SLove1104
05/17/2010, 09:43 AM
I have an RBTA that I've had for about 3 months. Up until about a week and a half ago, I had it in with two True Percs that did not host in it. A week and a half ago, I bought a third Perc which immediately went in it, and the other two followed... having all three of my Percs hosting it suddenly.
I noticed it started not blowing up and extending as much so I started watching it closer, thinking the Percs were irritating it... I had to leave for a day this past weekend, and didn't want the fish irritating it more, so I made a gate with some eggcrate and boxed it in so the Percs could leave it alone for a couple of days. By this time, it was already shrivelled and mouth was starting to open and show... I was afraid to go away for the day and come back to a crashed tank, but I had to go so this was all I could do.
So, I'm gone from Friday and come back Sunday night and the BTA was completely open mouthed, shrivelled, and looking like it's on its last day (I tried saving a nem two weeks ago that was dying in the LFS and this one looked worse than that one on its last day)... In hopes of bringing it back, I fed it a couple small pieces of mysis and went to bed with crossed fingers.
I woke up this morning with all three Percs inside the cage, hosting in a happy anemone again...? (They apparently fit through the eggcrate holes with a little work and they finally figured it out...)
OK, I thought they were the reason it was retracting and closing up so much last week, so I tried to give it a break and separated them... But then once I did that, it got worse... then when the fish came back, it got better... What's going on? Could it have been the sudden hosting of three fish that made it mad, or was it just a coincidence?
Right now, it's still boxed in, but the contact is limited because the fish don't seem to go to it as much throught he eggcrate so it does get a little break here and there... should I take the box out and leave it be again and let them do their thing, or should I separate them for a while...?
And to reiterate, last night, this thing looked like it was on its last breath... It was so bad I almost took it out before it died and fouled the tank, but I had hope, so I didn't... Still trying to figure out what happened...
I noticed it started not blowing up and extending as much so I started watching it closer, thinking the Percs were irritating it... I had to leave for a day this past weekend, and didn't want the fish irritating it more, so I made a gate with some eggcrate and boxed it in so the Percs could leave it alone for a couple of days. By this time, it was already shrivelled and mouth was starting to open and show... I was afraid to go away for the day and come back to a crashed tank, but I had to go so this was all I could do.
So, I'm gone from Friday and come back Sunday night and the BTA was completely open mouthed, shrivelled, and looking like it's on its last day (I tried saving a nem two weeks ago that was dying in the LFS and this one looked worse than that one on its last day)... In hopes of bringing it back, I fed it a couple small pieces of mysis and went to bed with crossed fingers.
I woke up this morning with all three Percs inside the cage, hosting in a happy anemone again...? (They apparently fit through the eggcrate holes with a little work and they finally figured it out...)
OK, I thought they were the reason it was retracting and closing up so much last week, so I tried to give it a break and separated them... But then once I did that, it got worse... then when the fish came back, it got better... What's going on? Could it have been the sudden hosting of three fish that made it mad, or was it just a coincidence?
Right now, it's still boxed in, but the contact is limited because the fish don't seem to go to it as much throught he eggcrate so it does get a little break here and there... should I take the box out and leave it be again and let them do their thing, or should I separate them for a while...?
And to reiterate, last night, this thing looked like it was on its last breath... It was so bad I almost took it out before it died and fouled the tank, but I had hope, so I didn't... Still trying to figure out what happened...