BTA Feeding

[Fat_Penguin]

I bought a BTA about a week and a half ago and it seems to be doing great. The first night it found its sweet spot and hasn't moved since. I've been reading that feeding twice a week or when the tenticles get stringy is good ... but i dont know how much to feed them during that time. Ive been feeding it twice a week so far frozen mysid shrimp, but I'm just a little concerned with how much to feed it. Its easy to see when the fish are about done since they slow down a lot after they had their share, but i cant tell if the BTA is getting enough or not.

Any suggestions?
Thanks~

 

[MarineFlake]

Get some frozen silver sides. Cut one in into halves or thirds depending on the size of your BTA. (Make sure its thawed) Feed 1 silver side per week. You can bump that up to 2 times a week once it gets to be 6 inches or so. Mine is about 8 inches and I still only feed once a week thoug Im sure it will accept more.

Peace.

 

[lando]

What type of lighting do you have? Anemones will aquire most of their energy from light. FWIW, I have never target fed any of my anemones and they seem to do just fine.

 

[Fat_Penguin]

I have a 260w Orbit extreme over a 55g tank. Im not really worried too much about the lighting, just kind of wondering if there is a way to see if its done feeding or not or if it needs more. Anyways, thanks for the advice guys, I probably will keep target feeding it twice a week as long as i don't notice any bad changes in it.

 

[MT79]

If your keeping it w/ fish and good lighting, it will get by w/ no feedings. If you choose to target feed it, beware it can cost more energy to digest food than the anemone receives from it, and cause detriment to it's health. Over feeding is probably worse than under feeding. IMO/IME target feedings of meaty foods, about half the size of a pinky finger nail more or less depending on the anemones size, can be made every couple weeks, or so, w/ good results.HTH

 

[melosu58]

Over feeding is probably worse than under feeding.

This is very good advice. Many a person has killed their anenome and messed up their tank by overfeeding. Alot of people dont target feed their`s at all and they do good. Feed once a week and you`ll be feeding plenty. Underfeeding + good lighting + what they get from the water column = a healthy BTA. JMO

 

[Fat_Penguin]

I did not know that! Maybe i should cut back to once a week then if at all. Should I still go by if the tentacles are stringy then feed it? Right now im feeding my fish twice a day since i almost lost my gold head sleeper goby due to starvation (was very skinny and lethargic). So I'm thinking that maybe i dont need to target feed the BTA at all. Any advice on what i should do to?

On the side note ... the goby is doing great and making his/her way to a full recovery ^^.

 

[MT79]

Should I still go by if the tentacles are stringy then feed it?

IME/IMO no. I know some websites mention that, but they often lose their bubbles when kept under fluorescent lighting, when hosted by clowns, and sometimes for reasons unapparent/unknown. Stringy tentacles is not a good indication of hunger, in an aquarium at least. Best to feed occasionally IMO. Once or twice a month is plenty when housing them w/ fish.

 

[Ziggy953]

I totally agree! I have an LTA and a newly aquired carpet anemone and I have not directly fed the LTA and I've had it for about 5 months now. It is doing incredible....I would stop feeding the BTA all together or at the very least drop to 2 feedings a month.....

 

[MarineFlake]

Not to be argumentative, heaven knows thats not like me, but if you don't feed it thats the demarcation of a potentially long...slow decline. As for the tenticles I can only speak for my BTA. My experience has been that the longer between feedings the more the tenticles deflate. (Stringy) When fed the proper amount of food they do return to their bubble state even though there is a female clown actively hosting in it. They may not look like the nifty promo pics on vendors websites but you can see a difference. Coloration is a lot brighter in my experience with fed vs starving. My green BTA was practically brown though it sat in the same spot for nearly 6 months under MH lighting (With no feeding). I began doing research and silver sides seemed to be the predominately preferred food. After only 2 months of feeding, the BTA has at least doubled in size and is now a beautiful flourescent green again.

Please take a look at http://www.karensroseanemones.com/index.htm While the site may put you off a little at first it does offer some seemingly extensive experience with BTAs specifically. Whatever you decide monitor the BTA as you would any other animal in your care and adjust accordingly. The only additional advice I can offer is that time and time again reading about others experience with BTAs is that they decline in a hurry once they succumb to their condition(s). Hence I would encourage you to error on the side of too much than too little. If a BTA does not want to eat it will simply drop the food from its tenticles. In that case they are either content or potentially doomed. Isn't this hobby grand?

Peace.

 

[MT79]

Hence I would encourage you to error on the side of too much than too little. If a BTA does not want to eat it will simply drop the food from its tenticles. In that case they are either content or potentially doomed

Some very experienced hobbyist, namely Steve-S a former mod here and extremely knowledgable person(as I'm sure you remember), have told me the exact opposite. I've had a BTA, now it split into 7, and a Sebae for over three years. Overfeeding is not something I would attempt. I've seen negative results from doing it in the past while experimenting, especially w/ the Sebae. JME

Isn't this hobby grand?

Yeah, everything is so upfront. You rarely ever find contradicting info heh... Happy reefing.

 

[Ziggy953]

I don't think any of us said not to feed...I believe what we said was not to target feed...my anemones get plenty of food...they get what is washed to them in the water column much like they would in the wild. In the ocean there isn't some large hand dropping silversides or anything else directly to them...My LTA has nearly doubled in size since I got it and I have not been feeding it...it has gotten food from what is in the tank and the lighting...As for Karen's website I have read just about everything on the site...if you are interested in forcing your BTA to split then by all means feed it, as that will most likely be the result...which isn't always a sign of health....$.02

 

[Fat_Penguin]

Well ... im not exactly sure what to do now. I will, though, keep watch over my BTA and cut the target feeding down a bit. I guess i should do some more research on BTAs while im at it. Thanks for all the helpful advice!

 

[seaham358]

I have had BTAs for years and mine have grown large and I maybe feed every other month and small piece of shrimp. My friend never feeds his BTA and they are healthy.
They get enough from the lighting, if you have poor lighting you will need to feed more.
Right now I have 5 in my 125 and they are all large, some have bubbles others don't, some months none have bubbles. My GSM do not feed them much and some they don't feed at all. What I have read no one is sure why they lose there bubbles.

 

[jmccormack]

I purchased a BTA (my first) two weeks ago. It had been moving a fair bit but now seems to have found a spot. Now that it has settled I have started to target feed with lance fish (probably same as silverfish) as although settled the BTA didn't appear 100%. I have noticed a definite improvement in the appearance of the BTA since feeding. I will continue to feed at least once a week as, in my experience,feeding has been beneficial.