What to do with BTA getting too big?

[jbird69]

As everything continues to grow in my 50g breeder, my bta has gone from 4" dia. to 10" dia. in about 6 mo. So far it is a model citizen and hasnt burnt anything it touches. If I ever do need to remove it....how?

[mcoomer]

If you need to remove it you simply reach in, grab it and put it in a bucket of tank water. Where it goes from there depends on the options you have. If you have a larger tank you can put it in there. If it has simply outgrown your tank you may have to find a fellow reefer to take it or see if you can get an LFS to sell it and maybe give you some store credit. Maybe you'll get lucky and it will split for you. Then you keep one and sell the other.

Mike

[Flipper62]

If you do try to remove it from the rock that its attached to, You have to be really carefull that you dont rip the foot of it from the rock. If you rip the foot, it may die.

If your not sure, you can take the rock with the Anemone on it & let your LFS take it off.

[CaliReefer12]

...you cant just reach in and grab it... if you damage its foot (which is very easy) it will hurt the anemone badly. The two methods that have worked best for me in the past are 1.) aim a powerhead at the anemone with strong flow until it inflates its foot and starts to move then carefully remove the foot slowly or 2.) Put an ice cube in a ziplock bag and place it against the anemones foot, it will slowly release from the rock and you will be able to move it. Hope it works well for you..

[iceman79]

Ok what you wanna do is .... give it to me

[mcoomer]

Of course I didn't mean just reach in and yank it out by it's tentacles but you know what I mean.

[A sea K]

Of course I didn't mean just reach in and yank it out by it's tentacles but you know what I mean.

Man I was gonna say, no way!
Probably the hardest thing I've ever done to date is remove a BTA from a tank I was taking down without injuring him. I tried the ice and the powerhead with no luck. I eventually bit by bit coaxed him out of the rocks. Way more difficult than it sounds.

[ludnix]

I've used the ice blag method, and it can take a lot of patience. I held the ice bag there for about 20 minutes, once I took the bag away it was still holding on and didn't release until about 20 minutes later.

If you give it a try, I would recommend turning off your powerheads, the last thing you want it is to release from the rock and get sucked into a powerhead.

[Shane Hoffman]

Ive never done this, but witnesses it done at my LFS. They had a big red BTA. They "fragged it" I guess you would say. Once they got it out using the blasting powerhead method they put it on cutting board, using a very sharp butches knife they sliced it in half making sure to cut right through the center of the mouth. 2 weeks later it was to perfectly healthy looking nems......

[jbird69]

Ive never done this, but witnesses it done at my LFS. They had a big red BTA. They "fragged it" I guess you would say. Once they got it out using the blasting powerhead method they put it on cutting board, using a very sharp butches knife they sliced it in half making sure to cut right through the center of the mouth. 2 weeks later it was to perfectly healthy looking nems......


WOW! Has anyone else had experience with this?

[lordofthereef]

WOW! Has anyone else had experience with this?

I have seen it done before and have heard this method used many times. No personal experience doing it though.

[mcoomer]

I've heard the same but never witnessed it.

[Urchinhead]

Seen it but don't recommend it. Do it wrong and you injure the anemone. You could try over feeding it which may cause a split due to high food load. Alternately take the rock out and if you can very gently prod the food with a credit card or flat headed probe (nothing sharp that could cause a tear or cut) working along slowly until it releases. If its too deeply embedded into the rock then either remove the rock or use a dremmel or the like to cut the rock apart so you can get to the anemone.

[Shane Hoffman]

Ive never done this, but witnesses it done at my LFS. They had a big red BTA. They "fragged it" I guess you would say. Once they got it out using the blasting powerhead method they put it on cutting board, using a very sharp butches knife they sliced it in half making sure to cut right through the center of the mouth. 2 weeks later it was to perfectly healthy looking nems......

[mayjong]

is it actually attached to a rock, or the tank bottom?
if the tank bottom, you can use your hand, gently use your fingers to nudge the foot up, keep peeling by inserting your fingers farther (like peeling a sticker). go slow, it may take up to 20-30 min...
if on a rock, move the rock with it... too many nooks and crannies for the foot to get ripped.
that is how we moved ours ( large carpet anenome)

[tj2004]

I have had the same problem. I took a rock with 5 RBTA's to my local store and he got them off in less than 10 minutes. He took them over to a counter and used a screwdriver and hammer and hit the rock near the foot. In one case the rock broke enough to pull it off but the other four just started releasing due to the shock sent through the rock. They were out of the water at most 10 min. The next day I went back and they were all for sale and looking good. I won't talk about how I got screwed in that deal. Won't go back to that store.

[jbird69]

interesting ideas...

I dont think removing the rock is an option as its at the bottom of the "stack".

could I put a clay flower pot over it to rob it of flow and light and see if it transfers its foot onto the wall of the pot?