how do you feed your anemone?

[reefskpr]

just got a bta.

my maroon has quickly taken a liking to it and hardly leaves its side.

my problem is when trying to feed the bta, my maroon is always there to take it away.

haven't had much luck with a turkey baster either.

sofar, i've only tried formula one.

any help? what do you guys do?

thanks!

[GSMguy]

anemones should be feed small chunks of silversides soaked in selcon

[Mariner]

Feed your fish first. Make sure the clown gets a good meal.
Then, put 1/2 to a whole silversides or sand eel in the tentacles of your anemone (depending on it's size). It'll disappear very quickly.
FWIW, my Maroon actually feeds my anemone -- once it gets its fill I've seen it carry a hunk of food right to the anem.
Mariner

[SEAFLOWERS]

mine just gets what the fish miss, I don't ever target feed.

[DMK]

i know some say they never target feed but how do they grow...? i don't see where my rbta eats anything leftover from fish not eating. i offer it silversides or fresh raw shrimp, and it loves it. doesn't want mysis. shouldn't 1 target feed at least weekly until at least it's near desired size? i know some have huge healthy ones though that they never feed. how do they grow and stay healthy?

[Slakker]

Anemones, if I recall this correctly, will feed off of the zooxanthellae (which can't sustain them entirely) and off of the waste biproducts of any host fish. They will also snag whatever happens to float their way in the water column.

[GSMguy]

yes feeding anemones is controversial my reccomendation is to feed in moderation
a healthy anemone might not need target feeding if it gets food from the water column and the "light"

[Amphiprion]

It is controversial. I stand by regular target feeding because it has achieved excellent results under many varying conditions.

[reefskpr]

thanks for all the great inputs!

so do you guys just drop it and hope it lands on the anem or stick your whole arm in.

i guess i'm looking for a method to avoid having to stick my arm in the tank every time.

thanks!

[Amphiprion]

If you can get a pair of feeding tongs, those work pretty well. A healthy anemone should react quickly when proper foods contact its tentacles, which it then withdraws to its mouth.

[GSMguy]

tongs work good, i stick my arm in

[Amphiprion]

Originally posted by GSMguy
tongs work good, i stick my arm in

Yeah, me too, but I don't really recommend it to others. I am still waiting to pull my hand out and have some sort of reaction (my luck )

[GSMguy]

Originally posted by Amphiprion
Yeah, me too, but I don't really recommend it to others. I am still waiting to pull my hand out and have some sort of reaction (my luck )

that would be nothing couple weeks ago i picked a rock up that had 14inch bristleworm on it.
my palm had a layer of fur on it then it started to burn

[TheVillageIdiot]

Originally posted by reefskpr
thanks for all the great inputs!

so do you guys just drop it and hope it lands on the anem or stick your whole arm in.

i guess i'm looking for a method to avoid having to stick my arm in the tank every time.

thanks!

i stick my whole arm in there, but it seems to mess w/ my skimmer production...

[reefskpr]

thanks again for the replies.

i got some tongs today and tried them out with silversides and they worked like magic.

my bta took two silversides fairly easily.

just wondering how many you guys feed your bta every meal...

thanks.

[Mariner]

Two is a lot. Small BTA's should be fed about 1/2 silverside, and larger ones a whole one, IMO. It's not so much how much they can eat at once, but how much food you want to put in your tank at once.
FWIW,
Mariner

[reefskpr]

mariner,

i got omega one frozen silversides.

...flat 0.25" wide and 2" long.

is that what you use?


thanks!

[Mariner]

Actually, I use sand eels (lance fish). They're similar to silversides, but slightly smaller and seem to be a little less oily.
Mariner

[socalnative]

slap a silverside on thep.

[Slakker]

Two silversides is probably a little overfeeding...overfeeding can lead to a serious problem, as sometimes the food can decay in the gut before it's digested.

Cut it down to partial silversides...underfeeding is much better than overfeeding.

[OldmillXxX]

Is there anything that they should NOT eat? I have my own blend of shell on shrimp, squid, clam, fish, krill, mussel, and some Zoe. I freeze in flats (inside flat ziplok) and then cut into one inch cubes. I drop a frozen cube in the tank and as the fish pick it apart as it thaws, it will get sucked into a pump and scattered around the tank feeding everything. Occasionally, it will thaw and sink and usually gets caught by the nem and is consumed. It seems very healthy and I believe has eaten a couple of peppermint shrimp and well as a lawn mower blenny or two.

Here is an older pic of the nem and false percs. If I can, I'll get one of feeding time.

[GuOD]

I have a sebae anemone that doesn't react at all when I put food on it.

I have tried brine shrimp, pieces of shrimp from grocery store, and pellets. The food will just sit there and other stuff (shrimp/starfish/fish) will come and take it away.

It's a crispa I think.

Pic here:



It is now much larger about 6" across and it comes out during the day.

[Amphiprion]

Try a fish based meat like silversides, which seems to be an ideal food substitute for this species.

[cl2ysta1]

i target feed all three of my anenomes. They are all very close to the top of the water though. I use my hand for two, but the bubble tip that my cinnamons are hosing i use TONGS!!! she has giant teeth and will bite whoever tries to mess with her anenome. My anenomes have grown enourmously from target feeding. I feed them pretty regularly and as a result i went from a 4 inch wide long tentacle to a 15 inch long tentacle in about 4 months!!! it's about to have the whole 30 breeder to itself.. lol

[cl2ysta1]

i feed all of mine pieces of krill. this may not be correct, but they are all thriving.