|
Home | Marine Aquariums |
Freshwater Aquariums |
Planted Aquariums |
Brackish Systems |
Ponds,
lakes & fountains |
Turtles & Amphibians |
Aquatic Business |
Aquatic Science |
Ask the WWM Crew a Question |
Please visit our Sponsors | ||||
Feeding My Anemone/Anemones/Systems/Feeding
12/6/11 Fdg. H. crispa... 8/24/11 FEEDING 2/23/11 Anemone/Feeding/No Useful
Environmental/Equipment Info 6/15/10 my anemone, unknown sp., fdg.
10/27/09 Anemones/Feeding 11/21/08 Anemone Feeding Tools 3-31-2008 I want to start off by saying thank you and this site is the best. <<Thank you sir.>> I kind of have a almost silly question but I was told the only silly question is the question not asked. <<I used to think that too until I started working in law-enforcement.>> I have a brand new anemone and I was reading up on feeding it but how do you feed it without placing your hands or arms in an aquarium. <<Gloves, Tongs, Chopsticks, Turkey Basters, Straws.to name a few.>> I have a 30 inch deep tank so its a long ways down to feed the anemone at the bottom. I hope you are not laughing at the simplicity of this question but if you could help me out I would be greatly appreciated. <<Good luck and see above my friend.>> Thanks Again <<Quite welcome.>> Brad <<Adam J.>> Starving Anemone, BTA, E. Quadricolor 12/17/07 I have a long tip bulb anemone in a 250 gallon reef tank with 7 surgeonfish, 1 fox face, 3 clowns, and 1 mandarin. I have 3 175 watt Metal Halides over tank. <How deep is the tank?> I also have several cleaner shrimp too. I have been having a problem with my anemone. It used to be like 7 inches in diameter and now it has shrunk to 3 inches in diameter. <Yikes! How long have you had this anemone?> I have never directly fed it because I thought the Perculas were feeding it. <You cant rely on clownfish to feed anemones. Some actually take food away from anemones.> I do add Liquid Life BioPlankton and Cyclopeeze once a week. <This is not adequate for an anemone.> I do this mainly for my Derasa clam. I have tried to feed it frozen chunks of Mysis and he refuses it or my fish take it away from him. <Is the anemone still able to hold onto the food? What does the color look like? What are your water parameters? What size portion are you trying to feed? Try 1/8 sized portions of Mysis shrimp, silversides, krill, or lance shrimp. You may have to protect the anemone while it eats. A plastic strawberry basket that you get when you buy strawberries at the grocery store will work for this.> The tentacles have shortened up quite a bit too. <This is a sign of starvation.> How do I go about feeding this poor guy so that I can get him big and healthy again? <Correct feeding and proper environment is the only way.> Please respond back soon. Thank you Christopher <Youre Welcome! Brenda> Can't get my anemone to eat. Anemone Trouble... 2/1/07 Hello. <Hi.> I've had an anemone for about a month and a half. I can't remember what the retailer I bought it from called it, but I bought it under his recommendation and I trust him with that. It has a white base with white tentacles that are less than an inch long with purple tips. <Maybe an H. crispa....maybe a little bleached, common for this animal in captivity....unfortunately.> It ate about two to three times a week for the first two weeks and since then it's only eaten about once and I can't seem to get it to eat anything. I've been feeding it freeze dried krill that I let sit in some tank water for about ten minutes before I attempt to feed it. As I said, it hasn't eaten in almost three weeks and I'm a bit concerned. <What is the animals condition? By that I mean has it moved at all, is it "planted" well into rock/substrate? Lighting and tank parameters?> Any tips? <Perhaps you should try a smaller food, like mysids or even frozen rotifers. Usually when anemones reject (throw-up basically) or refuse to ingest foods, they are being overfed or fed to large of items.> Dustin <Adam_J.> <<I'd send this person to the Sebae files... RMF>> No to feeding dead Clown to Anemone 10/27/06 Hi there guy's < Heya, Emerson with you today. > Hmmm tricky one, this may or may not be the first on WWM . I came home this afternoon and as per .. I made a b-line for the tank only to find one of my percula's MISSING . He (since he was the smaller of the pair) didn't appear at feeding time and I couldn't see him any where in the tank when I noticed that the filter cap on my 300l/h power head was not on the pump. Yep you've guessed it, power head 1 percula 0. Now although Am really gutted and I promise I am, can I feed my anemone the percula. < Bag it and trash it. Although you did not mention what type of anemone you have I can bet it will not consume a dead clown without puking out a half digested clown mass that will do your tank no good. > Yours sheepishly < No worries buddy :) Give your departed clown a proper burial and keep an eye on those powerheads!> dray New Anemone Woes - 10/9/06 Hi there <Hi Dray - Tim answering your question today!> My names dray and I'm a reef tank newbie. (I bet that's a breath of fresh air, hey!) Iv had my tank (trogon 190) for a little over two months now and yesterday I proudly bought an anemone hoping that my tank bred percula's would host (dream on?) <Not necessary for your clownfish - particularly if they are tank bred.> Today I got back from work and the anemone is a purple mass of string where it settled yesterday kind of how it seemed to go when the lights went out. I've done a water change and I hope that might remedy the problem. Can you possibly give me some advice and also some on feeding, coz after reading what you guys do to feed your anomie's, and if that's the way to do it. Then I'm gonna go back to my LFS and slap some body "All they need to eat they get from the food the fish leave", is what I was told. <This is not the case - the clownfish may help. You will need to supplement your anemone diet. Please do a search on the WetWebMedia website for relevant information - I assure you there is much of it! Unfortunately you do not give enough details regarding your system for me to offer assistance. I would suggest you read the online archives particularly focusing on the issues of lighting and water quality! Best of luck! Tim> Re: sea anemone.. Carpet..., just read 10/8/06 Thank you for your fast reply. I will have to find another interesting invertebrate. One more quick question. Why do anemones need so much light? Because if you feed them meaty foods why would they need the light. They do not do photosynthesis. Thanks <Most do/can derive a significant portion of their nutrition through photosynthesis... Please, keep reading. BobF> Feeding an anemone 8/29/06 I recently purchased a red tipped anemone. <Mmm, maybe Heteractis crispa... a Sebae... you will want to know the species you're dealing with. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm> I have read many questions about anemones not wanting to eat, but mine is doing just the opposite. Yesterday I fed it a piece of shrimp about the size of the anemones mouth, which it quickly consumed and re-opened fully. Today <Whoa... slow down...> I fed it another piece which it consumed as if it were starving, so about 5 hours later I fed it again, and had the same result. I have read that anything that it doesn't need it will expel, but this particular anemone isn't expelling anything, only consuming. <... have slow metabolisms... will egest wastes, unwanted food in time> So, on to my question - is it possible to over-feed an anemone, and what could be the possible cause of this voracious appetite? <Is possible to over-feed... don't have much of a "food-refusal" response... food is scarce in the wild for the most part... Please read the linked files to the citation above. Bob Fenner> Anemone feeding/lighting and
Tank Upgrade - 5/11/2006 Lisa (or whomever the aquarist guru/happy
helper of the day is), <<Ha! This is Lisa again.>> Thanks
for getting back to me sooooo quickly. <<You're
welcome.>> In response to your question regarding my lighting for
the anemone-this is what I've got on the (still 30 gallon) tank:
Current Dual Satellite Lamp- 65 watt 2-lamp with lunar light (Dual
Daylight 6,700/10,000 K and Dual Actinic 420 Nm/460 Nm). <<I have
never used this myself.>> I was told at my LFS that the lighting
is sufficient for the corals and anemones, but I've seen many
examples of disastrous consequences of poor advice while reading your
FAQ's. Was I misinformed? <<Not
entirely. Certainly not enough light for SPS, or an anemone,
in my opinion. Proper supplemental feeding of the anemone
will surely help. Is this the lighting that will go on the
72-gallon you are moving to? If so, I would look into
upgrading.>> Everything still seems to be perky in there, but one
never knows. I am feeding the anemone every 4-5 days with a
small piece of raw shrimp or a small ball of formula one frozen food.
<<Not still frozen, I hope? Small meaty foods are the
way to go. Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anemonefdgfaqs.htm,
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemonelightngfaqs.htm.>>
I guard him from the sneaky thieving shrimp or put a strawberry basket
over him for awhile so he has a chance to decide if he wants to eat the
food, or spit it out. I AM somewhat unsure of the feeding
technique- do I gently shove the food into his mouth or just put it on
his "lips" waiting for his response? I don't
want to gag the poor guy, but I don't want to starve him either.
<<Do read the linked files. Is he no longer sticky?>> As
for my new setup- here is what I'm planning. I've
spent the last three days reading FAQ's (and subsequently eating
nothing but beer and Cheetos) <<Diet of champions, to be
sure!>> but I'm still a little unclear, so if you would humor
me with some constructive criticism: 72 gallon display with 1 inch
oolitic sand (and an area of deeper sand-about 3 inches as my firefish
likes to burrow) Filtration: 15-gallon sump/refugium with 6" sand
bed of coarse- medium grade sand (taken from my current tank with a
2-21/2 inch sand bed. Bad idea?) <<Not a bad idea to
use it from the other tank, no. My preference for DSBs is
oolitic sand.>> and some "spaghetti" algae. Aqua C
Remora Pro with Mag-3 pump (hanging on sump) <<Good
skimmer.>> Rena XP3 canister filter (trying to decide if I should
filter/return directly from tank or in sump after skimming) with
charcoal, nitrate sponge. <<I do not employ canisters on my reef
tanks.>> Water movement: SEIO M820 Powerhead the 1200 Powerhead
off the cheapie SeaClone skimmer couple of airstones (necessary?)
<<No.>> Visi-Therm Stealth 250 watt heater I'd like to
move my existing fish but add a beefier cleanup crew... but many of the
packages I see for sale seem excessive. Do I really need 18
Scarlet Hermit Crabs, 15 Astrea Snails, 15 Cerith Snails, and 45 Red-or
Blue-Leg Hermits? <<You dont NEED any of them. It is a
personal choice. I add clean-up crews for
interest/bio-diversity. Ultimately its our job to feed
properly/deal with organics.>> I was planning to add a couple of
Bumble Bee snails, a sifting type star or two, and another tiny hermit
crab. <<I would pass on both the BumbleBee snails and the sand
sifting stars. These stars quickly eat up all available
organisms in DSBs, and perish.>> My poor abused fairy wrasse
actually seems... happy... in the tiny 10-gallon quarantine as of right
now. <<She is finally getting a break!>> She is not hiding
all day anymore and will actually eat Formula One from my
fingers. I hate to put her back into the tank with the other
nasty wrasse. He's prettier, but I think he will go if I
need to make a choice. <<I think fairy wrasses are much more
attractive than 6-lines.>> Again, thanks for the assistance -
Stephanie D. <<Glad to help. Lisa.>> Anemone Feeding, Food Types And Frequency - 03/15/2006 Hi. <Hello.> I have been searching yours and other websites and am having a hard time getting a straight answer on this question. I have a Condy who seems healthy and happy. Just got him, is accepting food right away. Gets natural sunlight, will be upgrading our lighting system to 250 watt metal halide. The question: How much and how often do I feed our Condy? Twice a day? Twice a week? <Once to twice weekly.> We are feeding him minced, thawed shrimp...he seems to like it very much. Should I vary it or is just the fresh minced shrimp enough. <Best to offer variety. Meaty marine foods (fish flesh, crab, shrimp) only.> Again, How much and how often? Thanks...Melissa and Micah <Read up here http://www.wetwebmedia.com/condyfdgfaq.htm and on through the related links. Hope that helps. - Josh> Finding a Reliable Source to Answer my Anemone Questions Regarding my Reef 11/7/05 Hi, I have 90 gallon reef aquarium. Although I have had freshwater fish since I was 7, and have poured over many books, many of my questions about my reef tank remained unanswered. I am fascinated with anemones, however, they do not seem to be a resident of the coral reef. Surely not a preferred neighbor. Is this correct? <Symbiotic anemones do live in, on, near coral reefs... just not necessarily amongst other cnidarians, some in the mud...> They are an opportunistic predator. <Mmm, semi-so... most are to a degree photosynthetic... some are less than opportunistic, non-predators... many large species consume a great deal of detritus, fecal material... filter feeding...> Some are more docile than others, but do they really belong in a reef tank? <Some... specialized ones...> One of the first residents in my tank was a Curly que anemone. He was happy until I started adding other corals such as button polyps. <Bingo> It was chemical warfare. The little guy wouldn't give up. Even though they were on opposite sides of the tank the curly que continued to spew mucus on his new neighbors. His efforts ended only when the stress overcame him. <Well stated> All that was left of my tank were my 2 fish, an ocellaris clownfish and my blue mandarin goby, one lonely hairy mushroom, and a dwarf blue hermit crab. The curly que was beautiful, but I have since been to the Caribbean where they originate from. In the reefs there I saw no sign of the curly que or any anemone for that matter. Tons of fish, sea urchins the size of basket balls, and many other unique species... but no anemones. <<Odd, have observed many, many anemone species in the areas of the Caribbean I have visited (admittedly limited to Puerto Rico, most often around the area of La Bahia Fosforescente - there are several phosphorescent bays/lagoons in Puerto Rico and surrounding islands - and other areas around La Parguera, Bahia Salinas, Borinquen beach) in very shallow waters, including the beautiful Stoichactis helianthus, as well as your Bartholomea annulata. Marina>> I just set up a 45 gallon aquarium specifically for the 3 new curly ques that I have purchased. To keep form having another war, but is there anything else I could have done? <Run your spell, grammar checker> <...? They may not "get along" with each other> I don't think any amount of filtration systems could have keep the anemone from sensing it's surroundings. I have a Eheim profession 2, and a few other systems hooked up to my 90 gallon. I have the outer Orbit lighting with 560 watts for lighting. What would have caused the little guy to have such an upset over a few neighbors? <... vital programmed potential... to exclude competitors for food, space, light...> especially if they're across the tank. I hope you have some ideas. I don't want to repeat this mishap. Thank you, Rykna Olson <Keep reading, seeking to understand... facts, their interrelationships, your relation to them. Bob Fenner>
|
|
Features: |
|
Featured Sponsors: |