Below is a picture of my BTA (sans tentacles) enclosed in a wooden shishkabob skewer prison. How it came to this:
I ordered a BTA much smaller than the larger of my two maroon clowns. I've since read of people having problems with this on various internet pages, but haven't found any good solutions. The pages all suggest buying a larger anemone, but that ship has sailed.
Both clowns love the BTA. A lot. Too much. It is too small to host them, but they want to be in it so badly that smash themselves into it, constantly rub against it, the larger maroon is happiest when it is squishing the bta and forcing it to essentially form a sandwich around it. Within about 12 hours of this the anemone left its initial choice spot and moved to a more sheltered spot between some rocks and glass. This didn't help. The clowns squeezed their way in and continued to molest the anemone. Within a week, all of the anemone's tentacles were gone (some were rubbed off, some were actually bitten off by the large clown), which didn't concern the clowns - they continued to rub against the foot, happy as could be.
The anemone's attempt at seeking shelter placed it into a low light area at the bottom of the tank. Given the low light and complete lack of tentacles, I started feeding it meaty foods (raw salmon). This was made difficult by both clowns and a cleaner shrimp. At least the cleaner shrimp actually wants to eat the salmon. The clowns just want to get it away from the anemone. Once they have it, they lose interest. The smaller clown will actually force its way into the anemones mouth to pull the salmon back out once it has been swallowed. A few day of this finally led to the makeshift prison you see below which is meant to keep the clowns out.
In that, it has been successful. The Anemone is doing somewhat better, though it's certainly got a long way to go if it's going to get better. Both clowns are quite upset. The small maroon spends all day trying to get into the skewers. The large clown spends a significant amount of time swatting sand around the tank with its tail, which is a new behavior since I blocked off the anemone. It was initially doing this in front of the prison (and burying the anemone) so I put a small rock in that spot. The clown moved the rock (which is roughly the same size as the clown) about 8 inches today while I was at work. It continues to kick up sand throughout the tank.
So my question is broad - what to do? Assume it's too late to return the anemone and that I'm not getting rid of the clowns.
1. Should I continue with the makeshift prison? Can you anticipate problems with it that I have not?
2. Should I move the anem to the sump? The light I have over the sump isn't good enough for it to photosynthesize. Will it thrive and grow on meaty feedings alone for a period of months? As an aside - the sump is an unsuitable habitat for the clowns.
3. Any other constructive comments?
Thanks for reading.
I ordered a BTA much smaller than the larger of my two maroon clowns. I've since read of people having problems with this on various internet pages, but haven't found any good solutions. The pages all suggest buying a larger anemone, but that ship has sailed.
Both clowns love the BTA. A lot. Too much. It is too small to host them, but they want to be in it so badly that smash themselves into it, constantly rub against it, the larger maroon is happiest when it is squishing the bta and forcing it to essentially form a sandwich around it. Within about 12 hours of this the anemone left its initial choice spot and moved to a more sheltered spot between some rocks and glass. This didn't help. The clowns squeezed their way in and continued to molest the anemone. Within a week, all of the anemone's tentacles were gone (some were rubbed off, some were actually bitten off by the large clown), which didn't concern the clowns - they continued to rub against the foot, happy as could be.
The anemone's attempt at seeking shelter placed it into a low light area at the bottom of the tank. Given the low light and complete lack of tentacles, I started feeding it meaty foods (raw salmon). This was made difficult by both clowns and a cleaner shrimp. At least the cleaner shrimp actually wants to eat the salmon. The clowns just want to get it away from the anemone. Once they have it, they lose interest. The smaller clown will actually force its way into the anemones mouth to pull the salmon back out once it has been swallowed. A few day of this finally led to the makeshift prison you see below which is meant to keep the clowns out.
In that, it has been successful. The Anemone is doing somewhat better, though it's certainly got a long way to go if it's going to get better. Both clowns are quite upset. The small maroon spends all day trying to get into the skewers. The large clown spends a significant amount of time swatting sand around the tank with its tail, which is a new behavior since I blocked off the anemone. It was initially doing this in front of the prison (and burying the anemone) so I put a small rock in that spot. The clown moved the rock (which is roughly the same size as the clown) about 8 inches today while I was at work. It continues to kick up sand throughout the tank.
So my question is broad - what to do? Assume it's too late to return the anemone and that I'm not getting rid of the clowns.
1. Should I continue with the makeshift prison? Can you anticipate problems with it that I have not?
2. Should I move the anem to the sump? The light I have over the sump isn't good enough for it to photosynthesize. Will it thrive and grow on meaty feedings alone for a period of months? As an aside - the sump is an unsuitable habitat for the clowns.
3. Any other constructive comments?
Thanks for reading.
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