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My BTA ate my clown fish?

dz6t

Acro Garden
BRS Sponsor
BRS Member
Hi:

I got this beautiful BTA and it was start eating the 2nd day I got him. I fed him a piece of raw shrimp and he took it at once. The next morning, my clown fish is gone. My tank is small and I search everywhere and could not find the fish. No, the fish was not on the floor, not in the filter, not between live rocks (I wish I have more LR), not here or there and not everywhere.

I test the water for two days now and Amina 0, nitrite 0 and Nitrate undetectable (thanks to marco alge). I did a 20% water change anyway. Today, the BTA is spiting something like a blub of white flesh hanging on his mouth and starts to walking around. The BTA is still puffy and still has its color.

Is it possible that the BTA ate the clown fish? Is my BTA in trouble?

Thanks for any help.

The tank is a 20 gallon long with a HOT Magnum 250, 1 AC200 (loaded with Chemi-pure), 1 AC mini and 1 Rio 600 PH. about 10 lbs of LR and some dead hard coral for deco. I am going to add a seaclone 100 once I receive it. The light is a 65W PC 50/50 and a 20w NO. the light is concentrated on the area that the BTA and some soft coral stay. Going to get a bigger light soon. There are 2 to 3 inch of LS mixed with dolomite gravel. pH=8.3 and Ca level around 480mg/L. Now there is No Fish. 3 Hermit and 2 big snails.
 
Oh My gosh! I just checked up the BTA and it looks like it has two mouth and splitting.
 
Bad news, the BTA walked away and in hiding now 8-(
 
You might end up with 2
I have never seen a BTA eat clown fish, I am not saying it can not happen
 
Hi:

I check the BTA this morning, it is still in one piece and it is behind a large piece of LR and facing the back of the tank. He is in original color with bubble tips. I hope it will moved back to the original position. I guess what I did wrong was to change the canister filter's return flow direction and led to increase water current at its old position and upsaded the BTA.
 
I've never heard of a BTA eating a clownfish :( But BTAs do split, so you might end up with two :) They will move around to find a spot that they like. If he still has his color and looks healthy, I wouldn't worry too much. You might want to change the water flow again to try to get him to move back to where you want him.
 
If hungry maybe they will?
My LTA suddenly gained in size, and my clowns dissapeared :(
 
I changed the flow back to original direction. Now, it is the waiting game for the BTA to move.
 
sorry to hear about your clown disappearing. this thread just reminded me to feed my btas. i would be inconsolable if my clowns were eaten.
 
The BTA is back out and I am very sure it ate the clown fish. It was oval shape after the clown fish disappeared (that was why I thought it was splitting). Now the BTA is back to round shape after slowly spitted out some poop.
 
I traded my green carpet to my local fish store. A day after they put him in there tank I watched him eat 1 of the saddle clown fish of the 3 that were in there. I couldn't beleive I was really seening it, but then the fish was "gone" before my eyes. Glad I sold him before that was my clown fish!
 
Got it!!!

I shined a light behind the tank and look through the BTA's body (its tenticles are deflated right now as usual), I can see part of the orange red body of the clown fish still inside the BTA. The BTA's body is still twice the size of when I got him on Sunday.

Case closed!

The sentence of the BTA is... feed him more often and a 20% water change tomorrow.
 
Ok, time to look for a new clown fish. I am not going to buy it from Petco again. Any for sale?
 
Wow I knew a carpet would eat them, but a bubble? just wierd.
 
poor little clown.... :(

hmmmm, makes me a little apprehensive about moving the clowns into the new tank. I was kinda excited to give the little guys a new home. Hmmmmm, now I'm gonna be paranoid.

I'm gonna make sure the RBTA is WELL fed before making the transition. :)

Sorry for the loss dz6t.
 
Good grief, poor little clownfish, thought he was in his safe haven...... I read some time ago that it's rare they eat fish (I think it was wetwebmedia.com), but it does happen. You could also trade it for another BTA? Good luck with your next clownfish!
 
Man, I am sorry to hear that! He got the BTA from me and my clowns hosted in the original for some time before it split but never in the clone.
 
I thought clowns were immune to the paralytic anemone sting? Could this unfortunate event have more to do with the fish than the anemone? It's hard to imagine that the clone would be any different from the parent, since it's not sexual reproduction. They are identical individuals, genetically and physically. The clone is made of tissue that used to be the non-fish-eating parent.
 
Hi:
The clown fish I had was very tiny, it is less than a inch long. Ray's clown fish are much bigger. I think I triggered the BTA's craze about flesh by feeding him raw shrimp.
 
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