silversides?

[rocketeer]

At the April meeting, John commented that most things on the reef don't eat fish, so he uses other seafood items in his food. Fine, that makes sense. I have always done the same, mostly by coincedence.

I've seen a few threads now where somebody talked about feeding BTAs silversides. I think maybe that makes sense. I have a 26 inch green brittle star, and some RBTAs. Would my RBTAs and my brittle star eat fish in nature? I've always fed chunks of shrimp and sea scallops (yeah, my critters frequently eat better than I do).

Or, more to the point, should I be feeding my RBTAs and brittle star silversides?


Jack

[hobogato]

i wouldnt. i dont really spot feed my anemones anything. they catch and eat small bits of the food i give the fish which is mostly mysis and krill. just for reference, i have a rbta, ritteri, sebae and lta in my tank.

[JimD]

It really depends on the health of the animal, if its in good health and conditions are right, you shouldnt have to target feed either unless you just want to give them a treat. If the animal is in less than good health, a little extra nutrition may encourage recovery to some degree. Green brittles are pretitory by nature and will trap live food when it can, with one that large, Id be concerned about the fish and shrimp in the tank...

[Gseclipse02]

my fish tend to never let the food hit the ground so my anemones never get to eat i do feed my RBTA ( the top one) brine shrimp and blood worms every so many days (the bottom one) i never feed cuz i have to go deeper into the water and as a result its a lot smaller

[subsailor]

I would also say it depends on how frequently and heavy you feed

[hobogato]

.....as a result its a lot smaller

that may also be a result of it getting less light since it is lower in the tank :wink_smile:

i agree with jim, my answer was based on how healthy i know jack's anemones are :) i still wouldnt feed silversides to even a bleached anemone, it is just much easier for them to digest smaller pieces of food.

[Bill S]

My problem with feeding anemones silversides is that, unless it's a BIG anemone, that's a lot of dead fish to dump in your tank - most of it won't be used by the anemone, and gets expelled. It's easy to foul a tank that way.

Mine rarely get target fed. IF I'm trying to get them to split, I might. And then a krill or 2 - that's it.

[JimD]

If I do feed, I only feed maybe a 1/4 to 1/2" pieces or smaller, never the entire fish, thats way too much!

[msmith619]

I feed my BTA silversides. I only give it 1/3 to 1/2 a silverside or it expells some later. I target feed every week and it is growing like a weed. Recently it started to split but has not completely separated yet.
It started out as a bleached BTA but is nice and green now and the bubble tips are really swollen. It is a very happy anemone. Many peolpe don't feed directly but a lot of other web sites say they can slowly waste away without supplemental feedings. I think it depends on how much light they get.
Anemones have the ability to "taste" what touches them and selectively fire their nematocysts only on a food item. If it doesn't 'grab it' it probably is not a natural food item, try something else. Mine will take mysis and krill but won't take table shrimp.
Mike

[rocketeer]

I only feed pieces of seafood about the size of a pea every couple of days. I would do the same with silversides if I used them.

I know the anemones don't need feeding but I'm trying to get them to grow and split. So if it works, great. If it doesn't, oh well.

Feeding the starfish frozen food is cheeper than feeding him live turbo snails and skunk shrimp. He's one of my favorite critters. When I feed him in front of guests, I always get oohs and aahs.


Ok, bubble tips: a sign of stress or a sign of contentment? I've heard alot of people say bubble tips and splitting are signs of stress. I'm thinking maybe not. How do they look in nature?

Jack

[hobogato]

not sure anyone knows the answer to that first question. i think they typically have more bubbles in nature than in captivity.

i have seen some in captivity that were nothing but bubbles - they have all been situated with their foot deep in crevice and their tenticals have been in extremely high flow. mine is getting more and more bubbles now that the sun is getting brighter.


....Ok, bubble tips: a sign of stress or a sign of contentment? How do they look in nature?

Jack

[PhilipB]

i feed mine 1/3 to 1/2 of a silverside evry 4-7 days seems to like it. my only problem is keeping my cleaner shrimp from stealing it! hes a risk taker i guess !