BTA stuck???

Rhb6455 · Mar 15, 2025

Hello!

Last Friday I bought a 3” BTA from my local LFS. He’d been doing awesome! Until last night I was watching my tank and he came unattached from the rock work and started floating around the tank. I grabbed him and helped him latch on to his usual spot, but I noticed it did take longer for him to latch on than it did when he first came home from the store.

This morning, I come to find him wedged up inside a cave in the rock with his tentacles facing the inside of the cave and his foot outwards. It’s on the back side of the tank, so I can’t see if his foot is attached or not. I’m afraid he came unattached in the night and that’s where the current shoved him, but not sure.

My question is: do I leave him be and hope that he comes out on his own? Or do I assume he died, and remove the rock work so that I can remove the dead anemone? I don’t want to mess with him and cause him to die if he’s not already dead, but I also don’t want a dead anemone poisoning my tank!

Sorry, I don’t have any pictures as I can’t get my camera in a good enough spot to get a picture anyways.

Hopefully someone has experienced something similar! Thanks for any advice in advance!

Tahoe61 · Mar 15, 2025

Don't intervene yet. Try turning down flow or off for a short period of time.
If tentacles are inflated the anemone is not dead.
How big is the tank, how old is the tank?

andrewey · Mar 15, 2025

This is classic for a new anemone. They will go where they want, not where you want. Give them a month to settle in, they will try different flow and light combinations and walk/float around the tank until they are happy. Moving them will likely only stress them out. I would only intervene if they are going to hurt themselves (floating towards an unguarded powerhead).

Goaway · Mar 15, 2025

Do not bother anemones that move around as they want. You will seriously cause more stress than necessary which will lead to infection and death. If it does die and you never bothered it. Might want to tell us

Lights, tank age.
Test ph, nitrates, phosphates, calc, mag levels. High levels can cause irritation.

and most importantly, is this a green bta or rainbow? Greens are often wild and sick to begin with.

Reds and rainbows can be wild, but most are aqua cultured now.