feeding an anemone

[hamiltonguy]

I'm still in the research stage of getting an anemone. Hopefully will have one in the next month or two when I know as much as I can know before getting it .

So yeah, the questions is, what is the proper food(s) for a GBTA or RBTA? how often? and what method? (i.e. use turkey baster?)

 

[NirvanaFan]

I was actually going to do a writeup about this tomorrow. Tonight, I took pictures of how I feed my anemone and LPS corals.

Excellent question. I'm glad you're researching. Generally, anything of marine origin that is raw is okay for a BTA. Some people feed silversides, but I feel smaller peices of food are better. I feed mine a mix of seafood that is chopped finely. This food is great for fish as well. My clowns go nuts for it. My firefish will actually take the food out of the turkey baster.

I cut up equal amounts of squid, tuna, scallop, and clam. Then I cut up two portions of shrimp and add it to the mix. The pieces are roughly 1/8" size. Some pieces will be bigger, and some will be smaller. I rip up some nori and throw that in as well. I add enough mix to a plastic freezer bag to fill it 1/4" tall when laying on its side. Then it gets frozen. Here is how I feed it to the anemone and fish.

Break off or cut up a piece that is about an inch by an inch, or whatever size you think you'll need..

Throw it in a small plastic container and add some tank water.

Break up the mix as it thaws with your turkey baster.

Drain the water out of the container. These small particles will pollute your tank water because they won't be eaten.

Then, fill the plastic container up with water again and drain it. This should get a lot more of the small particles. You can see how much clearer the water is in this picture.

You should be left with a mix of clean seafood.

Add a bit of tank water, and suck up the mixture with your turkey baster. Squirt it into your anemone. It should grab hold of the food. A wide variety of food is good for the anemone. Here's a picture of my hammer eating. I was feeding my GBTA twice a week, because I wanted it to grow. Now, I feed it about every other week. It's still growing, just not as fast.

 

[hamiltonguy]

Wow, thanks so much for the detailed answer!
Just one little question, the tuna, squid, clam, etc. is that like store bought (ie grocery store) or do you buy it from a fish store? (sorry, this is just the side of me that thinks too much ).

 

[NirvanaFan]

I buy the stuff from the grocery store. I buy most of it fresh. The scallops, clam, tuna, and anything else I throw in is not frozen, but the shrimp and squid usually are frozen. Just make sure they're raw and never cooked. I buy whatever they have at the store at the time.

I usually buy the clam and scallops (usually bay scallops I think) from the person at the counter. The rest of the seafood comes from the frozen chests near the counters. The nori comes from the oriental isle. It's the same stuff from the LFS, but costs much less.

 

[amadillo]

frozen brine shrimp, its fine and less work!

 

[hamiltonguy]

bump.
I was wondering if it's possible to make this a sticky or something. I know it's not a huge thread but IMO it's very valuable information for anyone getting their first anemone.

 

[mb167204]

ive always just hand fed mine with the mysis shrimp still in the frozen form.

 

[ocellaris123]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14393982#post14393982 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by amadillo
frozen brine shrimp, its fine and less work!

Brine is of little nutritional value, but yes they will eat it with gusto, Mysis is a better substitute. I feed my bta krill and formula one once in a while. My largest gbta eats everything from krill, mysis, f1 cubes, to flakes and even pellets.

 

[PRDubois]

Very nice

 

[lkc]

Don't forget the silversides.

 

[nnahler]

I use silversides, cockle, krill, shrimp, formula 1 and 2....they eat everything..and seem to love it!! I think variety is the important thing

 

[bjg]

Thats very nice & agood ideal.

 

[hamiltonguy]

Hehe, I just got mine a little while ago and it's way to small to eat any silversides. I might try different frozen foods. Still have to try the recipe that NirvanaFan stated.

 

[nnahler]

I would cut the silversides head off and feed that to my small ones

 

[airdog67]

I feed mine krill and they love it

 

[Toddrtrex]

I fed mine krill about every 2-3 weeks. And it currently has been over a month since the last time I fed them (( 4 Haddonis and 1 LTA )). I personally think that a lot of people feed too often.

I used to use silverside, but no longer use them. I can't say for certain, but I believe that I lost a fairly new H. malu from feeding it silversides. It was doing great, I fed it some small pieces of silversides, the next morning it was dead (( still in the same spot, and nothing else in the tank changed. )) And if memory serves I am not the only one that has had this issue.

 

[hamiltonguy]

Well the BTA I got about 3 weeks ago is growing, it was very tiny but I was feeding it mysis 3x/week to get it growing and I think will slow down to 2x/week. I was also thinking of silversides since it was recommended by Karen on karensroseanemones.com (a site that alot of people recommended I should read before buying a BTA). However reading about your issue Todd has got me thinking otherwise.

Where do you guys get krill? Grocery store?

 

[Toddrtrex]

I get my (( frozen )) krill from my LFS.

 

[Rod Buehler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14675340#post14675340 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
I fed mine krill about every 2-3 weeks. And it currently has been over a month since the last time I fed them (( 4 Haddonis and 1 LTA )). I personally think that a lot of people feed too often.

I used to use silverside, but no longer use them. I can't say for certain, but I believe that I lost a fairly new H. malu from feeding it silversides. It was doing great, I fed it some small pieces of silversides, the next morning it was dead (( still in the same spot, and nothing else in the tank changed. )) And if memory serves I am not the only one that has had this issue.

Good post Todd!
(hope youre doing well!.. Let me know if I can help,,,)
I agree with the feeding too much, and also agree with the silversides. Most of these anemones are NOT fish eaters. Most of them are found with only small plankton in their guts when examined.

I have a few anemones that I have had some success with. They do get some food, and probably most everyday, but the only food that they get is what makes it past my fish. I do feed heavily, so the anemones do get some food, but nothing ever bigger than peanut and usually much smaller. some of the nems are huge. I also need to say that my anemones are under strong lighting and get mush of their food from the sugars produces by the zooxanthallea. Also must say that anemones cannot live on sugar alone, so they do need to be fed. (but not like that site recommends IMO)

Link to some of mine
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1603392

Mysis are an OK food, but not a sole food for any animal in our tanks. I understand that they lack omega3. you will wangtto mix it up a bit with foods that are found in saltwater. If you like mysis, there is a pacific krill that is almost identical to PE mysis but contains the omega3s and also higher in astaxathin to help with colors of the animals. Brine is not all that nutritional it doesnt have the protein content of mysis, but does contain omega3s. my nems get a mixture of seafoods that has a few terrestrial ingredients mixed in to provide some of the vitamins that we are lacking. I use a turkey baster like above, but I dont really target anything. I feed the fish heavily over the area of the corals/anemones that I wan tto feed.