I left Patience behind and now it's getting even :mad:

[albert_dao]

So I picked up four (R)BTA's from work over the last two weeks and it has completely scewered my original plans for an SPS tank. These things are MASSIVE and have taken up pretty much all of the available space in my 25 gallon tank. Blast and damn.

So much for my vision of towering acro growth, mazes of bird's nest and towering monti's (har har har, yes, in a 25 gallon tank). Looks like it's back to the drawing board for another tank.

Anybody else do something like this? You have this master plan for an awesome theme tank and then something pops in at the store that you MUST HAVE RIGHT NOW. So you do the natural thing and buy it, throwing all your original ideas out the window.

You know what would solve this problem? A 25,000 tank in my basement.

[Delphinus]

4 anemones in a 25g?

I'm sorry but ... What were you thinking?

If you think it's full now .... let's wait six months or a year and see where things are at.

I have three BTA's in a 75g ... and that tank is too full of anemones.

Good luck

[Bob I]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

4 anemones in a 25g?

I'm sorry but ... What were you thinking?

If you think it's full now .... let's wait six months or a year and see where things are at.

I have three BTA's in a 75g ... and that tank is too full of anemones.

Good luck

To be fair though. At the store they were all clustered together on rocks. They get so close that a whole group of them look like one anemone. I did read that some BTA's like to cluster like that.

[Delphinus]

Well .... Just because they're OK clustered together at the store doesn't mean they should be for long-term, of course. The stores goals are temporary housings and turnover, not necessarily optimal long-term husbandry.

Ok, so odds are they were collected from a single colony, thus they're probably clonal siblings and it's probably not going to be an issue as far as them not getting along ...

But that's gotta be a full tank.

Albert, sorry, I don't mean to rain on your thread. I'm just thinking that you will probably have to get going on that bigger tank (I know all about that one ... I'm not one to talk) or you may need to pull them out. (If you want to keep other things .. LPS, SPS, etc. -- the damage may not be as severe as SPS vs other-SPS but it's still damage nonetheless). I was just looking at my darn ritteri and how it's shifted 4" in one direction (it tends to "lean" one way one week then another way another week), and now it can occasionally brush my open brain. Guess how good that brain is looking tonight. I guess I'll have to move the brain. In a 90g, putting the coral anywhere in the one half tank is basically too close. Darn thing.

I guess if it's OK for the time being, it must make a pretty cool display. But yeah, it's a measured choice.

[albert_dao]

Two of them are temporarily being held for people. I have a 72 for them if they end up running house in the near future. Fear not, for I like to think that I have yet another "master plan" in the works, haha.

That all being said, there's not really anything for them to sting in my tank so it should be cool til I figure out all this madness.

I know I'm always preaching impulse purchasing in the store, but damn, I guess we're all weak sometimes, haha.

[EmilyB]

Originally Posted by albert_dao

I know I'm always preaching impulse purchasing in the store, but damn, I guess we're all weak sometimes, haha.

I guess I'm not liking that..

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by EmilyB

I guess I'm not liking that..

I heard you have a MONSTER BTA! I saw Scott's and thought it was big, but he says your's is even bigger?

[danny zubot]

Bob wrote:

At the store they were all clustered together on rocks.

Bob, the reason they were all clustered together at the store is because BTAs are rock dwelling anemones, so they naturally dwelled on the few rocks that were in the store tanks. That being said, I need info from others who have bought these RBTAs.

My RBTA's mouth gapes from time to time but seems to close up after feeding. I wonder if I'm feeding it enough? Can everyone share their feeding regiments for BTAs please?

Danny

[Delphinus]

There are two reasons its mouth may gape open.

One, it's feeding ... Two, it's pooping ... Three (Ok so apparently I can't count) it may be trying to respirate (sort of an equivalent to "panting for breath"). In the last case if you have low O2 levels in the tank (usually from not enough flow or not enough surface agitation) then you might see this sort of thing.

BUT if it's taking food and keeping it down, then it's probably just going through an adjustment phase. In my experience anemones can takes weeks to months to really fully truly settle in. If you just got it, then that's probably what's going on. Also BTW, feeding it once or twice per week is usually adequate.

Hope this helps.

[danny zubot]

Thanks for the info. I just got a new skimmer so I think my O2 levels are good. I think I'll just watch it and see how it adjusts. It's color is very good still so I believe its healthy.