BTA Disappeared then Reappeared??? Your experiences with BTA??

[mokamm]

Hi,
BACKGROUND...... I am fairly new to the hobby and hooked like most everyone. I bought an anenome (LFS said it was long tenacle, but it is actually a BTA that didn't have bubble tips at the time). It split after I had it for about 3 months. Both were doing good in the smaller tank for another couple months. I then got a larger tank and both BTAs seemed to be doing fine. They had been in the larger set up for about 2 months.

THEN.........The smaller of the two BTAs, shriveled up one day, and then the next it was nowhere to be found. After it not turning up, I figured it got into something and was gone for good. That was about a month ago. Two nights ago I spotted a tiny blob on an empty snail shell. Same color as the anenome and it appeared to have an opening on the top with tiny pinkish tips. (My darned collector urchin was carrying it around last night, now I'v got to go home tonight and find it again.) It has not ballooned up, but could it be my long lost BTA? Has anyone had this happen with an anenome?

[km133688]

I have had several BTAs. I find them hit or miss, not that I am that great a reefer. They are generally considered the easiest to keep. The one common problem with them is that they tend to walk around the tank if they are not happy, or if anything changes once they are settled in.

For example, if you change water flow patterns or change lighting, they will start moving within a day or two and you never know where they will stop. This can be problematic as it often happens they get sucked into powerheads and its byby anemone.

On the good side, their gorwth can be controled readily by feeding plans. You should always feed them, question is how much and how often.

general BTA rules are:

1) feed items should be about 1/2 the size of the mouth or smaller. This allows the anemone to easily take in and digest the food.

2) overfeeding in one sitting is bad as it causes the anemone to expel the food which then rots on or near the anemone and causes problems.

3) growth rates of BTAs seem highly correlated to the frequency and amount of feeding. Thus if you want it to grow, feed it often.

4) some believe reproduction is also related to feeding. Makes sense but it is also suggested that BTAs reproduce in response to good times and bad times. One is opportunity response, other is stress response.

on a side note, reproduction via fission is common place. Every bta anemone I have had has split at least once for me. When they start walking, I give them away for something else. Its too much trouble and stress for me to worry about a wandering anemone.

I suggest you ignore the missing BTA and concentrate on imporiving Quality of Life for the one you can find.

Good luck, Kevin

[TOURKID]

I just got a BTA a few days ago, and found this website (it's someones who posts here!) anyway, she talks alot in different sections about why a bta may hide for awhile. super informative :)

http://www.karensroseanemones.com/

[mokamm]

Thanks for the info. It is just very interesting. Just difficult to figure why one is happy and the other not in the same environment. Of note, there was never a bad odor to my tank after the disappearance. I read that when they die it can be rather smelly. Thanks again!!!!