Clown and Mandarin stealing food from rbta...

mike31154 · #1 07-26-2011, 04:49 AM

Hmmm, I can see the clownfish getting away with grabbing food, but the mandarin should be getting stung no? How long have you had the RBTA? I can recall when my GBTA was added that it took a while for the tentacles to get really sticky and a cleaner shrimp would steal bits of Silverside from it. A few months later after it completely acclimated, coloured up and grew a bit, nothing other than my Maroons could touch it since the tentacles are too sticky & stingy. Once in a while a large Mithrax crab I have tries, but it gets stung and soon gives up.

dc4 · #2 07-26-2011, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154

Hmmm, I can see the clownfish getting away with grabbing food, but the mandarin should be getting stung no? How long have you had the RBTA? I can recall when my GBTA was added that it took a while for the tentacles to get really sticky and a cleaner shrimp would steal bits of Silverside from it. A few months later after it completely acclimated, coloured up and grew a bit, nothing other than my Maroons could touch it since the tentacles are too sticky & stingy. Once in a while a large Mithrax crab I have tries, but it gets stung and soon gives up.

Im not sure what the mandarin was thinking but the rbta was already mostly closed by the time I saw it sucking out the worms from it and Im guessing it didnt get stung as it went for seconds and thirds... I have only had the the rbta for about 2 weeks so it is still seems to be pretty skittish, I tried feeding it larger foods before and it would just suck in and close up.

mike31154 · #3 07-26-2011, 05:09 AM

Sounds like it needs a little more time to strengthen up & get good & sticky. I'm sure it'll be fine after a few more weeks. Is your clownfish hosting in it yet, or just stealing food? How's your lighting, sufficient for BTA? They're not the most demanding anemones as far as lighting, but it does need to be fairly good.

dc4 · #4 07-26-2011, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mike31154

Sounds like it needs a little more time to strengthen up & get good & sticky. I'm sure it'll be fine after a few more weeks. Is your clownfish hosting in it yet, or just stealing food? How's your lighting, sufficient for BTA? They're not the most demanding anemones as far as lighting, but it does need to be fairly good.

The clowns have really no interest in it yet as its still pretty small and when I bought it at the lfs, it was not looking that great. When I got it home, I was acclimating it and it instantly looked better, every tip was bubbled and it looked great, I bought a nice piece of live rock from the lfs with good holes in it to make sure it had a good place to set its foot. This was the first time I have witnessed the fish stealing food but I have seen my rbta fully retracted at least once a day so I know that something in the tank was bothering it. I have it on the right side of my tank and am hoping it stays there as I decided to leave it there to grow and nothing else in the area to bother it. Once it starts to grow, Im hoping my clowns will host in it as the female is starting to rub against my torch as its bigger than the rbta. Im running 150w Phoenix 14k mh and 2x 14w actinics and when not bothered, the rbta is always bubbled and from what I have read, it means the rbta has enough light.

George · #5 07-26-2011, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dc4

... Im running 150w Phoenix 14k mh and 2x 14w actinics and when not bothered, the rbta is always bubbled and from what I have read, it means the rbta has enough light.

I have kept and read about BTA for over 10 years and I have never seen any solid evidence that bubbles in BTA are related to light.

dc4 · #6 07-26-2011, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by George

I have kept and read about BTA for over 10 years and I have never seen any solid evidence that bubbles in BTA are related to light.

All I know for sure is that when I bought it at the lfs, and it was not as bright as my tank and it did not have its tentacles bubbled. When I was floating it in the tank at home, all the tentacles became bubbled and have stayed bubbled since.