tube anenome

bubbas929

New Member
i just got a tube anonme from the LFS and he siad they would live on stuff in the water. that just does not sit well with me.
can somebody tell me 1) what to feed them 2) how often and 3) HOW?
Thanks
 

scsinet

Active Member
I feed mine chunks of frozen Mysis (let them thaw a bit first!), chopped raw Tiger Shrimp pieces, feeder guppies... they'll eat just about anything meaty. I feed about once every two days, and I feed the rest of the tank at the same time as some of my other inverts (cleaner shimp in particular) will pick at the food before the anemone has a chance to eat it unless they are distracted. I like to use aqua tongs to reach food down to them.
All you have to do is touch the food to a tentacle. It will stick, then you can just let go with the tongs and move back. The anemone will wrap his tentacles around it and slowly pull it into his mouth. It's kinda freaky.
Perhaps others have better ideas, but this scheme has always worked for me.
Oh, and BTW, my LFS told me the same thing when they sold me my first one. Yeah whatever. It's far too much fun to watch them eat to not feed them...
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
i personally wouldn't feed any freswater feeder guppies to a saltwater animal... it's just not natural. I personally don't have an anemone, but i've read alot that if you find your other animals are competing with the anemone for its food, you can put a fishnet over the anemone while it eats, so the fish can't get at it. The tongs is also a great idea. I've read a lot of people say they feed their anemone silversides.... they go crazy for 'em.
good luck!!!
 

scsinet

Active Member
Don't get me wrong... feeder guppies are a once in a very great while thing. I agree with you; freshwater animals don't have the right nutrients to sustain saltwater creatures. I doubt throwing a feeder guppy to a good sized anemone hurts it when it's like a once a month thing, and it's pretty fun to watch the fish try to fight...or maybe I'm just sick... perhaps both.
It's a great way to dispose of unwanted babies from my FW planted.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
lol. as long as it's not the main food source.... whatever floats your boat... :thinking:
 

mr. fat

New Member
Well hello new owner of a tube anemone,

I have about 20 tube anemones currently in my tank. I have been raising em and trading em. First off, they pretty much attach wherever you first lay them - as long as there is a little current and good light. I place mine about 7 inches under where my filter current for two primary reasons. One being they really seem to like a little current and secondly I feed mine brine shrimp (any small shrimp/meat will do – I prefer brine) and the current of the filter pushes the shrimp into the arms of the anemones before all my fish eat em up. I feed them every other day to every two days.
If you’re doing well, sooner or later you will notice another tube growing some where around the first. After a while it is rather hard to keep them in one area and requires a little cleaning, but I considered it more of a good problem to have.
Lastly – be very careful moving the “tube” as they are very fragile. They’ll break down to almost nothing when you try to move them, just be careful.

P.S Anyone in the Chicago land area want some tube anemones –
legalstudent24@hotmail.com
 

hagfish

Active Member
I just use a turkey baster to spray some cyclopeeze and/or brine/mysis shrimp once or twice a week. Just don't blow too hard because it will scare the anemone back into it's tube.
 

bubbas929

New Member
thanks for all the info, i really appreciate it
i put it in a ceramic bowl about 4 inches across and deep. i used sand from the tank and covered it in it. i do not have enough sand - 4 inches covering the entire tank to let it just lay there.
good news is that it just opened. i was worried it might take a couple days/weeks to open up after transporting it from the LFS
where can i get brine shrimp - my LFS is about 30 miles from me. is this something a freshwater store would have - *****, petsmart?
 

bubbas929

New Member
i just remembered the flake food i feed the tank is Brine Shrimp Plus - it says it is a bleand of seafood( salmon filets, adult brine shrimp, squid, slamon eggs, sea clams, etc), plankton, algae and vitamins - will this suffice?
 

bubbas929

New Member
i might have answered my own question. i took some of the flakes and put them on the tentacles - the food just loated away. i then put some on his "mouth" which i am assuming is the green thing in the middle where all the tentacles surround and it actually moved the food out of there with its tentacles.
 

jon321

Member
just as a side note, i have heard that if you feed feeder fish that have been treated with copper in their life there will be residues in their body that can hurt/kill inverts if fed to them.
Jon
 

scsinet

Active Member
Hmm, I've never really considered that, but you're probably absolutely right. In my case, I'm still okay because the fish I give them is from a FW system I have, they are two or three generations in from the original fish that went into my tank and I've never treated with metals.
 

jon321

Member
ok, just bringing it up, wouldnt want anyone to lose a nice tube anemonie because they fed it a treated feeder.
Jon
 
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