Bta and coral in a tank

[Randomlyahero]

I'm planning on having two bta and a few coral in my 40 gall tank. Will two bta's be too many for my tank. Also i have two separate live rock structures in the same tank. If i keep them on they're own structure will they cross the sand bed to the other. As of now there aren't any fish/coral in the tank just 45ibs of live rock/sand and its been cycling for about a month.

Just a little back story i only wanted one bta but my gf has to have anemone crabs and clown fish and we cant have them fighting over the same anemone

[Derbird]

I personaly would only put one in a tank that size. They can grow to the size of a dinner plate. I have one in my 125 that will on occasion it will crawl accross the back of the tank to see what is on the other side lol. They can sting corals on the way but I have not seen any ill efect on my softies and LPS. SPS seems to me a different story IME.

[cjeffers88]

There is still a chance that they will fight over the same BTA, also as much as you want to keep them on separate structures... they will go where they please :\.

What other corals do you plan to include in the mix?

[Ron Reefman]

I'd suggest you start with one and let it get settled in and stable. I've seen bta that stay smaller and split regularly and I've seen bta that get huge and rarely split. If you have one that gets big, stick with just one. If it stays small, you could then consider a 2nd one.

[b0bab0ey]

I would wait at least 6 months (for your tank to mature) after your cycle finishes and then only get one. GBTA can get pretty large, fairly quickly. Try to create a "buffer zone" around your GBTA, as they tend to shift around a little sometimes. The few times mine has made a "big move" has always been at night. The corals it passed along the way weren't happy the next day but always bounced back.

[potterjon]

The power heads are the scary part when it comes to bta.

[Randomlyahero]

There is still a chance that they will fight over the same BTA, also as much as you want to keep them on separate structures... they will go where they please :\.

What other corals do you plan to include in the mix?

i plan on having three Zoanthus sp corals. i probably stick with one and add another later if it doesn't clone itself. Is it possible for the crabs and clowns to share there home?

[BigAl2007]

Welcome to the hobby :)

First off you need to REALLY wait a while... get used to the general husbandry of a salt water tank first... then add a few easy coral and in several months once you have a stable tank and solid husbandry skills you can consider a BTA.

For the record I have a 34g system (RSM130D with High Intensity LED) and adding a RBTA about 18 months ago. It stayed pretty much in the same place after about the 3rd day. Just recently I looked and I now have NINE (yes 9) RBTA in my tank. Also worth mentioning is that I have softies, LPS, Zoas, and SPS all over the tank. Occasionally one of the new "babies" will move around but I have yet to lose a single coral to a RBTA sting. I would have to say I've been very lucky because really it's a gamble regardless when you add an anemone and coral in such a small tank... heck it's a gamble in a LARGE tank but more so in a smaller tank.

[BigAl2007]

Welcome to the hobby :)

First off you need to REALLY wait a while... get used to the general husbandry of a salt water tank first... then add a few easy coral and in several months once you have a stable tank and solid husbandry skills you can consider a BTA.

For the record I have a 34g system (RSM130D with High Intensity LED) and adding a RBTA about 18 months ago. It stayed pretty much in the same place after about the 3rd day. Just recently I looked and I now have NINE (yes 9) RBTA in my tank. Also worth mentioning is that I have softies, LPS, Zoas, and SPS all over the tank. Occasionally one of the new "babies" will move around but I have yet to lose a single coral to a RBTA sting. I would have to say I've been very lucky because really it's a gamble regardless when you add an anemone and coral in such a small tank... heck it's a gamble in a LARGE tank but more so in a smaller tank.

[Randomlyahero]

its going to be another two weeks before the anemone and other coral get introduced into the tank so i have some time to change my plans. But most likely i will go with one bta and 3 or 4 other coral.Ive done allot of research into caring for bta. Plus we all have to start somewhere :)

[andip3]

The power heads are the scary part when it comes to bta.

power heads are definitely scary when it comes to BTA's I bought a super nice neon yellow anemone and it was in the tank only a couple hours before it let go of the rocks and floated up into the power head, luckily we caught it early before it was able to nuke the whole tank

[kevinrf]

its going to be another two weeks before the anemone and other coral get introduced into the tank so i have some time to change my plans. But most likely i will go with one bta and 3 or 4 other coral.Ive done allot of research into caring for bta. Plus we all have to start somewhere :)

you have not done much reading on BTA's if you're going to introduce one in the next few weeks. Min. for BTA is 6months to introduce.

or if you're talking about a nem crab, that's a different story.

[mperales]

I agree, go slow with BTA's. I started with one less than 1 year ago and now I have 4 due to splitting. Problem is you can't tell a BTA to sit/stay in one place. I'm having problems with them going to an undesirable area (for me) and stinging some of my other corals.