RBTA question

[slinky]

Hi all,

Does the anenome (RBTA) like to walk on sand?

I would like to block the RBTA in one corner and does not want it to wander around the whole tank. I only see them cling on rocks, so I was thinking about seperating the rock the RBTA is attached to from the rest of the rocks with only sand in between. just wondering if they will walk on sand and get to the other part of the tank.

Thanks,

David.

 

[cr500_af]

Mine has moved across sand as well as on the glass walls. IMO the best thing to do is let it find where it wants to be. Just make sure you turn off powerheads if it gets close to them, and kind of move corals out of its path until it finds a home.

 

[slinky]

Would it sting every corals? I know SPS has no chance except maybe some Milli. how about frogspawn/hammers/fox coral? how about Zoas and Paly?

how fast can they move in 8 hours? I have bad dream of returning home after work to see a total demolition...

 

[cr500_af]

Mine has traveled a foot or so in a day, for all I know they could do much more.
I've had corals stung by it as it traveled, and they all got really mad and looked like crap for a while but they all recovered.

 

[budsreef]

I don't think they are as likely to move across the sand but instead will just let loose and float around which will usually end up with them being pulled into a powerhead. In my opinion the most important thing for them to stay put is being able to protect their foot. If you put a rock near where you want it to stay that has some deep holes for them to anchor their foot you will have a better chance of them staying there as long as the flow is good. While they need good lighting I don't think it is as important as foot protection and flow for positioning because they can really stretch their bodies to get to the light without moving.

 

[jeffh]

From my experience with RBTA's, they sometimes do things for no reason. I had mine happy in one spot for months, and then one day he decided to walk to the other side of the tank. I made no changes to the lighting/setup/flow....he just decided the grass was greener on the other side. A few weeks later, he walked right back to his old rock....stinging corals on both trips of course. I've found most corals will survive a "walking around" brush with a nem. Softies and LPS seem to fare better then SPS, but as long as it is just a brief contact, I'd expect the coral to survive. Making sure the nem has medium flow( waving but not being blasted), decent lighting and regular food seems to go a long way towards them staying put. Knowing what RBTA's want is more of a art then a checklist though. I found when I fed mine approx every 2 weeks, he stayed put, but even with feedings he wandered a couple of times over the years.

Sand might help, but they always can just let go and float away....to the nearest uncovered powerhead...:yuk:

Jeff