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Originally posted by Heath Man
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Hi,
...would the death of its symbiotic algae not cause stress or throw the animal off in other ways that would cause it to go off feed and eventually die?
No. It simply digests the algae.
It seems odd to me that anemones have such a low long-term life span in captivity if the only thing they needed was adequate food. Dr. Fautin's study showed an abismal record of longevity in captive anemones.
Daphne has not studied them in captivity. You might be referring the survey done by Joyce Wilkerson and analyzed by me.
It is no surprise they have short life spans in captivity. People simply don't feed the animals enough to keep them alive.
I guess what I'm wanting to absolutely confirm is, aside from the caloric needs that can be met in other ways than the algae, would keeping an anemone in low light not lead to its premature death from stress?
[size=huge]NO![/size]
Would losing the algae and bleaching it white not stress the animal and cause it to start rejecting foods?
[size=huge]NO![/size]
Or do you maintain that lighting is completely irrelevant to the success in keeping anemones?
Lighting is important if people don't feed them adequately. If they are adequately fed lighting is immaterial.
If so, what would you say is the leading cause of death in captivity (feeding seems unlikely as most people seem to err on the side of overfeeding their inhabitants, IMO)?
Your opinion is noted and wrong. These animals need a
lot of food. A full grown ritteri to be growing and healty probably eats about the equivalent mass of a Big Mac every week or two.