Feeding Anemone's

[bdls]

How often should feed my anemone? daily,twice a week, once a week or what. I have a bubble tip anemone when it's fully opened it's about 3" - 3 1/2"round.
Thanks

[jroescher]

You don't really need to feed it at all. Well, maybe occassionally feed it because it's really neat to watch. They just need good light. If it stays in place and opens well, then it's a happy camper.

It gets most of it's nutrition from zooxanthellae inside it, which gets it's energy from light.

[bdls]

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping my clown fish would take to it, but it like to hang out in a mushroom.

[Ram_Puppy]

i dont see a reason not to feed it if you want to.

when i worked at cb pets i had their anemones eating krill twice a week. I have fed my own anemones shrimp from heb 2 times a week. if the anemone is not hungry, it won't take it.

[MoonPie]

I agree with Ram Puppy, while I am at work at CB Pets I feed the anemone's twice a week. They enjoy krill and silversides.

[edawgm]

I feed mine about once every week and a half or two weeks. Or just when ever I feel like watching them make the silversides vanish. Though my tube anemone is the funnest to watch since it pulls its food in.

[ClownReef®]

Anemones need to be fed no matter what. As we cannot soley survive on snacks, anemones cant either.
You can feed it once a week, maybe a silverside or some krill.

There is a huge misunderstanding when people think the clowns will feed it. They dont, they store food for later.

[bdls]

Thanks for the replies guy's.

[dapettit]

Sorry to barge in on your post. . .

I've been feeding my condi twice a week. Have been feeding is it sea bass (only thing I had available). I live in Austin. Where can I get some silversides?

Thanks.

DAP

[edawgm]

Sorry to barge in on your post. . .

I've been feeding my condi twice a week. Have been feeding is it sea bass (only thing I had available). I live in Austin. Where can I get some silversides?

Thanks.

DAP

you can get them at most any LFS. Just ask about them.

[Bill S]

Wow. I've been so totally unsuccessful with my RBTAs. I think in the last 2 years I've had oh, about 15 clones. And, right now, I have 7 in my big tank. I stink at this.

I almost NEVER feed mine. Oh, maybe once a month? They eat what they manage to snag from tank feedings and from the clownfish. Otherwise, I'll feed them when they look hungry (long, thin tenticles). Feeding one a silversides just seems SO over the top. Adding that amount of "dead fish" certainly doesn't help one's struggle to keep Nitrates in control - it's just like having a fish die!

[dabudkrew]

i was told to use Micro Vert by Kent its a liquid, but i really dont know if its working or not

[Ram_Puppy]

Bill,

I don't think anyone would ever argue that your unsuccessful!

I am not sure why Micro Vert would be needed dabudkrew... i'll read up on it, but i expect it's a 'spend your money' product.

[Ram_Puppy]

Kent Micro-Vert contains a nutritionally balanced diet for corals, sponges, anemones, gorgonians, feather dusters, clams and other fine filter feeders. It is rich in vitamins and natural minerals from spirulina and kelp. Other products have not been properly preserved and smelled rotten, or were preserved with harsh, non food grade chemicals that smell like medicated mouthwash. Who wants to put these products into their expensive and sensitive marine aquarium? Kent Micro-Vert is properly preserved, with preservatives reserved for human food use. It has a long shelf life without refrigeration and will provide superior results, just smell the difference!

this is worthless for a BTA - probably for most other filter feeders as well. I would personally discontinue use, and replace w/ a good phyto (if you have filter feeders that need something liket his) like tahitian blend.

thats just my perspective though.

[ClownReef®]

i was told to use Micro Vert by Kent its a liquid, but i really dont know if its working or not

Feeding an anemone with liquids is like feeding steak to a plant.

My suggestions:

-Silversides
-Krill
-Mysis
-Fresh shrimp

Feeding your anemone is a necessity. Feeding ONE silverside is not over the top. If you think it is, then stop feeding all of your fish all together. Yoiu are going to have waste no matter what. You can even feed HALF a silverside if you want.

Another little tip you can use is "turbo" charging your silversides or shrimp with cyclopeeze. Just cut a little hole on the shrimp/silverside and inject some cyclopeeze in it. Your anemone will love it.

[Ram_Puppy]

Another little tip you can use is "turbo" charging your silversides or shrimp with cyclopeeze. Just cut a little hole on the shrimp/silverside and inject some cyclopeeze in it. Your anemone will love it.

good one!

There is a seafood salad mix you can buy frozen at HEB, it has shrimp, squid, mussels, etc.. in it, and it's cheap. so I usually mix it up. not every anemone will like everything in it, and of course, you should feed size appropriate food. shrimp always seems to be liked best to me (shrimp, krill, etc)

cyclopzeeze has a natural chemical in it that stimulates a feeding response in fish, i expect it does the same for an anemone.

overfeed the nem - and yes, that waste will end up in your tank, but if you feed it appropriately most of that biomass should end up as new anemone. :)

Bill, there are two types of E. Quadricolor, a deeper water version, and a colonial version. I wonder if you have a colonial type anemone... that might explain it's proliferation.

[ClownReef®]

Ram,

And now that you mention it. Part of my "my bta lost its bubble tips" theory has to do between deep water and shallow reefs E. quadricolor. Good point!

[Ram_Puppy]

well it's not widely known that BTA's elongate their tentacles when hungry, i wonder how many people think they just lost their bubbles when the anemone is just starving? or maybe the confuse the two...

[dabudkrew]

Thanks Ram Puppy and ClownReef, never again will i listen to my LFS, Thanks again

[Ping]

Let's take a deeper look at this

What are the daily caloric requirements of an anemone? An anemone is an animal with a low metabolism, low energy expenditure and low caloric storage capacity. How many calories does an anemone require in nature to reach homeostasis and where do these calories come from?

The Primary energy requirements are received from Photosynthesis (symbiotic algae). An analogy would be that I do not feed my aptasia anemones and they grow just fine.

What is done in a LF store is not what happens in nature or as we know, may not be conducive to long term survivability in our systems.

Do anemones need food from other than light sources.........YES. How they receive this feeding is dependant on the system.

Anemones consume the waste from the tank inhabitants, Plankton in larger systems, and excessive food they gather during the feeding of other tank inhabitants. In nature, how often will they receive a large meal, my thoughts are almost never. Their is not a lot of large flesh free floating in the ocean.

Small daily feedings are much more appropriate. In less fed systems, this may have to be intentionally introduced to the tentacles. If we feed to excess, then we have a pollution problem. That will lead to other long term problems.

[Bill S]

I only feed mine when their tentacles get long - which is rarely. Mine seem to split about every 6 months or so.

[apedroza]

also just because they extend their tentacles doesn't mean they are starving. The ones Ive had in the past and the current one I have always had their tentacle extended. I feed mine 1 silver side a week, but the tentacles remain elongated.

[Ram_Puppy]

ok... so...

I am going to assume that anemones know when they are hungry, and when they are not. I have had anemones refuse foods that i know they like.

so...
anemone eats food offered = great (no matter how often)
anemone does not eat food = great (remove solid food item from tank)

Bubble tip anemones are not 'evolved' to eat microfauna, if they get some, i am sure that is great. but they have a mouth large enough to eat small shrimp and fish for a reason. they have a stomach capable of handling prey of that size for a reaason. Form Follows Function. while there are usualyl not chunks of meat floating arround in the ocean free, there are fishies swimming there, and there are unwise crustaceans that get a little to close.

[Ping]

Ram Puppy, I stand corrected.

They have not evolved to eat only micro-fauna. I thought about their digestive system and my posting. Got back online and read your post. You are correct.

However I still stand by my posting with the exception of "almost never" changing to "infrequently", as far as large sized food sources go.

I know there are 2 schools of thought on anemone feeding. My way and yours. My "opinion" is towards conservative feeding and pollution control. Both feeding methods have a proven record for success. I feel over feeding is a common problem in our hobby.

[Willow]

Bill, there are two types of E. Quadricolor, a deeper water version, and a colonial version. I wonder if you have a colonial type anemone... that might explain it's proliferation.Is there a difference in appearance between the two?...

[Richard]

Bubble tip anemones are not 'evolved' to eat microfauna, if they get some, i am sure that is great. but they have a mouth large enough to eat small shrimp and fish for a reason. they have a stomach capable of handling prey of that size for a reaason. Form Follows Function. while there are usualyl not chunks of meat floating arround in the ocean free, there are fishies swimming there, and there are unwise crustaceans that get a little to close.


With that logic then shouldn't the case be that quadricolors should not be fed larger items (krill,silversides, etc.) since they have a very weak sting/grasp that most any healthy fish can break free of, unlike anemones like carpets etc.?

[dabudkrew]

how do you feed one?

[BIGBIRD123]

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[Jeff]

i thought you would agree steve.

[ClownReef®]

Long stringy tentacles does not mean the anemone is hungry. These are VERY complex animals which a lot is still being discovered about.

Willow,

From what i can see..color is a huge difference. Shallow reef RBTA's have that bright red color. While deep water RBTA's displays a brownish color.. Thats just my hypothesis.. Maybe there is no connection at all.

[erikharrison]

I either use a cube of brine, or a cube of cyclopeeze. I prefer the cyclo, because it is really small, and probably eaiser for the anemone to process. I do feed krill on occasion, but only if I have ripped it up into manageable bits for the anemone to eat.