Can't feed carpet anemone

Kaman8

New member
I was trying to feed my haddoni carpet shrimp today , but my 2 clownfishes where eating it. How can i feed it and the clownfishes will not steal from it?
 
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get a baby eye dropper add a air line rigid tube, suck up food and bring close to shrimp and squirt, he'll do the rest.

I put it on the carpet already the shrimp , but the clownfish took it right away. The carpet is in the tank for 4 days now. Can i feed it now or should i wait for a week?
 
I put it on the carpet already the shrimp , but the clownfish took it right away. The carpet is in the tank for 4 days now. Can i feed it now or should i wait for a week?

i would only feed the nem if you have a large tank and want the nem to grow. if you dont have a large tank and dont want it to grow crazily, then i would not feed him, let him get his food from the light. occasionally the clowns will feed him on their own. but with carpets, direct feeding them makes them grow much faster. helpful hint...
 
never try feeding an anemone acclimating.

carpets as mentioned above seem to be able to find their own food ...
 
never try feeding an anemone acclimating.

carpets as mentioned above seem to be able to find their own food ...

great point that i over looked allmost....the stress of transport and acclimating is hard on the nem. so to feed them food will only make them use more energy to process the food which in turn could have ill affects on the nem will being introduced and acclimating to a new environment
 
Give it a couple weeks at least to settle, then use tongs or a grabber and place a small piece of food right at the mouth, and maybe do it after feeding the fish.
 
I almost rarely if ever feed my carpet in my tank. Its only as a supplemental thing. Carpets are photosynthetic like all anemones and seem to get by just fine without feeding them. I would say once every month or so during acclimation. Its really not a big thing. I can honestly say I forgot to feed mine for a few months and it was just as large as ever.
 
i would only feed the nem if you have a large tank and want the nem to grow. if you dont have a large tank and dont want it to grow crazily, then i would not feed him, let him get his food from the light. occasionally the clowns will feed him on their own. but with carpets, direct feeding them makes them grow much faster. helpful hint...

I thought that they need meaty foods. Thanks for the advice, I will not feed it. So light only is enough? I don't want it to grow fast. Carpet is already hosting the clowns, but didn't see the clowns take food to the nem.
 
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Yes, light is their main source of energy, you do not have to spot feed.
It may still pick up food from feeding fish.
 
Sorry I was confused thought you were trying to feed a shrimp not the carpet. The guys are right they don't need a lot of food once in awhile. By putting food in it mouth and holding it there the anemone will swallow it and the stick will scare off the clown.
 
I pretty much have the same problem with my Mag. Any food that I put in there, the clowns will immediately remove. I have to feed the other side of the tank and then keep the clowns at bay while the anemone deals.

Actually I don't even do that anymore.

This seems like pretty counterevolutionary behavior by my ocellaris', but maybe it doesn't matter since the light is what's most important.
 
As long as your anemone is healthy, feeding him will help him recover from the stress of capture and shipping. He should at very fast. If he take a long time to eat, he will not benifit from feeding but it likely cause detrimental effect on him because he will not be able to digest it. He will regurgitate the food out later.
I don't feed my new anemone until I think they are heathy, then just a little at first to see how hen tolerate it. Once he tolerate feeding I will feed to help him recover. Once I got him to the size I want, and he is healthy I stop feeding. Carpet will always get food from the fish, eat a snail or two and will grab some of the fish.
 
Yes, light is their main source of energy, you do not have to spot feed.
It may still pick up food from feeding fish.

I already stop feeding it. Today i saw my pair of clowns pre-spawning and i was working in the tank to glue some mushroom on the rocks. The female clown was very aggressive and nipping at my hand very hard.....it did hurt a little. It keeps doing that and was hitting me with her tail and keep nipping very hard. If it keeps like this i can't never work in my tank. How can i stop it???? It is just chasing me .
 
My maroon was terrible, bit me a lot.
I accidentally discovered wearing a shiny stainless watch made her hit that, her reflection.
That became standard maintenance wear for me, she always hit the watch, not me, and down the road she was less aggro, think she realized she could not hurt me/watch.
Gloves may work too
 
Snail, hermit crab graveyard....

Snail, hermit crab graveyard....

As long as your anemone is healthy, feeding him will help him recover from the stress of capture and shipping. He should at very fast. If he take a long time to eat, he will not benifit from feeding but it likely cause detrimental effect on him because he will not be able to digest it. He will regurgitate the food out later.
I don't feed my new anemone until I think they are heathy, then just a little at first to see how hen tolerate it. Once he tolerate feeding I will feed to help him recover. Once I got him to the size I want, and he is healthy I stop feeding. Carpet will always get food from the fish, eat a snail or two and will grab some of the fish.

I had to take mine out to treat, and it was a graveyard of shells in his spot. Yeah, they will find food.
 
My maroon was terrible, bit me a lot.
I accidentally discovered wearing a shiny stainless watch made her hit that, her reflection.
That became standard maintenance wear for me, she always hit the watch, not me, and down the road she was less aggro, think she realized she could not hurt me/watch.
Gloves may work too

Maybe I should wear a glove, but always so lazy to do that. Today I saw the female clown nipping at the flat live rock constantly . Does it mean that they will mate? I am so excited.
 
Here us a pic of them. She was nipping at that rock that you see in the picture.
 

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Are all the anemones from your other post in this same 20g? could be a problem long term. Your not going to want to feed the carpet at all or will out grow the tank in no time
 
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