BTA Questions

[Hugh Mann]

I am picking myself up a tank raised gold dot maroon tomorrow, it's only about 1" long. I plan to keep it in QT until it's large enough to not risk being a tasty eel snack, and hear they really like BTAs.

Well, I keep hearing to have an anenome your tank has to be aged for several months to ensure success. My question is why? What happens in those months that makes the tank more suitable to an anenome? I can understand in the early, ugly cyano/diatom/green algae bloom phases, but once that's in check, and the perameters are kept stable, what else would the age of a tank make a difference?

Also, how much larger should an anenome be than the clown should you want them to host? My lfs often sells super cheap BTAs, but they're only about 2-3".

 

[Peach02]

Essentially stability and a well established biofilter. I added one about a month after I added fish and was lucky and it was okay but I wouldn’t reccomend it in hindsight.

Plus they tend not to like equipment changes much eg different flow or lighting and that makes them want to move more

 

[Hugh Mann]

Ah, okay. That makes sense, thank you. How long does it typically take for that stability to occur, and how does a person know when it has reached that point?

Fortunately I have all the equipment I need, at least for a simple 55 gallon. Powerfilter, protein skimmer, lights, powerhead if somewhat oversized at 850gph. So just a waiting game.

 

[Peach02]

To be honest it depends on the tank and essentially just stable parameters and when you don’t have plans to change equipment soon and other corals are happy

 

[Hugh Mann]

Alright, sounds good. I'll be completely changing my setup in a week or so, adding new equipment, aquascape. So will see how stable things are after that. Thanks.