RBTA Hiding

[BCWolfen]

My RBAT who has been in the tank for almost 2 weeks now decided to move yesterday. He had been sitting right up front wedged into a nice cozy little crevice. Now hes circled in behind and under some rocks. Where he is now I can not reach to feed him. Should I be worred about him, or give it a few days and see if he moves somewhere else?

[danny zubot]

I wouldn't worry about it. mine was one the move for about 2 weeks a whil ago. Everytime I'd change the flow or rockwork slightly it would move around. I rarely ever feed mine so don't worry about not being able to feed it. It will settle down in time, just watch out for othe corals that might get in its way when its on the move.

[OCDP]

Heh, I must be lucky or something when it comes to anemones and wandering. Each one I have owned has generally stayed put and does not move. When I first got my RBTA it wandered around a bit...

Couldn't have put it any better than Danny did really. Don't worry, IME BTA's are extremely hardy. I haven't had one loss in the 6 I have kept...

Keep us updated!

[DanG]

over feeding is one of the biggest causes of bta's dying, along with poor lighting and powerhead incidents. As was said, let it do it's thing for a while. Have you changed anything in the tank? Lights, flow?

[blood_hound]

My RBTA is in hidding too it move and went out of the rock for couple of months now. Now my clown fish has to stick his body on the rocks just to cuddle up his RTBA

[rickjames]

Don't worry, they will hide under the rocks periodically and move their bodies into the light when they feel like it. Just feed it when it comes back out.

[OCDP]

Overfeeding wont so much put your RBTA into hiding, but will increase the chances of a split. If you happen to be feeding too much, this could be why he's hiding (split)

I have had many of mine split as well.

I suppose you could ask yourself the most basic questions ...

Have you added/changed anything in your tank?
Are you overfeeding the anemone?
Water paramaters (which I am sure are good..)
What kind of light/flow was it in? Too much flow? Too much light? Or not enough, etc, etc.....
Clowns stressing the anemone?

FWIW, RBTA's tend to wander a lot more than the basic tan colored BTA's ... I am sure it will come out of hiding soon.

If overfeeding isn't the case.. how often/much do you feed it? Might just need a chunk of food !

[blood_hound]

Is the question for me? :biggrin: if it for me..

Lighting MH it moves there when i swithc to MH
Flow medium not to strong and not to weak.
Water parameter its all good i think since everythings fine hahahaa

Well feeding is the hardest thing to do.. I think i can only feed it succesfully once a month b'coz everytime i stick my hand inside the tank my clown bites me. and since I have a lot of shrimp in that tank everytime I put food in the RBTA in a few minutes I can see the shrimps is feasting on it :evil: :lol: even if the RBTA close over the food they will dig it out of my RBTA :evil: :evil:

Well anyway it still open up its tentacle out in the open from time to time but most of its body is inside the rocks...

[danny zubot]

Heh, I must be lucky or something when it comes to anemones and wandering. Each one I have owned has generally stayed put and does not move.
Thats because you had 6 in a 20 gallon tank! They had now where to go! :razz:

[OCDP]

All's I can say about shrimps and anemones... is that feeding becomes a huge challenge.... that's why I handed mine off to Danny.. I could NEVER feed my BTA because the shrimp would steal the food (even inside its mouth)

[OCDP]

Heh, I must be lucky or something when it comes to anemones and wandering. Each one I have owned has generally stayed put and does not move.
Thats because you had 6 in a 20 gallon tank! They had now where to go! :razz:

lol, they had plenty and plenty of moving space.. nice to have some free space now that I sold them all though. Those were nice, hardy BTA's.

[muck]

All's I can say about shrimps and anemones... is that feeding becomes a huge challenge....
If your smart about it its a piece of cake.
Just give your shrimp(s) a chunk of food first and they will scurry off to chow down on it.
Then feed your anemones and LPS without worrying about thieving shrimp(s). :mrgreen:

[OCDP]

Oh trust me, I tried it all... they will literally go into the anemones mouth after fully swallowing a piece of shrimp/silverside, whatever it may be... I could not win.

I would feed them before the anemones, but always they found a way to get it... so I gave up on 'em.

I want some sexy shrimp now.. that's what I am in search for.

[adidas]

i had trouble keeping my LTA from hhiding behind all the rocks... after a couple attempts at moving him, i finally eliminated any cracks he could squeeze through to the back... then he settled by a ledge where i can see him, he has stayed there ever since :biggrin:

[danny zubot]

All's I can say about shrimps and anemones... is that feeding becomes a huge challenge....

You think that was hard, try feeding a starfish with those shimp hangin' around. :mrgreen:

[OCDP]

hahaha danny! a starfish would be easy though! put a small tupperware container over him, stick the food under him and there ya go ! (i guess the same could work for an anemone though... :rolleyes: )

[danny zubot]

And there you have it! :lol: Which is also why my anemone doesn't get any special meals.

[BCWolfen]

Thanks for the responses. It would definately be overfeeding. I was giving a blob of brine out of the turkey baster each evening when I fed the fish. I was worried he wasn't getting enough. lol. I'll leave him be for a while and see what he does. Island Reefer sent me a great PM with tons of info as well. (thanks John)

As for the shrimp stealing. My Cleaner know the turkey baster and is right up on top of the rocks when its feeding time in the evening. He gets the first little squirt which keeps him happy whilst I feed everyone else.

[danny zubot]

Man this thread must have put out some kind of vibe. My RBTA went wandering again last night, and of course trmpled my digitata for the third time in as many months. :evil: I'm seriously thinking about gtting rid of that RBTA. : :mad:

[OCDP]

Hmm like I said.. FWIW, RBTA are known to wander .... I must be really lucky? (knock on wood) .

Don't get rid of it Danny... he'll settle down . They are worth it... once you feed them regularly, etc, they color up amazingly... mine stands out so much in my tank.

[danny zubot]

To tell you the truth I think water quality and lighting has more to do with it than available foods. I stirred up the tank a bit last night causing a decrease in light (cloudiness). I think adding another powerhead last week may have something to do with it as well. I'm just tired of arranging my corals based on what the RBTA wants.

[OCDP]

Oh I know it has much more to do than overfeeding, etc... they are animals without brains.. they react to enviromental changes only... therefore, change in water quality, change of lighting like you mentioned, or a change in water flow is enough to get one ticked off, and will obviously set out to find a better spot. BUT just from lots of reefers experience and from lots of reading I hear RBTA's like to wander in general. I have a friend with a 90g inwall, beautiful tank.... his rose is always on the move.

I suppose if yours doesn't settle down then yeah... it will have to go. It's not worth losing or damaging a bunch of your corals, right?

[Keana]

Hi all.

I have a rose bta that split a month ago or so. After splitting it went around back of the tank and out of the light. I have had this bta for 6 months and have done lots of research about them. All the research says they want lots of light. I have found this to be wrong, very wrong. Rose Bta dont like tons of light at all. Mine will move away from any strong light and prefers to be at the bottom of the tank. As I now understand them they are one of the least light loving of anemones. I learned this from a friend of mine.

The other thing that I have noticed is that they have a very very weak sting! I have had zinnia that lived next to my bta and touched it all day with neither being affected. I also worked for some pet stores and found that when I had to get one for a customer the bta's were easy. Any carpet anemone was like duct tape if they touched me. They have a sting....... With that in mind, I don't care if my rose bta moves around. The sting is not going to hurt anyone from what I can tell and I can always move it if needed.

This is just my experience with them,
Keana

[BCWolfen]

Jus an update. My RBTA moved out of teh darkness and up out into teh light a little further. He is now accessable to be fed and seems quite happy and content.

[rickjames]

Rose Bta dont like tons of light at all.

Mine sits at in a crevice at the top of a rock pile about 10" directly under a 400W Radium bulb. Every morning it stretches its body directly into the light. So I wouldn't say they don't like tons of light, but they can be kept with less light then other anemones.

As for feeding, I usually feed mine every 1-2 weeks, seems fine with that amount.

[danny zubot]

I believe its ther tenticles that appriciate the light, but they will usually want their foot hidden under rocks and in cracks.

[BCWolfen]

Today mine moved up even higher out of the hole and is now in full light again. I'd say about half way down in my 90. He seems happy and the clown is visiting hum more often again.