Anenome feeding

[Guest reeffoto]

What does everyone feed their anenomes.  I just added 3 anenome's.  One for each tank.  Also has anyone had luck having a tank raised clown hosting in an anenome

[michaelg]

go to the oriental market and buy a dozen or so shrimp.  Put in baggie and throw in freezer.  I feed a slice off a shrimp a couple times a week- cut frozen, put in a small cup of tank water, and add a couple of drops of selcon.  Hand feed to anenomes.

 

As for tank raised fish hosting- they should no problem.  Clarkiis are some of the easiest to get to host- as they are found in all types of hosting anenomes in the wild.  Oscellaris can take a while, but I have seen them captive in several types of anenomes.  What kind of anenome did you add?

[Guest reeffoto]

I have a bubble , green bubble  and a rose bubble.  The maroon in the main system went right to the RBTA.  But the tank raised black oscellaris doesn't go near the the Anenome's in her tank.  I guess she will in time.

[Aquariareview]

I feed mine shrimp like michaelg but I also feed mine small pieces of raw salmon and squid, I rotate through the foods

[Sph2sail]

I feed mine the coral chow that we made during the DIY project, along with various other stuff like Mysis shrimp.

 

Living well my friend...

 

s

[Marty]

I've got a sebae that I feed a range of raw seafood.  Shrimp, scallops, clams, fish, etc.  Do as Michael suggested, thaw in tank water with some selcon.  Hand feed or use plastic tweezers.  

 

I have a tank raised clarkii clown that took right to the sebae.  The only problem with it is it's rather large now and really aggressive.

[Sph2sail]

I followed Reefmon's and MichaelG's advice and use a turkey baster to feed my anemones along with any corals that have mouths.

 

s

[traveller7]

I have a bubble , green bubble  and a rose bubble.  The maroon in the main system went right to the RBTA.  But the tank raised black oscellaris doesn't go near the the Anenome's in her tank.  I guess she will in time.

E. quadricolor is the natural host for maroons and they typically will not waste any time getting into one.

 

If the anemone position allows, you may be able to place a picture on the glass of a "like" clown in the anemone area as if it is hosting.

 

You could also try to place a picture of a large P. volitans on the other end of the tank.  Maybe try both ;>)

 

One of the other has appeared to "work" very quickly for some folks.

 

fwiw:  I have 4 tanks with E. quads and have wild caught maroons, TR maroons, TR clarkii, and TR ocellaris hosting.

 

fwiw2:  My anemone prefer silversides to krill and shrimp, indicated by the amount of regurgitated material and anemone condition.

 

Best of luck.

[Sph2sail]

My anemone prefer silversides to krill and shrimp, indicated by the amount of regurgitated material and anemone condition.

 

In other words, if he doesn't like it, he throws up?  Interesting.

 

Anemone condition I understand.  I did not know they would puke if they didn't like what they ate...

 

s

[traveller7]

In other words, if he doesn't like it, he throws up?  Interesting.

 

Anemone condition I understand.  I did not know they would puke if they didn't like what they ate...

 

s

I can only infer they may not digest the different foods as effiiciently.

 

In addition, it appears there is a differing feeding response to foods between E. quad, H. mag, and H. crispa.

 

For the record, I have at least 4 different E. quad parents, but only one example of H. mag and H. crispa.  Certainly not scientific so I still feed a variety to all, although some foods definitely create more tank mess later :p

[Guest Reef Nuby]

ok, so its safe to say most use unprosessed seafood for your anenomes, and you can use a turkey baster, or hand feed them (that is unless i totally missed what most were saying).

 

but, how does an anenome eat?...i mean i feed mine mysis shrimp (hand feeding shrimp thawed in tank water), but i never see it actually open up and take a bite .

 

at first my cleaner shrimp would take food from it, then i feed the shrimp (i have two) some mysis shrimp first, and they pretty much left my sebae alone. but id come back later and see the same piece of shrimp in the middle of the anenome.

 

do i handle it to rough pushing its tenticles asside to place food at its mouth (i feel i am very gentle when i do this)????

 

or do captured anenomes go on hunger strikes?

[emissary]

I don't typically feed my anemones unless I'm trying to rescue them. That said, when I have fed anemones for fun, I simply allow food to pass by their tentacles or blow some food onto the outer rim. If they're hungry, the food will "stick" and the anemone will close up or the tentacles will fold in towards the oral cavity.

[Guest Reef Nuby]

i see, and thanks for your reply .

 

i believe what you are saying, is if it wants food it will get it, and eat it. i shouldnt routinely try to place food on or near its oral cavity?

 

i read that with sebaes, they are bleached white after the stress of capture, durring transport to our local venders. in order for them to regain thier true greenish or brownish color, your are supposed to feed them daily, in some cases twice until you see the color returning. has anyone else read or heard of this?

 

and if thats so....how long before you should see the color returning?

 

i have a pair of tank raised percula clowns, who are just after a few weeks swimming into the sebae (i wouldnt say they are hosting as of yet though). ive also read and have been told that clowns will feed an anenome as well. is this true with anyones experiances?

[Nitro Junkie]

I feed my condi about once a week. I bought these great long plastic tweezers from walmart. I grab a piece of thawed food and as soon as it even gets close to its mouth he pulls his tentacles in and grabs it. My nieces love to watch.

[lanman]

The only anemone I have is a little Stichodactyla Tapetum (miniature carpet anemone). It grabs shrimp out of the water flow when I am feeding the fish, curls up around the pieces of shrimp, and makes them disappear.

 

bob

[bigJPDC]

what is a 'nuby'?

[trble81]

what is a 'nuby'?

 

A nuby, also rendered as newbie or n00bie, is a term that denotes a novice. The most common area of usage is online game, where phrases such as "pwning n00bs" is used quite often (the term translates into "beating up on the new guy".

 

 

 

 

--Mike

[emissary]

i see, and thanks for your reply .

 

i believe what you are saying, is if it wants food it will get it, and eat it. i shouldnt routinely try to place food on or near its oral cavity?

 

Mostly I'm trying to share my experiences without trying too hard to sway you one way or another. After all, what works in one case may not for a variety of environmental factors not originally thought to be relevant, or simply not available.

 

In my case, there were two anemones that had bleached that I brought back into good health. I did this through a combination of good lighting and frequent feeding. Where by frequent I mean daily at first and then tapering off into every other day, every few days, and weekly untill fully back to health.

 

As far as feeding goes, I've never tried to put food directly into the mouth so I can't sa if that's a good idea or not. With my bleached anemones, I used a smaller dropper (what came with my refractometer actually) to spot feed at the outer tentacles so that I could observe closely what was getting eaten.

 

Where's traveller7? He's the resident anemone expert, I think.

 

FWIW, YMMV