Anenome Question

[seadooer21]

I got a bubble anenome yesterday. I got him in the tank and put him in a rock where we wanted him. I turned the filter off so he could attach. fter several hours I thought that he was ok and turned the filter back on. Several hours later he till seemed ok. The next morning he was not where we had him. He was down on a bottom rock right next to my green plate coral. He was very small. I moved him back to the orig. spot we had him, turned the filter off again but he i not attaching. What is wrong?? What do I do??
I hope that some one can help me. I am very new to all of this.
Candy

[Beverly]

Candy,

Did you turn off all the water movement in your tank when you first got your BTA?

[seadooer21]

Beverly
yes... I turned off the water flow. He just moved again. I hope he will stay there. How long can I leave the water flow off with out problems to the tank???
Candy

[Beverly]

Personally, I would leave the water flow on at all times, except perhaps when feeding the BTA, or doing water changes.

If the water flow is too great for the BTA, it will move. If you want the BTA in a particular location, reduce water flow there, but prepare for it to move if it still doesn't like the location.

It can take weeks of adjusting water flow so an anemone will be happy in the location you like, and the anemone will move to where it likes it in the tank.

[seadooer21]

Well, My anenome finelly attached to a rock and he is moving around the tank. But he is against the tank glass. I don't really want him there because I don't think he will be able to open all the way. How do you move them????

Candy

[OCDP]

If this is your first anemone. I would personally leave it be. Moving them will only make it more angry and make it want to move around the tank. Because they have no brains/eyes, etc.. any kind of irritation or stress will only cause it to move more to find a spot where it can be left alone and where it receives proper light and flow.

However, if done very carefully.. they can be moved (you take the risk of it moving around on you even more though) You want to very gently pry the foot (the base that sticks to the glass/rock) And pry it off very slowly and very carefully. After doing so.. I would find a nice crack in the rockwork to place him and in an area there is good light, and moderate flow. If this isn't possible I personally would adjust flow and rocks to accomodate (sp?) the anemone. I have always had good luck with my anemones not moving. I simply pick out a spot in advance where I think there is a nice crack it would like to suck himself into, receiving a good amount of light ,and a gentle flow. Only one of the MANY I have kept decided to move around on me.

Sorry for the long post, good luck. And be careful if you decide to move it!

[Beverly]

Candy,

Before replying further, I would like to know more about your tank...

- what are the tank's dimensions?
- what kind of light do you have?
- what do you use for water movement and where is it/are they located in the tank?
- can you move the powerheads or whatever you use for water movement?

I have pried my BTAs off the rock, but it takes a long freaking time to do that. And I'm ALWAYS afraid of hurting the foot when doing so.

An even slower way of making an anemone move is to increase the water movement in the spot where your anemone is and making sure water movement where you want the anemone to be is lower.

Our first GBTA took at least six weeks of water movement experimentation to get the anemone in the place we wanted it with the right amount of water movement. It was frustrating, to say the least. However, I did learn a lot about the water movement requirements of that GBTA, so I chalk it up as a (long) learning experience

When we got our RBTA for our other tank, I had a pretty good idea where to put it in relation to the water movement issue. I was pretty close, too, as the RBTA only moved a few inches up toward the light and into slightly more water flow