Will a BTA kill my coral?

maxemorris · Nov 4, 2022

I believe my tank is finally established enough to house a BTA. The only thing is that I may have gotten a few (too many) coral while I was waiting for my tank to mature. Here’s a picture of my current scape, and I planned to trade in that duncan coral on the right side and give the BTA that area. That spot has the most crevices for him to stick to.

Even if he walks over the other coral, could he kill something instantly or over night? What are the chances I’ll lose something? I plan to watch him carefully.

Troylee · Nov 4, 2022

You could def wake up to a path of destruction… it’s so hard to say! If it’s happy and doesn’t move you’d be okay till it splits or grows larger.. sometimes they wanna Rome and kill everything in its path… it’s a gamble!

jx.reef · Nov 5, 2022

Yes they will definitely kill everything when it goes on a walk. I lost a huge Koji wada colony when my CSB decided to go for a stroll.

Jekyl · Nov 5, 2022

Yes a bta can harm coral. Also I would wait until you have coraline algae taking over before getting a nem.

vetteguy53081 · Nov 5, 2022

maxemorris said:
I believe my tank is finally established enough to house a BTA. The only thing is that I may have gotten a few (too many) coral while I was waiting for my tank to mature. Here’s a picture of my current scape, and I planned to trade in that duncan coral on the right side and give the BTA that area. That spot has the most crevices for him to stick to.

Even if he walks over the other coral, could he kill something instantly or over night? What are the chances I’ll lose something? I plan to watch him carefully.

It wilkl not but capable of stinging and can take down a small coral. If its moving around you have too much flow causing it to move or lighting issue- too bright it hides and too dim it searches for light

Tamberav · Nov 5, 2022

My BTA irritates but can not kill zoas and most soft corals. It killed an acro really easy. It lost a battle to a indo gold torch… that is the nem would extend only so far and curl back when the torch let it know who was boss. They were right next to each other but would be a neat little space they kept between their tentacles. The torch was very large though, like soccer ball size so that probably helped.

mtraylor · Nov 5, 2022

As other havr said they can definitely kill some corals. Sometimes the justvstay right where younput them. I notice real healthy ones will stay put the most unless they don't like the area younput them in.

Labridaedicted · Nov 5, 2022

It can sting and irritate corals. As far as nems go, bubble tips have pretty mild stings, though. So it's not usually a death sentence unless it's prolonged exposure.

Bubble tips do have a notorious reputation for taking a walk now and then, though, when they're not super happy with their spot. When they do this they will irritate a number of corals when they move around.

As stated above, tank also looks younger than I would normally suggest an anemone in.

mtraylor · Nov 5, 2022

Good point. To be honest I have never gotten a good sting from a bubble tip anemone until I purchased a Chicago sunburst. This bubble tip stung me as good as a ritteri or carpet. I thought the bubbletips were all mild till now.