Will BTA eat asterina starfish?

[inkvitalis]

As per the title...
Asterinas' ate about a 1/3 of my neon glow Australian organ pipe... I do not have that many Asterinas in my tank. So it's more like a call for vendetta

 

[Mark Derail]

LOL just this weekend I had fun doing that. Fed one Friday night, didn't dump it. Maybe an hour later, fed another one. Gulped it.

I was amazed! Then, maybe another hour later, OMG !!!

My 4 color BTA was hanging on the glass, near the top, so feeding it the little stars was easy. Some time after the second one, around 11pm, it started stretching like crazy, a sure sign of a split. Next morning, I had two BTAs!

A tiny one at the top, and the larger mass went down to the bottom. Now, the little guy took an asterina, tasted it, then chucked it. Haven't tried giving one to the bigger dude at the bottom.

I also have a huge Condi nem that eats anything - I usually feed him tiny pieces of raw swordfish that I cut up into cubes 1/4 by 1/4 in. I have "dropped" asterinas on him before on a tentacle and it did pull it in. Didn't notice if swallowed, not like the swordfish chunk, that goes right in.

 

[inkvitalis]

Awesome. Are you getting your swordfish meat @LFS?

 

[Mark Derail]

Awesome. Are you getting your swordfish meat @LFS?

Fish market. Five bucks for a swordfish steak (raw of course) gives me a years supply giving the nems a morcel twice a week. Especially the big Condi, I have mixed reef, and he wreaks havoc to my corals when he goes full nomad. Keeping him fed & fat, so far, he doesn't move much.

Also at fish market, I am planning on buying raw scraps for making a DIY fish food recipe. It involves a blender and warm weather (to open the windows)

 

[inkvitalis]

Fish market. Five bucks for a swordfish steak (raw of course) gives me a years supply giving the nems a morcel twice a week. Especially the big Condi, I have mixed reef, and he wreaks havoc to my corals when he goes full nomad. Keeping him fed & fat, so far, he doesn't move much.

Also at fish market, I am planning on buying raw scraps for making a DIY fish food recipe. It involves a blender and warm weather (to open the windows)

That's nice. Will have a look if i can get hold of some raw swordfish.. i'm giving mine red plankton mostly.

 

[Mark Derail]

Swordfish - it's cheap - also hard / tough; many use shrimp and clams. I also buy clams, but fresh in season they are 1$ each - that's a buck-a-meal. Any raw, deboned, marine fish will do. Variety is good.

 

[inkvitalis]

The only downside is that if you do not have an extensive cleanup crew and nem spits out a chunk of meat, you end up having a ton of diotomes, ihmo
That's the reason i feed mine small foods like mysis and red plankton a couple of times per week