First day with a bubble tip anenome. Couple questions

I picked up a really nice looking bubble tip today. real nice bright purple base with a fl. green tips.
He seems to be really intent on squeezing behind rocks and that is going to make it really hard to feed him. I redirected a power head and that made him crawl back to the front but as soon as the lights went out he was gone again. I see him under a rock and he ejected what I assume is poop as it came out in a long stream so I figure he is just hiding for the night.

The question is should I make him an island so he has to stay in the front or should I just leave him be and find a place he likes?

Also the LFS river city aquatics here in austin gave me frozen mysis shrimp to feed him. The first feeding was about 4 hours after he was introduced and he didnt seem to fold all in when the shrimp were in his tips. It was a very slow process and I could not tell if he was eating. I once had a large ritteri anemone and we fed him large krill, and he would fold up on it like an octopus.

So I was wondering if this is normal or just because he is still acclimating.

 

In my brief anenome experience they will move around until they find a spot they like. I got tired of it moving around and waging chemical war with everyone trying to find his spot. He finally settled down behind all the rocks. I couldnt see him so redirected some flow got him moving, when it came to where I could get him bagged him and took him back to the lfs. Swore to never have another nem unless it was a tank just for it.

 

Man after posting looked at your avatar and got a chill. Kind of unsettling staring down the barrel from this side.

 

One more quick thing, you may get more specific responses if you asked a mod to move this to the invert forum. I thnk that is where most anemone questions are answered.

 

hey Rob
cross referencing with another of your posts ( diatoms on the sand)
if you have diatoms, your tank is not finished the cycle IMO

this may mean your Nem may struggle for a while due to the newness of the water in your tank - in general they adapt better in mature tanks

you need to monitor it, but dont move it to often as this will create additional stress for it

weekly or fortnightly feeding is adequate so dont try a feed it every day

IME Nems that deflate often or dont inflate fully are often showing signs of water quality issues

keep an eye out for it becoming unattached, a healthy nem should be securely attached to rock or glass etc and if it starts rolling, drifting about, thats the time to remove it

are you running carbon - if not now may be a good time to add

Steve

 

I'm with Steve.It is recommended that btas not be introduced for atleast 6mo to a year.They do not like to move around alot(unlike other anemones) and once they find a place they like and settle in if they start moving around usually means theres something wrong (water quality,change in flow,predators,lighting).I'd keep a close eye on him and at any sign of trouble pull him out.Heres some good reading on btas.
BTAnemRMF

 

I dont like it either :-[

 

If your nem has good color and you have strong lights I wouldn't even bother polluting your tank trying to feed it right now while its acclimating. I hardly ever feed my BTAs. I have fed them maybe three or four times in the past year and they have great color and are doing fine. Steve definatly knows what's up though. If it starts rolling around the tank get that sucker outta there. Also, make sure you cover ALL of your intakes. If your nem decides to take a joyride they always seem to go straight for that ONE intake that isn't covered and get obliterated.

 

My water was tested yesterday at the lfs before I bought him and they said everything was good except my calcium was high.
I woke up this morning and he had settled in a crevice under a rock. I'll keep an eye on him.

 

If your MG and Alk are porportional to your Ca, I wouldn't worry about it. Excess Ca will be used up by your coralline algae. If you want your anemone to grow and/or split, feed it krill and portions of silversides. I feed mine daily, one piece of krill. Mine needs it because my 2 maroons wear it out. Anemones will move around on their own, don't force it to stay where you want it. You will end up stressing it out and cause it to die. If it releases from the rock and tumbles around the tank, it doesn't like that water chemistry. If the water chemistry is good, it will stay footed to the rock and just move to an area where it likes the flow and lighting.