Feeding Silversides
- Thread starter mcozad829
- Start date
mcozad829
Premium Member
This is my 2 cents worth on silversides and I have to mention I didn't read all of the posts previously on this thread but here goes: Silversides are actually hard for the nem to digest. There are other foods that are easier on the anemone's digestive system. When I had my anemone, I used to feed it thawed frozen squid and krill and mysis and brine shrimp. I don't think it has anything to do with if it is safe for human consumption or not because most human consumption foods have additives and preservatives in them that aren't necessarily good for marine fish and animals. If you feed a silverside, it should be ground up first and frankly, they are gross enough, who wants to bother to grind them too. You should always feed quality foods. By the way, my anemone got too big for my tank and I had to get rid of himBut not because of lack of nutrition.
Interesting take on the subject, wasn't brought up like that. You should read the posts by swampy, dave, and D-nak as they would advise against any fish food, silversides, krill, squid etc. I am not trying to sound arrogant but this kind of stuff fascinates me so was there an article or book you read that lead you to your view on the nem's digestive capabilities? Or is it from personal observation?
davocean
Active member
PS: If the animal has a mouth, the animal has a mouth for a reason so I do believe that if the animal has a mouth, and a digestive system, it needs to eat.
I think that thinking makes sense to many based on what WE think or feel, but then we only have one source of taking in and creating energy, sea anemone's have two, probably to provide for when one may be lacking.
I have seen a great number of beautiful and healthy sea anemone's over the years that were never spot fed.
Both my LTA/doreensis and Sebae/crispa that were documented here for 5 and half years are proof of that, and I don't think anyone can deny their health.
Unlike Mother nature we do have the ability to give the light they need every day.
davocean
Active member
Here is another interesting read for those of you that like to see letters added to a persons name to trust their observations.
I think many are seeing a sea anemone as more of an animal than it really may be.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140318113816.htm
I think many are seeing a sea anemone as more of an animal than it really may be.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140318113816.htm
SwampyBill
New member
davocean
Active member
Then you are just stating an opinion based on your existing limited knowledge and experience only.
One way conversations rarely provide growth and advancement.
SwampyBill
New member
Nah, silversides are the only culprit we've seen problems with over the yrs. Krill, squid, scallops, shrimp, even pelleted fish food is good.
Chrisq0904
New member
davocean
Active member
My only negative experience that I am aware of and absolutely certain of pertains to silversides only.
I have seen other experienced nem keepers advise using only food meant for human consumption as a means to be safe or safer, and understandably so as they have a bit more invested w/ the numbers of and difficulty of the species they have been keeping.
I do happen to buy from grocery stores out of convenience, but the extra assurance of food quality is nice too.
I have seen other experienced nem keepers advise using only food meant for human consumption as a means to be safe or safer, and understandably so as they have a bit more invested w/ the numbers of and difficulty of the species they have been keeping.
I do happen to buy from grocery stores out of convenience, but the extra assurance of food quality is nice too.
mcozad829
Premium Member
mcozad829
Premium Member
Ok but now we are back to square one... Do silversides spoil easier than krill? Are silversides fed more often so by the laws of statistics there are going to be more issues? Or is it something about the silversides themselves that has caused these issues?
Amoo
Member
mcozad829, My tank is still cycling so take this for what it's worth, but I've been trolling these forums for about a month now. I would bet in that time I have seen at least half a dozen if not more threads about people who fed silversides forever to their nems and it got sick from it (presumably). I remember a thread from a guy who had been feeding them for years then finally had a bad batch.
My thought process is this. I don't care about the why or the how (well I do but let's be practical here), people have had problems with silversides and nems. I want my nems to live. I don't plan on feeding silversides.
My thought process is this. I don't care about the why or the how (well I do but let's be practical here), people have had problems with silversides and nems. I want my nems to live. I don't plan on feeding silversides.
mcozad829
Premium Member
I see what you are saying and I appreciate it but my question is more about why and how. These are things that I like to learn.
What I believe separates great reefers from normal reefers is a complete understanding of why they are doing what they are doing. I aspire to someday call my reef great and this is why I spend half my time reading about the why and how.
houstonhobby
New member
On feeding of anemone's, let me say that I have bought three anemones and only one is still alive, so I am very good at killing them apparently.
The one that is still alive is a rose-tipped bubble anemone. Supposed to be very hardy. He was getting smaller and smaller. Then my LFS guy said to start feeding him so I did. All frozen food of various kinds including silversides. He was only about a half-inch across when I started this so we are not talking whole fish here. Just small pieces.
My clowns don't help. They steal his food when they can.
Since I started this he has probably doubled in size (still smaller than a quarter) and stays open most of the time, so he is obviously liking it. So I think mine at least needs to be fed.
The idea of buying fresh seafood at the grocery is a good idea and I will keep it in mind. I personally don't like seafood (go figure) and I don't really do much shopping (I thought that was why people got married) but I may switch from silversides to shrimp from the grocery.
Thanks to everyone for the advice.
The one that is still alive is a rose-tipped bubble anemone. Supposed to be very hardy. He was getting smaller and smaller. Then my LFS guy said to start feeding him so I did. All frozen food of various kinds including silversides. He was only about a half-inch across when I started this so we are not talking whole fish here. Just small pieces.
My clowns don't help. They steal his food when they can.
Since I started this he has probably doubled in size (still smaller than a quarter) and stays open most of the time, so he is obviously liking it. So I think mine at least needs to be fed.
The idea of buying fresh seafood at the grocery is a good idea and I will keep it in mind. I personally don't like seafood (go figure) and I don't really do much shopping (I thought that was why people got married) but I may switch from silversides to shrimp from the grocery.
Thanks to everyone for the advice.
OrionN
Moved on
We should have a sticky on Silverside why and why not, then we don't have to battle it our every few months or so.
I don't feed Silverside from bad personal experiences from when I was a newbie may moons ago. This is my thinking at this time regarding this subject.
Any seafood spoil easy, but the quality of human food are much better. A LFS can wipe out our tank with impunity. Grocery selling bad food and sicken customer is another mater. There is a huge incentive for grocers to not sell spoiled food. There is finacial incentive for LFS owner to refreeze fish food and sell them. The care that shipper take to keep human food freeze is huge, not soo much for UPS and Fedex to keep frozen fish food from thawing out. We all know how often USPS, Fedex and UPS donot deliver over night package as scheduled.
Prior to being freeze, human food are under much better care. Most of the time, reputable producer removed gut and head from shrimp before they are freeze (The stomach of the shrimp is on his head). These GI organs (stomach and bowels) have a lot of bacterial and even keep frozen can and will spoil the food unless keep in really deep freeze.
Silverside, being small fish freeze whole with gut and stomach. This will spoil the fish very quickly unless not keep in deed freeze. In our aquarium, fish will not eat bad food. They just spit the bad food out. Anemones on the other hand do not have a brain will not be able to tell if the food is bad or not. They eat the food according to chemical cue. If the thing that stick to their tentacles have certain chemical, they will ingests it. Anemone cannot tell spoil food from fresh food. One piece of bad food and your anemone is history in a few days.
I can get a pound of seafood medley for about $2.50 to $3.00. This will last a long time, even for my 14 anemones (not counting Maxi Mini, Mini mini and aptasia) 5 dollars worth of Siverside is pitifully small amount of food. You can get sushi grade seafood for cheaper than silverside (no kidding)
Silverside are much more expensive, much more likely to be spoiled and kill my $500.00 Red Haddoni or my $350.00 purple Gigantea than Seafood medley for human use. I got to be crazy to feed my anemone Silverside.
I do feed my tank Ocean Plankton and Mysis. I got these direct from Drs Foster & Smith. My anemone eat them too if they can catch them. However, if the mysis or ocean plankton is smelly, the best test for spoil sea food, they will get seal up in plastic and into the garbage can. The smaller the seafood, the more likely they are spoiled if not keep in deep freeze.
I don't feed Silverside from bad personal experiences from when I was a newbie may moons ago. This is my thinking at this time regarding this subject.
Any seafood spoil easy, but the quality of human food are much better. A LFS can wipe out our tank with impunity. Grocery selling bad food and sicken customer is another mater. There is a huge incentive for grocers to not sell spoiled food. There is finacial incentive for LFS owner to refreeze fish food and sell them. The care that shipper take to keep human food freeze is huge, not soo much for UPS and Fedex to keep frozen fish food from thawing out. We all know how often USPS, Fedex and UPS donot deliver over night package as scheduled.
Prior to being freeze, human food are under much better care. Most of the time, reputable producer removed gut and head from shrimp before they are freeze (The stomach of the shrimp is on his head). These GI organs (stomach and bowels) have a lot of bacterial and even keep frozen can and will spoil the food unless keep in really deep freeze.
Silverside, being small fish freeze whole with gut and stomach. This will spoil the fish very quickly unless not keep in deed freeze. In our aquarium, fish will not eat bad food. They just spit the bad food out. Anemones on the other hand do not have a brain will not be able to tell if the food is bad or not. They eat the food according to chemical cue. If the thing that stick to their tentacles have certain chemical, they will ingests it. Anemone cannot tell spoil food from fresh food. One piece of bad food and your anemone is history in a few days.
I can get a pound of seafood medley for about $2.50 to $3.00. This will last a long time, even for my 14 anemones (not counting Maxi Mini, Mini mini and aptasia) 5 dollars worth of Siverside is pitifully small amount of food. You can get sushi grade seafood for cheaper than silverside (no kidding)
Silverside are much more expensive, much more likely to be spoiled and kill my $500.00 Red Haddoni or my $350.00 purple Gigantea than Seafood medley for human use. I got to be crazy to feed my anemone Silverside.
I do feed my tank Ocean Plankton and Mysis. I got these direct from Drs Foster & Smith. My anemone eat them too if they can catch them. However, if the mysis or ocean plankton is smelly, the best test for spoil sea food, they will get seal up in plastic and into the garbage can. The smaller the seafood, the more likely they are spoiled if not keep in deep freeze.
mcozad829
Premium Member
OrionN - You make some excellent points in your statement. I like your explanation of why you do not feed food not qualified for human consumption.
The point of this thread was not to attempt justification of feeding silversides but to get an understanding of why. The argument made was "nems have died after eating bad silversides" I wasn't satisfied with that answer because it leaves all other frozen fish foods to be questioned also. Yet I have also been told krill are fine. And to this point what remains unexplained is why would krill be safe but not silversides? After reading the points made throughout this thread I am going to feed food-grade seafood to my nem from this point on. If silversides cannot be trusted then I can also not trust krill as they are handled in the manner.
Thanks to all of you whom have contributed to this thread.
The point of this thread was not to attempt justification of feeding silversides but to get an understanding of why. The argument made was "nems have died after eating bad silversides" I wasn't satisfied with that answer because it leaves all other frozen fish foods to be questioned also. Yet I have also been told krill are fine. And to this point what remains unexplained is why would krill be safe but not silversides? After reading the points made throughout this thread I am going to feed food-grade seafood to my nem from this point on. If silversides cannot be trusted then I can also not trust krill as they are handled in the manner.
Thanks to all of you whom have contributed to this thread.
The need may come from what you have for lighting. This keeps getting passed by, so let me show off. December 12th, 2012.
Just about the size of a silver dollar. I feed nothing. My fish, every other day or so. It/they may get a few pellets. I just took this pic. There's 5 or 6 nems now. Each 4 to five inches accross. In under a year and a half.
