me that our anemone was half way down the overflow!!! What is it - anemone suicide time or what? He has pulled it out but doesn't know whether it will survive.

This is the third time that I have tried to keep an anemone, and as much as I like them (and my clowns love them), i think this time NO MORE.

[May&Bruce]

My wife (the 'May' in our name) has just got home and after some mouth to mouth resuscitation, the anemone looks more or less ok so she is trying to plant it back on the rock. Looks like tonight's DIY job will be to build a strong strainer to go over the overflow, to stop anything big from going down.

Now I know why so many ppl and reference books advise not to keep anemones...

[cityofangels]

May&Bruce: Omigod! I hope your anemone survives the ordeal! I think the anemones are communicating through telepathy in a mass suicide attempt. In the mean time, it would be best to quarantine your anemone. If it does spew out toxics, at least it won't contaminate the rest of your tank.

[May&Bruce]

cityofangels.....yes, maybe it is the phase of the moon or something....lol. Will inspect him when I get home and quarantine him if necessary. Wife wants me to get rid of him, but...

[andylee]

Think i shld faster go home and check on my anemones also

[May&Bruce]

morning update.....my anemone has stayed put over night on its rock in the middle of the tank, and appears to be ok, except he would not eat any market prawn this morning.

Last night I built a cover for the over flow using that plastic egg crate tile stuff. Now there is no way that the anemone can escape down the overflow.

[cityofangels]

May&Bruce: Glad to know that your anemone is on the road to recovery. However, about your egg-crate, did you use it to cover the top of the overflow? I actually did the same thing with a piece of sponge too but my anemone still manage to go down to my sump.

[May&Bruce]

cityofangels...yes we used to have just sponge too, but now I have used the egg crate and tied it to a pipe support that goes down to the bottom of the tank (in the overflow. There is no way he can move it. Will try and take a pic later tonight.

[slcw]

I have a RBTA and it has been with me for 3mths. Lately, it has begun to stray around the tank, hence creating havoc.

I have read about the lighting, feeding & water flow requirements of anemones. My blue FL lights are on for 10 hours daily and my MH lights 4-5 hours daily. I feed it regularly (once in 2-3 days) with a variety of white bait, mysid shrimps and market prawn.

The position in which it stayed for about 2.5mths has medium water flow.

My water parameters:

Ammonia 0 ppm

Nitrite 0ppm

Nitrate 10-15ppm

SG 1.023-1.024

Any reason why it is straying now? As far as I know, none of the other fishes in my tank are disturbing or pecking at it. My Golden Maroon is the only fish that even goes near it. I'm quite relectant to part with my RBTA as it's been the only anemone which my Golden Maroon will happily host in.

Hope you guys can help! Many thanks in advance!

hello everyone,

glad that maverick77 and dreamzcape remember what i shared.

first at foremost the number of hrs u switch on the MH is not sufficient. extending the photoperiod to 10hrs would better.

when anemones move is either :

1) something u add recently (LR or coral) is blocking the water flow,

2) it identified a stronger light source like the window near the tank,

generally it is the above, of course it is not limited to the above.

Identifying a location where the BTA gets the most light and providing sufficient water circulation in and around the anemone is vital to their capavity needs. There is my general rule of thumb. with that anemones r happy and has no reason to move. However, all said and done, there are instances when all possible actions have taken yet u have a wandering anemone.

such circumstances must be rectified asap, a moving anemone as u guys have mention has manifold effects on other corals and not to mention stress to themselves. how to? again the 1 and 2 above. (yup, easier said than done )

surrounding BTA in an island (since BTA are known to dislike sand) is a sugestion to prevent anemones to move. However, moving over sand or LR is what we observe in anemones. But in the nature, anemones can be suspended in the water and uses something like a locomotion to "swim" in the ocean.

cheers

[May&Bruce]

well, the egg crate stopped our anemone from going down the overflow, but now the anemone can sit on the egg crate and block the water flow!

Which it did yesterday, causing the tank to overflow, water to drip down onto the power outlet and causing the fuse to trip.....

As much as I do not want to, I have to give it away as it is just too troublesome

[cityofangels]

10 hours of MH??? Omigod........ Think my electricity bill is going to sky-rocket!

[dreamzcape]

glad that maverick77 and dreamzcape remember what i shared. 

lol..definitely remember such invaluable nuggets of knowledge. unfortunately memory not good enough to remember all the names so can't give due credit.

COA, really sad to read about the demise of your lovely specimen. The thought o losing something that beautiful must definitely be painful and you've my condolences.

Hopefully the rest of the tank inhabitants aren't too affected by any spikes.

Perhaps if you choose to keep another one, you might wanna try to remember your late RBTAs fave hangout spots, check out the current and lighting for those areas, choose suitable area with similar lighting and modify currents.

For my current anemone i did some character profiling and then modified some landscaping and current to suit it, all abit of agaration. Keeping it in a 1.5 feet so playing lego with my liverocks is a simple thing. Another thing i noticed for my normal bta is that once it anchored itself to a hole in a small rock, it became less picky about current and lighting(not to mean depriving it totally but it felt less need to move even when there was direct current blowing at it. Maybe it's a security thing, once they feel they have proper anchor, the tendency to wander drops greatly.

K enough rambling, condolences again COA

[slcw]

Another thing i noticed for my normal bta is that once it anchored itself to a hole in a small rock, it became less picky about current and lighting(not to mean depriving it totally but it felt less need to move even when there was direct current blowing at it. Maybe it's a security thing, once they feel they have proper anchor, the tendency to wander drops greatly.

i feel the same too on this topic.

currently i have 4 bta in my tank.

3 green. and the greens are definitely exhibiting that.

[Maverick77]

How abr Rose BTA? Interested in keep one but currently rockscape not enuf space for it... Now hearing so much straying for this species... dun think I dare to try...

[slcw]

How abr Rose BTA? Interested in keep one but currently rockscape not enuf space for it... Now hearing so much straying for this species... dun think I dare to try...

the same....

i have been feeding my anemones more recently to see if the long tentacles will reduce and once regain its tips....