The anemone ate my fish

[lsu_fishfan]

While feeding the fish over the past few weeks I've noticed that my six line wrasse hasn't been swimming around at feeding. Around the same time I noticed one of my larger anemones was closed up like he had been fed. After a few more days of checking on the fish, I've come to the conclusion that my six line was dinner for my gbta.

Goes to show how crazy the slice of nature sitting in our homes really are. These two have been together for many years now. While I am sad that I did lose a fish, I know that it is a natural occurrence that I had no control of.

 

[dasianguy]

That sucks. It makes me wonder if I should sell my 2 RBTA's. My wife would be pretty sad if they ate her toby puffer. How often do you feed your GBTA? I'm wondering if feeding them regularly will keep them from attacking fish. I feed my RBTAs a little bit of PE mysis almost every day.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

dasianguy;1089931 wrote: That sucks. It makes me wonder if I should sell my 2 RBTA's. My wife would be pretty sad if they ate her toby puffer. How often do you feed your GBTA? I'm wondering if feeding them regularly will keep them from attacking fish. I feed my RBTAs a little bit of PE mysis almost every day.

I try to feed them at least once weekly, but the probably pick up small pieces of food during coral feedings.

 

[wannabeeareefkeeper]

LSU_fishFan;1089928 wrote: While feeding the fish over the past few weeks I've noticed that my six line wrasse hasn't been swimming around at feeding. Around the same time I noticed one of my larger anemones was closed up like he had been fed. After a few more days of checking on the fish, I've come to the conclusion that my six line was dinner for my gbta.

Goes to show how crazy the slice of nature sitting in our homes really are. These two have been together for many years now. While I am sad that I did lose a fish, I know that it is a natural occurrence that I had no control of.

Maybe he stuck in the overflow :wow2: :fish:There he is!

Wannabee

 

[axio]

It VERY rare for a bubble tip to eat a fish on it's own. 99% of the time the fish is dying or dead first then floats near the anemone. There are some types that are more aggressive then others. But if you have a bubble tip then I think more then likely your six line wasn't doing well and eventually got weak/passed away and was eaten. I would go as far as argue that most of the stories and posts online about bubble tips eating fish are false.

dasianguy;1089931 wrote: That sucks. It makes me wonder if I should sell my 2 RBTA's. My wife would be pretty sad if they ate her toby puffer. How often do you feed your GBTA? I'm wondering if feeding them regularly will keep them from attacking fish. I feed my RBTAs a little bit of PE mysis almost every day.

I would not worry about it at all. Try to feed them about once a week.

 

[grouper therapy]

aXio;1089938 wrote: It VERY rare for a bubble tip to eat a fish on it's own. 99% of the time the fish is dying or dead first then floats near the anemone. There are some types that are more aggressive then others. But if you have a bubble tip then I think more then likely your six line wasn't doing well and eventually got weak/passed away and was eaten. I would go as far as argue that most of the stories and posts online about bubble tips eating fish are false.



I would not worry about it at all. Try to feed them about once a week.

Agreed. Elephant ear mushroom is a different story. I actually helped my flame Angel escape from one of those.

 

[lsu_fishfan]

WannabeeaReefKeeper;1089937 wrote: Maybe he stuck in the overflow :wow2: :fish:There he is!

Wannabee

I have checked both the overflow box and the sump

aXio;1089938 wrote: It VERY rare for a bubble tip to eat a fish on it's own. 99% of the time the fish is dying or dead first then floats near the anemone. There are some types that are more aggressive then others. But if you have a bubble tip then I think more then likely your six line wasn't doing well and eventually got weak/passed away and was eaten. I would go as far as argue that most of the stories and posts online about bubble tips eating fish are false.



I would not worry about it at all. Try to feed them about once a week.

I agree that for this to occur the fish was weakened and unable to put up a fight if not dead before an anemone could consume it.

 

[catgirl29]

Carpet nems are terrible - I watched mine eat a healthy Engineer Goby and it was horrific. I've never seen either of my RBTAs eat anything live.

 

[jennm]

I agree with Jakub. Chances are the wrasse was either dead or dying and the Anemone just did its job cleaning up.

I've seen a long-tentacled plate coral do the same thing - it ate an ailing clownfish that drifted into it. Any coral or anemone that has the ability to consume something that big, can, and will. Circle of life and all that.

Bubble tips aren't aggressive in that way. I concur with Catgirl - Carpets are voracious. I dropped a Sally Lightfoot crab I was trying to catch for a customer once... and it landed on the Carpet Anemone... and it was game over. I tried to flip it off the tentacles quickly (without getting stung myself) and it was already too late.

And yeah, I've seen an Elephant Ear Mushroom swallow up a slow fish too.

Bummer about the wrasse, but at least it got recycled.

Jenn

 

[gajeep94yj]

How do you feed your BTA?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[dasianguy]

aXio;1089938 wrote:
I would not worry about it at all. Try to feed them about once a week.

I've read plenty people say to feed nems once a week.. is there anything wrong with more frequent feedings?

I defrost a cube of PE mysis almost every day to feed the fish and always target feed a little to the nems, and they always accept it (though they don't always finish all of it). Any uneaten just goes to the fish or CUC. I've always had the paranoia that they might eat a fish, so I've figured frequent feeding might prevent piscivore propensities. I've had the nems 11 months (it was just one but split a few months ago).

 

[gajeep94yj]

I've never feed my bta.... Crap.

How do you feed one?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[axio]

dasianguy;1090012 wrote: I've read plenty people say to feed nems once a week.. is there anything wrong with more frequent feedings?

I defrost a cube of PE mysis almost every day to feed the fish and always target feed a little to the nems, and they always accept it (though they don't always finish all of it). Any uneaten just goes to the fish or CUC. I've always had the paranoia that they might eat a fish, so I've figured frequent feeding might prevent piscivore propensities. I've had the nems 11 months (it was just one but split a few months ago).

More often is definitely better. Once a week is just a general rule and everyone will know what their tank and anemones want best. If you can provide feeding more often and not overfeed the rest of the aquarium and/or keep up with the extra bio-load then I would stick to exactly what you have been doing. Especially if has been working for 11 months AND you are getting splitting... you are doing something right! =)

GaJeep94YJ;1090013 wrote: I've never feed my bta.... Crap.

How do you feed one?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

You will be surprised just have "actively" they can eat. You should be able to train it to eat just about anything. Some people just sprinkle some pellets near it. Others will take tweezers or a baster to get frozen foods near it's mouth. Our nems get a mixture of stuff... Krill, SilverSides, Mysis, Larry's, Pellets, etc. Just remember the more often you start feeding it... the more often it will want to eat.