anemone feeding

[dhurdler]

how often should you feed an anemone? and what would be the best food?

 

[sato]

I always fed mine a few frozen krill about every few days.
I did feed them live feeders a few times...

 

[mudplayerx]

I feed mine once per 3 days. I alternate fronzen seafood that you buy at the grocery store. Some of the things I have fed them is clam, squid, fish, shrimp.
I chop the meat up very finely and mix it with 1ml of phytoplankton in a needleless syringe. I then spot feed the aenmone by squirting it directly into its tentacles. If all of the meat does not come out on the 1st squirt, just suck some tank water into the syringe and try again.
It is safe to feed your anemones flake food when you are lazy/don't have fresh seafood, but don't do this more than a couple times a month.
One last word for anemone success: UNDERFEED!

 

[sula]

Originally posted by mudplayerx
One last word for anemone success: UNDERFEED! [/B]
Just wondering, why do you say this and how do you define under vs. overfeeding? Based upon the amount of food per meal or the frequency of the meals??

 

[sato]

Underfeed as basically feed them once every few days. Their paired clown will bring them some of the food he collects daily so that will help supplement your own feedings.

 

[mudplayerx]

By underfeeding, I mean you must adopt a state of mind when feeding. Whenever you get the gut feeling "is this enough food", always say "yes" without thinking. Never add more food, and if forced to choose from not enough or too much, always go with not enough.

 

[sato]

Or that works too

 

[mombostic]

There are some very interesting threads in the "Clownfish and Anemones" forum about feeding anemones. Lighting is actually where the most important nutrients come from (or so I read.) There is guy on there that has kept BTA for a long time and has lots of useful information.
Also, not all anemones have a clown (mine haven't bonded yet

) so you can't always count on that. They are really neat to feed, though, so good luck and happy reading!

 

[sula]

Well, not every clown brings food to its anemone either, at least mine sure doesn't. The anemone gets a little "snack" every night when I feed the tank mysis, and I've started to give a slightly bigger piece of shrimp, etc a couple times a week.

 

[sammiefish]

I feed my RBTA one silversides about once a week...
(silversides = 2 1/2" whole frozen minnow commercial fish food)

 

[ophiura]

Originally posted by dhurdler
how often should you feed an anemone? and what would be the best food?
Daily with PROPER LIGHTING! What sort of anemone do you have, and what sort of lights do you have?

 

[dhurdler]

not sure on what type of anemone i have i have a post and a pic of it. i have a 29gal tank with 24" Coralife Aqualight Single Linear Strip
(36W Total). is this enough for corals, mushrooms, and everything else?

 

[mudplayerx]

You are going to need more lighting for anemones. I have metal halides, so I don't know much about all the other lights, but you definately need more than you have.

 

[sula]

On my 29 I have 225 watts of VHO - set up specifically with an anemone in mind.

 

[lenard]

i have done a lot of reading up on the " what type of lighting can i afford?" issue. i'm currently leaning towards VHO myself. they seem to be the most cost effective. there is a lot of good info out there on the web about vhos.

 

[mombostic]

I found a really neat fixture that combines PC with metal halides. I felt like metal halide was necessary, but my tank is much bigger than yours. I think people have success with PC or VHO with the bubble tip anemone, but other anemones are harder to care for and need more light. Even though they get nutrition from what we feed them, like I said in the earlier post, I'm pretty sure light provides them with what they need to survive and thrive.