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Gyr · 07-03-2009, 03:45 AM

Not to brag, but rather to rejoice, here is an update on my rose BTA, which I've had for well over a month now and is hale and hearty.
I stumbled onto an easy solution for it's shyness problem. I first just put a wad of filter material in the top of the rock work to block the light from shining down the back wall, and sure enough, the BTA expanded to the front of the rockwork instead of up the back wall. Not wanting to leave the filter material in the tank long term, I removed it and just put a magazine on the back part of the top of the tank to shade the same area and it worked just as well. I found I just needed to leave the magazine there for the first 30 minutes or so after the MH's came on and once the BTA came out, it would stay there for the day. I then set my lights to come on about an hour later than normal so I wouldn't have to get up early just to place the magazine, and the BTA was out front before the lights cycled on that day (the room gets the morning light and I suspect it's the sunlight that motivates the BTA to expand to the front of the tank, not up the back wall). If I close the blinds and don't use the magazine trick, the BTA still expands up the back wall for that day. Interestingly, the BTA hasn't shown any inclination to change its anchor point, it just expands in one direction or the other, depending on where the first light of the day is coming from.
I'll try to attach some shots of BTA in its more visible location....

FTS

Close up

Nice, huh? Now I get to watch the cool interaction between clown and nem. The clown feeds the nem mysis shrimp, even the pellet food I add to the tank. Way cool.

07-03-2009, 03:45 AM	#8 (permalink)
Gyr Midas Blenny Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 97 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: shy BTA Not to brag, but rather to rejoice, here is an update on my rose BTA, which I've had for well over a month now and is hale and hearty. I stumbled onto an easy solution for it's shyness problem. I first just put a wad of filter material in the top of the rock work to block the light from shining down the back wall, and sure enough, the BTA expanded to the front of the rockwork instead of up the back wall. Not wanting to leave the filter material in the tank long term, I removed it and just put a magazine on the back part of the top of the tank to shade the same area and it worked just as well. I found I just needed to leave the magazine there for the first 30 minutes or so after the MH's came on and once the BTA came out, it would stay there for the day. I then set my lights to come on about an hour later than normal so I wouldn't have to get up early just to place the magazine, and the BTA was out front before the lights cycled on that day (the room gets the morning light and I suspect it's the sunlight that motivates the BTA to expand to the front of the tank, not up the back wall). If I close the blinds and don't use the magazine trick, the BTA still expands up the back wall for that day. Interestingly, the BTA hasn't shown any inclination to change its anchor point, it just expands in one direction or the other, depending on where the first light of the day is coming from. I'll try to attach some shots of BTA in its more visible location.... FTS Close up Nice, huh? Now I get to watch the cool interaction between clown and nem. The clown feeds the nem mysis shrimp, even the pellet food I add to the tank. Way cool.