Clown and Mandarin stealing food from rbta...

dc4 · #1 07-26-2011, 02:55 AM

Hey guys, so I started to get brown algae (diatoms?) in my 29g tank about 10 days ago so I tried to figure out what was causing the issue. The tank is about 6 months old and all my parameters seem right on the mark, 1.025 salinity, 8.3 ph, 0 amonia, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 0 phosphates. I was not using r/o water as I thought Vancouver water was already pretty good but since the outbreak, I have invested in a filter. My thought was that I was over feeding my fish and corals so I cut back to only feeding the fish 1 time in the morning and spot feeding the soft corals every other day a few strands of blood worms and a little mysis. I defrost the blood worms and mysis in r/o water and then dump out the juice and then add some more r/o water to a baster to spot feed.

Today, I was spot feeding all my corals and then did a large water change to try and counter the bloom. When I came back to the tank to add the saltwater, I saw my mandarin and my female clown right above the rock where my rbta is. They were taking turns picking the blood worms out of my rbta's mouth and tentacles, which I had just spot fed a little earlier.

So, my question is, are they that hungry even though I feed them every morning a good portion of blood worms, mysis, and arctipods or are they just taking advantage of my poor rbta that takes forever to swallow its food? Now my rbta is the size of a quarter and all rolled up due to the food theft...

How much do you feed your fish and corals?

BlueWorldAquatic · #2 07-26-2011, 04:16 AM

Try feeding something more substantial to the RBTA, like silversides or krill.

Ken - BWA

mike31154 · #3 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 · #4 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 · #5 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 · #6 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 · #7 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 · #8 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.