Feeding Anemones

[wwest]

So I decided to feed my anemone something new. I have feed my anemones the same krill for awhile and I was thinking about whole silver sides. What does everyone think and what type of anemone do you have and what do you feed it?

[Phurst]

I have a RBTA. I've only had it 2 or 3 weeks now, and I've been feeding it chunks of shrimp, but I'm sure it would at leat eat parts of silversides. What kind is yours, and how big is it?

[wwest]

Its a RBTA, actually about the same size as yours if i can remember the pictures you posted.

[Phurst]

I'm not sure mine could eat a whole silverside, but it's probably pretty close. It has no problem with pretty good size pieces of shrimp. Give it a try, just make sure it doesn't regurgitate it, or if it does you clean it up. I'm sure you know all this anyway, but I'd be curious to see if it would eat awhole one.

How often do you feed yours?

[wwest]

I might try a silver side. I know little about anemones. I purchased one about 2 years ago and within a month is split, well i have had the two forever and krill always worked really well. But if i remember right theres something about anemones digesting food and instead of turning it into nutrients it pretty much digests it and then ex spells the digesting food not turning it into energy. When i started thinking about that i thought that krill isn't anything special and i want to make sure my RBTA gets all the nutrients it can get. My 2 sabae's thrived off of krill but I'm not sure sabae's and Bubble tips are the same in organs and digesting methods. I just want to cover all grounds :)

I feed mine every other day. I feed it 2-4 peaces of krill. How about yourself?

[doctorthompson]

Our anemone is a very healthy Saddle Carpet Anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni) that was purchased (rescued?) as a bleached and dying specimen from a local LFS, which had 2 of them. After purchasing it we had to feed it every day for a month before we could even tell what color it was. I was hoping for blue but it's a typical green specimen with a pink mouth.

Since I doubt it gets much from our 2x65w power compacts at the bottom of the 75g tank we feed it 2 or 3 finely chopped up silversides (soaked in Selco or Selcon depending on that month's budget) every 2 days plus it receives a small number of live amphipods and mysis shrimp from the upstream fuge that flows into the tank above the anemone. The host saddleback clown helps out with feeding now, which is cool because we don't have to lift the lid anymore. We just drop a chunk of silverside into the water and the clown swims out, grabs it, brings it back, and sticks it on the anemone. Very fun to watch.

Other things it may have eaten:
no fish (yet!) but possibly a peppermint shrimp and perhaps a pom pom crab, haven't seen either of them for a while ... ever wonder if moonlights were worth adding to your tank? If you have a big anemone I'd recommend keeping a moonlight shining near it for a few hours each night so your night crew tankmates can more easily see it.

We really need to put this thing and it's host saddleback clown in a dedicated tank soon or we're going to be minus 1 large (and quite stupid) lyretail anthia Real Soon Now(tm). While these anemones are notorious fish eaters, the anthia is the only one I'm actually worried about. She is particularly brazen about how far she can go with regards to taunting and pestering the host clown - and that clown is big enough now that she could easily grab a fin or tail and drag the anthia down an inch or two to stick on the anemone. Our tank is a 75 so it isn't very deep, I don't think anthias and carpet anemones exist very close to each other in the wild.

Interesting story: A few weeks after we got the anemone, I was back at the same store for something when I actually heard an employee refer to the second one (which was looking even worse than before) as a "rare albino bubble tip" while trying to pawn it off on an unsuspecting customer who had a 20g tank and 1 clownfish ... needless to say, I went ballistic and probably got her fired. I think the fault was totally on the clerk so I won't say the name of the LFS chain... it is a large franchise... owned by a Big guy... and I think his name is Al.

[Phurst]

I love the way carpets look, but I'm scared of their reputations as fish eaters.

Wes, I've been feeding mine once a week, but I might step that up now.

[PhotoJohn]

I have a green and white carpet and a BTA...I feed the carpet halfed silver sides every few days and the bta gets small silver side chuncks. My stars always try to steal the food from the bta, so I always cut extra for them...Anyway, my carpet has never taken a fish, shrimp, or crab to date. But it has only been a month :) The sad part about my carpet is my clowns will not host in it.

[V]

As long as its digestable & closely resembles the mouth part size on full inflate, then your laughing. Most will take it, & will reject anything that doesn't sit well with them. the strike rates pretty high in you favour in this regard, regardless of species.
If you have the fish/amen combo, then 2 things result. 1st the fish indirrectly feeds small pieces &/or juice in its own greedy feeding practices, or 2, by dirrect gross feeding near the mouth part with my fav(training chopsticks) & it is rejected, the fish or surrounding animals are more than likely to mop it up anyways.

worst case, chopstick it out of there to your pirhana tank.:o

[matt460]

I am just wondering if the shrimp you are feeding are the ones you can get at the store, or are they special ones.

[Phurst]

I use frozen shrimp from the grocery store. Raw shelled frozen in a bag. I just cut a chunk off and thaw it in some tank water.

[wwest]

Right on Phurst, Just remember to get the uncooked ones. I would suggest krill but shrimp will work as long as they are uncooked and unseasoned :)

[redvipe2010]

I found that smaller portions (no bigger than the anemones mouth) 2 - 3 times a week work well. Feeding too big of portions will cause the anemone to regurgitate and end up not getting any food.

Raw shrimp, krill, mysis shrimp, silversides, lance fish, etc. are all good choices.

[Seahorsedreams]

Whatever I am feeding the volitan/fuzzy/and the mantis' is what I feed the anemone. They get different things throughout the week. Feeding days are Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

[JustDavidP]

I fed mine silversides, uncooked cocktail shrimp and live killifish. I still catch and keep killifish (atlantic mumchog) to feed my friends' tanks. Neo (Gustavo) feeds his Magnifica (Ritteri) with these same fish.

Dave

[JustDavidP]

Here are some piccies of the feeder fish I use.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/killi2.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/killi.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/killitank2.jpg

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/killitank.jpg

Dave

[wildeone]

I would feed mine krill and silversides. Usually 1/2 of a silverside every three days. I would soak for anout 1/2 an hour in selcon prior to feeding.