BTA ate a dead fish⁉️☠️

[Daddio64]

When I feed the tank I give a squirt by the BTA he gets plenty. I also give him large Mysis once in a while. He just got a squirt of my feed concoction. Scoly and Cyna get large Mysis too, you can see Scoly wants some.

 

[Luvspinball]

I have 5 anemones, and the smallest is probably 12" in diameter. Moved around a bit early on, but none of them have moved in over a year. And none has ever decided to munch on any of the 30 or so fish in the tank. Granted, I have a few large fish in there (angels, tangs) but lots of smaller ones too (damsels, wrasses, etc.). Broadcast feed frozen mysis every day, but once a week I will drop a frozen chunk on each of the anemones so they stay happy. And hopefully less carnivorous. 6" clown feeds 3 of them as well as she moves between them.
Bob

 

[((FORDTECH))]

Sometimes a dying fish will swim into a nem to be eaten...

I’m not sure fish commit suicide…..

 

[MnFish1]

They can eat quite a bit I fed a 7 inch discus that was freshly dead to a large carpet anemone. By the next day only the skeleton. Was left which I removed. Anemones can and do kill fish however I would say it’s not that common for bta‘

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I’m not sure fish commit suicide…..

I looked into it after my aging royal gramma ended up that way... I knew it was on its way out and found sources that said fish will sometimes to this. I'll see if I can find the sources but it's been a while.

 

[jerses]

I’ve watched my green BTA eat 2 flasher wrasses…. It was back to the store after that. BTA free since 2021.

 

[DHouse]

Looks like another nem to the right? They can be problematic with fish in small tanks. Rather than a dory you probably should have gotten a Nemo

EDIT : love the cleaner shrimp trying to figure out how to get in on the meal. They're theiving little SOBs.

I cannot stand the two cleaner shrimp in my reef tank! Always crawling all over my corals keeping them closed up and stealing food (I have a big long tentacled anemone and they have no problem going in being thieving little bast… never mind) but they definitely have an important role in the success of your reef or FOWLER tank!

 

[Newreefmama]

Update: thank you all for your advice and input!!! The BTA spit out the fish about 7 hours after eating it. The fish was whole but had no color, very little meat and the fins, etc were skeletal.

 

[leon.1980]

It was probably already dead then. Anemones being completely amorphous can move and stretch its body in crazy ways. That mouth may appear small but it can stretch a ton.

As a side note I'd feed your BTA every week or so with some small bits of seafood.

Do you suggest this because it’s a smaller tank?
I haven’t fed my BTA once. Of course he’s now hosting but even before he was. Now I have 5 btas about 8 months later and trying to figure out how to get them out so I can trade for frags. Lol.

 

[Slocke]

Do you suggest this because it’s a smaller tank?
I haven’t fed my BTA once. Of course he’s now hosting but even before he was. Now I have 5 btas about 8 months later and trying to figure out how to get them out so I can trade for frags. Lol.

I just think it’s good for growth and color and hopefully general health.