feeding an Anemone

[svoccio]

Hello
i recently introduced an Anemone into my tank for my maroon clown. It took a few days and the clown finally made contact with the Anemone and now he rarely leaves it.

My question is ...how often should i feed the Anemone? It was fed 4 days ago when i bought it at the LFS but has not eaten since. I have tried feeding it everyday since, but it will not eat.
I give it small pieces of shrimo. It will hold the shrimp for a small perios of time but then it just lets go of it and never eats it.

It looks perfectly healthy and has moved itself to an area of the tank where it has stayed going on 3 days now.

Any help would be appreciated
Thank you
Scott

 

[TOURKID]

it could take up to a week to get it to eat. try feeding it silverslides. its a small fish you can get in the frozen food section at your fish store. heres a great site for the many adventures and questions your about to have

www.karensroseanemones.com

 

[dantodd]

What kind of anemone is it? Is he behaving normally otherwise? Does it open and bask in the light all day? What is your lighting like?

 

[svoccio]

I have a power compact 190 watts. It seems to behave normally.It remains open all day while the lights are on. I believe its a BTA....I am trying to confirm. The maroon loves it. It has about an inch base and seems to like sitting on the sand.

 

[dantodd]

BTA rarely attach in the sand. There is a very good anemone FAQ in the Sticky thread at the top of this forum. 190 PC for a 46 bowfront should be adequate but barely for a BTA. I would def. suggest trying a few different marine foods.

I'm not sure what size the anemone is but they can be irritated by clowns if they are not very large.

 

[svoccio]

the anemone is about an inch accross the base , when open it is about 2 -2 1/2 inches accross the top.

 

[svoccio]

oh btw i believe it is a LTA.

 

[dantodd]

LTA is def. a sand dwelling anemone so that's all good.

He would most likely be happiest with his foot wedged under a rock as well as in the sand.

One way to ID LTA is that you can see white patches on the underside of the oral disk. They also usually have striations radiating from their mouth to the edge of teh oral disk. I wasn't sure if there was a number missing between "an" and "inch" in your first description.

I would definately try small pieces of silversides.

Are his tentacles sticky to the touch?
Is his mouth tightly closed?
If he's aggitated will he withdraw completely into the sand?

 

[svoccio]

I will give silversides a try. I was reading the article about them from the last guy that responded to me too.
His tenticles are Sticky and mouth closed. He never withdraws into the sand completly...he just remains on top of it...
I also noticed that the clown has dug a pit in the sand all around the Anemone with his tale... I have been watching this for a cpl of days..he shakes his fin at the sand moving the sand away from the anemone....Whats this all about?? haha

 

[TOURKID]

you laugh now!!! my maroon has dug around its bta (under it and around its rock) so much a have a big spot of glass at the bottom and my sands at least 7 inches high where she moved it all too! lol

 

[svoccio]

yes thats what mine is doing...why do they do that? any idea?

 

[dantodd]

No one really knows why clowns dig in tanks. My LTA dug in and stuck his foot to the bottom of the tank the first day in my tank. 2 days later my clarkii dug him up and it took a couple months for him to find a new home that the clarkii let him stay in!

He was eating the whole time though. That is the most worrisome part. You should try to get him near/under a rock/sand intersection. That is the natural location for an LTA to live.

 

[svoccio]

thats where he is now...he is under some live rock and on the sand - - he has been there for days

 

[traveller7]

Definitely try the fish based meal and if he is open after lights out, give feeding 1cm/1cm pieces a shot then as well.