Anemone Food

[DeadlyMuffin]

I was talking about anemone food in a different thread, and I had a question that probably needs it's own thread. I have BTAs, so my questions are skewed that direction.

Why feed silversides over any other piece of fish? Is it because it includes all the organs/bones/etc? Hell, why not feed pellet or even flake food?

People also say to feed scallops. Why? What do they have that silversides or something else doesn't?

Has anybody studied what foods are most effective? I'm not talking about what your anemone will take most readily, but what encourages growth?

I've been soaking the food for the anemone in Selcon, since it has fatty acids that are supposed to help and because I've read that people had success using it, can anyone point me to a study or even anecdotal evidence that this sort of supplement helps?

Sorry if these come off as silly questions, but it's important to me that I understand why people do things the way they do. If I understand why people feed the foods that they do, maybe I can work out a more ideal diet.

 

[kar93]

Pellets and flakes arent meaty and nems like meaty foods i would say feeding silversides every other day encourages growth, If you overfeed it could grow fast and split or it could spit the food out.

 

[DeadlyMuffin]

I understand the need for meaty food, but why silversides in particular?

Are there any studies or research at all on anemone diet in the aquarium?

 

[hogben]

My guess is availability and cost.

I hear a lot of silversides, but I've also heard raw fresh shrimp cut into pieces.

I think you hear the scallops because like peeled shrimp there are no bones that I guess could harm an anemone internally.

I have fed both cut silversides, and recently I've been giving them frozen prepared squid I had leftover which they seem to have enjoyed.

When the squid is out I'm going to try the fresh peeled shrimp.

 

[heap]

i don't bother w/ selco basting for nem food, nor do i feed them silversides - i do supplement the food i make for them w/ fish oil, tho. works out a lot cheaper, and it's more easily available.

i couldn't speak for the results on one vs the other, tho obviously.

i use scallops, shrimp/krill, mussels, squid, various fish cuts and whatever looks especially slimy at the asian food market - chopped into chunks about the size of a pencil eraser or just slightly larger, in a suspension of just harvested rotifers w/ a little fish oil from the healthnut store, and frozen in small ice cube trays. when it's frozen, just pop it out and bag it.

(obviously the rotifers aren't neccesary for the nems, but it combines two things i'd be feeding to the tank frozen into one cube. i'm lazy.)

i feed w/ long tweezers, usually try to get each nem at least twice a week, but that doesn't always work out. in the last year, they've come close to doubling population (13 to 25).

i've seen nems snag pellet or flake food as it goes by, but i wouldn't consider it nutritious enough for them to flourish.

 

[AQUA DAVE]

you don't need to feed your anemone unless you don't have good enough lights. Feeding is just to supplement and make it grow larger. If you feed, I would feed maybe once a month. Also you can foul up your water quality if you feed to often. Light and water quality are most important, then you have water flow. Is this the same bleached anemone as the thread above?

 

[Eklikewhoa]

I feed mine a shrimp mix.

 

[DeadlyMuffin]

Is this the same bleached anemone as the thread above?

I've got the one bleached BTA and two others that are doing fine, so I'm interested in diet for all of them.

 

[Amphiprion]

Well, the diet of (at least) smaller BTAs was/is thought to be skewed more toward crustacean fare. It seems that food preference does have a typically broad range (i.e., you can often generalize from species to species), but not always. Preferences can even be different from specimen to specimen in the same species, IME. Not to say that silversides won't work for your application. Silversides are a good choice for several reason, all of which have been listed: cheap, easily obtainable, source of whole nutrition (organs, bone, etc.). It wouldn't hurt to try other foods to find the best response. I have found additives to be unnecessary overall, although I don't think it would necessarily hurt to use them either. It is just that I think you could get similar results with unenriched sources. I found that my H. crispa stays in spawning condition simply consuming ample amounts of silversides.

 

[BLKTANG]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11738863#post11738863 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by AQUA DAVE
you don't need to feed your anemone unless you don't have good enough lights. Feeding is just to supplement and make it grow larger. If you feed, I would feed maybe once a month. Also you can foul up your water quality if you feed to often. Light and water quality are most important, then you have water flow. Is this the same bleached anemone as the thread above?

I was under the impression that anenmones had to be fed or they die.my RBTA eats like he is going to the eletric chair.I also think thats why he hasent moved an inch since i put him in the tank.

 

[slider162]

FWIW, I have been really bad about not feeding my nem lately. I was trying to feed it 2-3 times a week when I first got it last spring. 75% of the time it would just let go. I am down to 2-3 times a month now. I could tell my lights were going bad because my nem started to move towards and up the glass. I replaced my lights and it is now back down in the sand, in its original location.

 

[DeadlyMuffin]

I'm not sure if this crazy idea deserves its own thread, but has anyone thought of raising mollies for anemone food?

I know you're not supposed to feed freshwater fish to anemones, but mollies can be acclimated to salt water and they breed like mice. Would this work, at least as a supplement?

 

[kindafun]

My lights have gone bad, way bad, they had gotten very old. Just got some new ones this week. But, my two RBTA's have been very healthy, very bubbled at the tip. A beautiful rose color. I haven't fed them for at least a year. Go figure, they have been beautiful.

With the new lights they look better, no doubt about it. I also started feeding again, raw shrimp and scallops (not at the same time).

The amazing thing to me is that with neglect and poor lighting they continued to look very healthy. So, I don't know about all the feeding. I do think that they will grow more with feeding because that energy is going to go somewhere. But, even though I didn't feed and the light wasn't good mine didn't diminish.