How Many Silversides to feed Anemone?

fishylad · #1 06/28/2006, 05:04 PM

I got a H. crispa about a week ago and have been feeding it Mysis for 2 days and then a small silverside on the 3rd day.

It seems to love the silversides much more than the shrimp and the 4 peices i place on it are gone very quickly.
How do I know if I am feeding it enough silversides to fill it belly? Do I need to worry at all about it? Should I feed him this more often since it likes it more?

Javeo · #2 06/28/2006, 05:33 PM

Nope what yoru doing is fine, Anemones in the wild won't catch a fish on such a regular basis so they always act greedy, its a way to "make hay while it shines". If you over feed it the food may not be fully digested and could cause problems. I feed my bta once a week. It will really inflate and stretch out as it gets hungrier. I use this as a cue to when to feed.

fishylad · #3 06/28/2006, 05:39 PM

Great. Thank you very much

thor32766 · #4 06/28/2006, 07:14 PM

great advice

Ebisan · #5 06/29/2006, 01:55 AM

I feed a 1.5-2" size silverside to each of my anemones every other day.

Javeo · #6 06/29/2006, 04:57 AM

Apart from my bad puncuation, I should also have mentioned that the amount of food also depends on the size of the anemone, and on the water temperature.

Amphiprion · #7 06/29/2006, 12:30 PM

Agreed. Also, be sure to vary what pieces you feed the anemone--be sure to include all parts of the fish. H. crispa is primarily piscivorous in the wild and will do extremely well on any fish based meaty food.

fishylad · #8 06/29/2006, 01:33 PM

I feed it all peices of the silverside currently. Question about the water temp mentioned, how does that affect the eating habits?

Also from what I am reading from above posts. I should keep on the same schedule but change up the mysis shrimp to also include other meaty items.
If that is done should the Mysis still be a main feed along with silversides or the silversides are the key and meaty items are the support to that?

Amphiprion · #9 06/29/2006, 02:14 PM

I suggest the latter. H. crispa does optimally, IME, with primarily a fish diet. Anything else is simply supplemental, IMO.

Javeo · #10 06/29/2006, 04:34 PM

As anemones (indeed all the creatures in our reef tanks) are exotherms their metabolism depends on the environmental temperature. At high temperature the metabolic rate is higher so food is digested quicker and growth is accelerated. This is great for corals and sessile inverts but could shorten the lifespan of crustaceans and fish. So you need to have a middle ground.

fishylad · #11 06/29/2006, 05:17 PM

Javeo- thank you for the enlightenment. 1 day it will all come together.

Javeo · #12 06/29/2006, 05:27 PM

Always a pleasure. Theres always something new to learn, or something old to forget!

And to that point, I am so stupid! I have a small H.crispa as well. Trust me to forget that! Mines very bleached so Im feeding it bits of silverside everynight, its looking ok but im hopping it gets its zooxanthlea back soon.

sohal tang 1 · #13 07/03/2006, 07:39 AM

I have never bought a silverside.....
Is that a saltwater minnow type of fish?????

Are they ideal for a carpet anenome also?

Or...are shrimp from the deli more ideal for carpets?

Thanks

Amphiprion · #14 07/03/2006, 02:27 PM

Considering the fact that 'minnow' encompasses a group of similar looking fishes that are, in no way, related, then yes--they are minnow

. At any rate, you can find them at lfs stores or online. They would be perfect for your carpet anemone (especially S. haddoni IME).