New BTA leaving me perplexed

[dormreefer]

I set up a new take over 5 months ago and decided to go the BTA route. I picked up what I perceived as a very health Rainbow BTA locally. All tentacles seemed inflated well, mouth was hidden, no damage to the foot etc. I drip acclimated the nem for over 2 hours then place it in my tank. After wandering around for the day/night it seemed to pick a spot. The next day it was inflated and happy. This continued for well over a week. However, the last 48 or so hours it has been inflating very frequently. I would say it spends half its day delated. I checked nitrates and phosphate both before and after doing a water change both are undetectable. My water is at 1.025 and 78 degrees F. I was running my XR15 pro at 80% but I knocked it down to 60% as an attempt to potentially solve any issues. When the nem does inflate it does so almost perfectly and the mouth is nice and tight. Is there anything I can do to help this situation?

Thank you!

 

[fishroomlady]

it's very common for nems to inflate and deflate over time. Usually they deflate when the lights are off and inflate when they're on. Are you feeding the nem? Feeding can cause different behavior as well in that the nem ingests the food and then deflates to rid itself of waste. I wouldn't worry about it if its color is good and its mouth is tight

 

[dormreefer]

I fed it a few Mysis shrimp over the last week but not in a few days. I also realized that my female clown recently started trying to host. I deduced that it could be possible that it was stressed due to her attempts so I have separated my clowns for a few days to test this.

 

[surfnsalt]

I fed it a few Mysis shrimp over the last week but not in a few days. I also realized that my female clown recently started trying to host. I deduced that it could be possible that it was stressed due to her attempts so I have separated my clowns for a few days to test this.

I feed mine half a sliverside every 4 or 5 days. I was told they need really meaty foods if they are not too small. Seems very happy and it only deflates once in awhile.

 

[KorD]

I feed my nems a hunk of shrimp every few days.. I noticed since my larger one moved, it eats less frequently and just drops the food off for the crab to eat.

 

[Reefahholic]

 

[dormreefer]

Some kind of fish? What could I buy at the grocery store to feed it once it starts to inflate more? It seems happy enough still, tight mouth and inflates periodically.

 

[surfnsalt]

Some kind of fish? What could I buy at the grocery store to feed it once it starts to inflate more? It seems happy enough still, tight mouth and inflates periodically.

I heard raw shrimp is good.

 

[bairdimusprime]

i feed raw shrimp once a week
they switch from bubble to stringy depending on the day

 

[dormreefer]

Thanks for the responses! It seems my anemone is spending more time inflate recently which is good. However, when it does inflate it does seem to excrete waste which is strange since I haven't fed it in awhile. Must be the fish? Hopefully it will continue to get better and better. Water parameters and lighting seem to be above what is generally regarded as required!

 

[lemonyx]

Looks like squid.
You can use most any "sea" food that is raw, shrimp, scallops, salmon, squid, octopus, silver sides. I feed ours raw baby anchovies for human consumption that's soaked in Selcon

 

[KorD]

I found at the grocery store that the shrimp behind the sea food counter is the exact same shrimp they sell in the frozen bags... The guy told me they just defrost it and call it fresh shrimp

 

[tigerdragon]

I use small chunks of raw salmon for mine