Feeding your anemone
Feeding can range from 3 times a week to once every 2 weeks. Some aquarists have had success not directly feeding their anemones at all, although I suspect their anemones are capturing food that is meant for the fish. Food usually consists of a piece of raw shrimp about the size of the anemone's mouth. Lance fish, silversides, clams, scallops and other frozen marine organisms can also be used, but I find them more messy. A large bag of peeled and deveined shrimp can be obtained from one of the local discount supermarkets and may last many, many months and has the added advantage of being fit for human consumption.
Liquid foods and Target foods may actually be harmful to your anemones directly (several aquarists stated that their anemones started to die as soon as they began to use liquid target foods) and indirectly though degradation of your water quality.
The jury is still out on vitamins. I could not find any common thread in my data that would point towards them being helpful or harmful. My suggestion would be to use them sparingly, or not at all.
Easier to keep anemones
Stichodactyla haddoni, Saddle Carpet, saddleback anemone, Haddoni anemone
This anemone is often not distinguished from other carpets in the dealers tanks. The tentacles are short and knobby and usually densely packed. There is usually a reddish to pinkish ring around the mouth that isn't present on other carpets. Groups of tentacles on the same anemone may be of different colors forming a striped pattern on the anemone. If not striped they are usually a greyish-green, although bright greens, yellows and even blues are sometimes seen.
Good Points- This may be the easiest anemone to keep for long periods of time. Light suitable for soft corals anyears in the bottom of a 30 gal. tall aquarium with only 60 watts of fluorescent light. Reasonable nitrate levels for fish seem to be OK for this anemone. For its first 3 years my anemone lived in water that measured 30 ppm of nitrate on a Seatest Kit and showed no ill effects. They will grow faster however given better conditions.
Bad Points- This anemone will eat your fish! (not your clownfish) Dwarf angels, small tangs, blennies and small shrimp seem to be prone to getting eaten. Pseudochromis, hawkfish and some others don't seem to have a problem. The clownfish that accept this anemone also seem to be limited. They are accepted by saddleback clowns, true sebae clowns, Clarki clowns and usually tomato clowns.
Entacmaea quadricolor, Bulb, bubble, bubble-tipped, maroon anemone
Recently obtained individuals will usually have unmistakable swollen ends on the tips of their tentacles. Specimens in captivity will often lose their bubble-tips for periods of time and just have long straight tentacles. The tentacles usually have a green color especially when exposed to only actinic light. The tentacles may also have a frosty white ring around the tip. The base is often rusty-red but may also be purple or just tan. The Rose anemone is a color variation of this anemone.
Good Points- Normal reef lighting is enough (above 4 watts per gal.) for this type of anemone and may be more than enough. Nitrate levels below 20 ppm are preferred. Small ones may reproduce asexually in your aquarium by dividing into two smaller anemones. Their sting is rather weak and won't harm your other fish. They are accepted by Clarki-type clowns, all the different tomato-type clowns, maroon clowns and sometimes, although very rarely, percula and ocellaris clowns.
Bad Points- These anemones tend to wander around the tank more than others, sometimes causing their own deaths from lack of light or being sucked through a powerhead. They like to have their foot shaded inside a crevice in the rock or coral with their tentacles in the light. This preference might be met by placing a short piece of PVC pipe, sized to the anemone, where you want the anemone to stay and putting its base into the pipe. They seem to be sensitive to being shipped. Make sure the one you pick out has a tight mouth and is firmly attached to something in the dealers tank. Any anemone that is not attached to something in the dealers tank is probably not healthy. In addition, when the dealer tries to remove the anemone from the tank the anemone should show some type of reaction, usually they contract.
Bad Points- They must have bright lighting. They normally live with their base buried deep in the sand and sometimes have a difficult time finding an attachment spot in a reef-type tank.
