Feeding my anemone?????????????????
- Thread starter allyric
- Start date
urethekau
Member
I feed my anemone thawed table shrimp, about the size piece of my pinky fingernail, every day. Although a couple times a week is what everyone else seems to do. By all means, thaw it though! Some people feed them silversides. You don't have to order anything from the internet. Fresh seafood (like the little table shrimp) from the grocery store is fine. I even had an anemone that ate fresh scallops.
1knight164
Member
I put a frozen cube of mysis towards the mouth. I also feed it frozen raw shrimp and I only feed once a week.
allyric
Member
Ok, thank you all for your responses. I may have a problem though, I went to feed him some squid which I got from my local pet shop, and when I got home I noticed that aroud his mouth is like a white ring or somthing simular. I wish I could take a picture but I can't. it allmost looks like a white ring about a 1/4 inch wide all the way around, does anyone know what this is. I knowit wasn't there yesterday.
steelgluer
Member
Originally Posted by allyric
I've read an this thread what to feed your anemone, but how do you actually do this. If you havefrozen brine shrimp, how do you spot feed it to him.
Thank you :help:
4 oysters 4 clams 4 large scaloops 4 muscles 4 large shrimp blend well and serve... Turkey baster fill and squeeze ..
I've read an this thread what to feed your anemone, but how do you actually do this. If you havefrozen brine shrimp, how do you spot feed it to him.
Thank you :help:
4 oysters 4 clams 4 large scaloops 4 muscles 4 large shrimp blend well and serve... Turkey baster fill and squeeze ..
T
thomas712
Guest
Feeding Your Anemone
[hr]
Feeding Your Anemone
Feeding can range from 3 times a week to every 2 weeks. Some aquarists have had success not directly feeding their anemones at all, although the anemones could be catching food meant for fish You can use any of the following types of foods, but remember to try to keep the pieces no larger than the size of the anemones mouth or the size of a pencil eraser.
Mysis shrimp, krill, silversides, clams, scallops, frozen plankton, cyclopeeze, crab, or even some small pieces of fish found at the local meat market. A large bag of peeled and divided shrimp can be obtained from one of the local supermarkets and may last a very long time, and has the advantage of being fit for human consumption. The above foods can usually be sucked up in a turkey baster and gently squeezed into the tentacles surrounding the oral disk, if healthy, hungry and sticky the anemone will grab onto the food and draw it in. In some cases like feeding silversides or krill to carpet anemones you can use a pair of plastic aquarium tongs to place the food into the tentacles of the anemone.
Never use frozen brine shrimp or the dehydrated kind, its nutritional value is almost worthless.
Never force feed your anemone, it will either take in the food or it will not, in some cases it may eject the food after a few hours, do not try to re feed it for a few days, most likely it is simply full and had enough.
Try to remember that most hobbyists will over feed their anemones, imagine what they really would get in the wild. I raise Bubble Tip Anemones and sometimes will go 2 months without having to feed them. Carpet anemones would be a different story, you may still need to feed them on a weekly basis. Over feeding can lead to reduced water quality, particularly around the anemone itself if it expels food often and the food lays idle around the anemones area.
Also remember that feeding is no substitute for improper lighting, it will only delay the inevitable slow starvation in my opinion. The zooxanthellae that lives in the anemone must have light in order to survive and continue its photosynthesis. It is this zooxanthellae that provides the anemone with nutrition.
Liquid foods and target foods may actually be harmful to your anemones directly, and indirectly through degradation of the water quality of the aquarium. I know there are a lot of additives out there that boast that they are ideal for anemones, in my opinion don’t believe it.
You may also try making your own homemade food in an attempt to keep additives and preservatives out of them. This may be one of the best things you can do for both fish and your anemones as well as other inverts.
[hr]
Feeding Your Anemone
Feeding can range from 3 times a week to every 2 weeks. Some aquarists have had success not directly feeding their anemones at all, although the anemones could be catching food meant for fish You can use any of the following types of foods, but remember to try to keep the pieces no larger than the size of the anemones mouth or the size of a pencil eraser.
Mysis shrimp, krill, silversides, clams, scallops, frozen plankton, cyclopeeze, crab, or even some small pieces of fish found at the local meat market. A large bag of peeled and divided shrimp can be obtained from one of the local supermarkets and may last a very long time, and has the advantage of being fit for human consumption. The above foods can usually be sucked up in a turkey baster and gently squeezed into the tentacles surrounding the oral disk, if healthy, hungry and sticky the anemone will grab onto the food and draw it in. In some cases like feeding silversides or krill to carpet anemones you can use a pair of plastic aquarium tongs to place the food into the tentacles of the anemone.
Never use frozen brine shrimp or the dehydrated kind, its nutritional value is almost worthless.
Never force feed your anemone, it will either take in the food or it will not, in some cases it may eject the food after a few hours, do not try to re feed it for a few days, most likely it is simply full and had enough.
Try to remember that most hobbyists will over feed their anemones, imagine what they really would get in the wild. I raise Bubble Tip Anemones and sometimes will go 2 months without having to feed them. Carpet anemones would be a different story, you may still need to feed them on a weekly basis. Over feeding can lead to reduced water quality, particularly around the anemone itself if it expels food often and the food lays idle around the anemones area.
Also remember that feeding is no substitute for improper lighting, it will only delay the inevitable slow starvation in my opinion. The zooxanthellae that lives in the anemone must have light in order to survive and continue its photosynthesis. It is this zooxanthellae that provides the anemone with nutrition.
Liquid foods and target foods may actually be harmful to your anemones directly, and indirectly through degradation of the water quality of the aquarium. I know there are a lot of additives out there that boast that they are ideal for anemones, in my opinion don’t believe it.
You may also try making your own homemade food in an attempt to keep additives and preservatives out of them. This may be one of the best things you can do for both fish and your anemones as well as other inverts.
allyric
Member
Thank you Thomas for your response. I will take in to account all that you have shared with me. Today however my anemone which is a green tip bubble, moved from the top of the live rocks and took up residense down in a open pathway between rocks. It's kind of cool to see him now because at night after the main lightd go out and the moonlights come on he relaxes and is spread out everywhere under and through rocks. I nver thought anemones would be so much fun. I may hold off on corals for a whileand spend a little more time with anemones. I have a 55 gal long tank with about 80pounds of live rock with T5 lighting. about how many anemones can you have with this size tank?????? I hope to get an 185gal tank after my basment is finished, which will be around this time next year. It will be awesome because it will be built in and will be viewed from both sides.
but for now how many do you think is a right number???? I have right now a morroon clown a hippo tang, and a damsel. all fish under 1.5inches. Will be adding a flame angel and cleaning crew. I will also add one more fish like a sand fish or somthing but that will be all that is in theis tank. So how many anemones do you think???? O by the way the anemone I have is about 10inches in diameter when relaxed at night.
T
thomas712
Guest
Well I started with one in a 55 gallon tank, by the time it has split a few times I went to a much better system and had gained in knowledge. Somewhere there is a post of my getting rid of anemones. I took well over 30 out of my 90 and still had over a dozen in there. It was a lot of fun and since they were all from the same anemone they built themselves a colony. It really became a bit problematic and I redid the tank and made room for other corals and such.
How many in a 55? well it all depends on your success at it, but I'd keep the number low, and that is only a suggestion. Conceivably you could keep a few dozen though, give or take.
Pic1 shows the three that I moved over
Pic 2 shows an entire colony on that side of my tank, but there are many more scattered throughout the tank.
Thomas
How many in a 55? well it all depends on your success at it, but I'd keep the number low, and that is only a suggestion. Conceivably you could keep a few dozen though, give or take.
Pic1 shows the three that I moved over
Pic 2 shows an entire colony on that side of my tank, but there are many more scattered throughout the tank.
Thomas
T
thomas712
Guest
It could just be the type that I had, I didn't get them to split by doing anythting, they just lived and did it on their own. True mine never grew to large size, a few with room, got rather big but ajdusted as space became limited.
Every tank is going to be different. The splitting usually takes place at night, if all goes well it should be done in a matter of hours and when you wake up you will have two. It has to decide it wants to though.
Thomas
Every tank is going to be different. The splitting usually takes place at night, if all goes well it should be done in a matter of hours and when you wake up you will have two. It has to decide it wants to though.
Thomas