Funny thing.......Well, not exactly.

[Rockitmakr]

Any ideas on how to keep Cleaner Shrimp from eating the fish that I feed my Rose? Two or more hours after I feed my Rose, the Cleaners dig the fish out of the Rose's mouth. P*****G ME OFF! Any ideas, no sarcasm.
:beer:

 

[phender]

I don't keep cleaner shrimp of any kind with my anemones for exactly that reason. They are not always gentle about removing the food and can tear up the inside of the anemone.

The only real solution is to remove the shrimp. You could put a strawberry basket over the anemone for 24 hours after you feed it, but that is rather unsightly.

 

[GSMguy]

feed the cleaners first give them a big fish to work on and have a spare handy incase they come for seconds

 

[GSMguy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9484882#post9484882 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
feed the cleaners first give them a big fish to work on and have a spare handy incase they come for seconds

phender, i have a few shrimp no problems so far, but i am very nervous. they seem to keep too themselves. I will watch for them on my anemones more carfully but i think my maroons would kill a shrimp if it cam in the anemone

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

I've had my Lysmata Amb. steal food from my BTA before. I give mine a hard pellet of food and that keeps it occupied while the BTA eats. I have never seen the shrimp steal from the bta a few hours after it has been fed though. This may be because the a. ocellaris hosting it won't let anything near it.

I do have a question though, what size chunks of meat are you feeding the BTA?

 

[Rockitmakr]

I am cutting the silver slides in 1/2, I am thinking about going smaller though.
Ideas?
:beer:

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9484969#post9484969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rockitmakr
I am cutting the silver slides in 1/2, I am thinking about going smaller though.
Ideas?
:beer:

yes, i wouldn't be suprised if the anemone is merely rejecting the large chunk of fish and the shrimp are helping it through that process. anemones prefer small portions, i'd cut the silversides up into much smaller chunks, minse it if you can...

edit: here's a link that a nice fellow who knows a thing or two about reef keeping posted on his forum... i'm stealing it for you too look at and see what anemones typically do w/ food that is too big.

I will warn you that there is some "salty" language in this thread:
http://www.sareefkeeping.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3565

anyway, too often anemone keepers feed large chunks of fish flesh to their anemones only to see it eat the food and miss seeing the anemone regurgitate the chunk of food 6 hours later when the tank lights are off. The regurgitated chunk is eaten by crabs or fish or pureed into chunks by a pump and filtered out...

 

[cschweitzer]

Mysis...I'm not a fan of silversides and have mentioned so in many threads. Bony fish have the chance of bones sticking/choking the anem and I have seen from many other people's posts that their anem poops up skelatons. My anems never expell waste that I have seen(over two years) and use all the food given to them. My shrimp tries to take it when I am feeding, so I squirt a few mysis in his direction and he takes off. He never goes inside my anem to eat out of it, he never harms my anem, he never steals food after the initial feeding, and my anem never spits up waste like many silverside feeders' anems do.

Any inverts with thin chitonous shells or any where the shell can be removed should do fine. I get whatever SW inverts are up at the store(Everything in my tank especially likes squid and scallops), freeze it, grate it with a cheese grater, add selcon and garlic, and repeat the first two steps as necessary.

 

[cschweitzer]

When I mentioned shrimp and refered to as he, this is in reference to the three tanks my BTA's are in, all with at least one cleaner in each; one of the tanks has two.

 

[phender]

I've had shrimp over the years that have been good, but after having a couple that were habitual food stealers, it just isn't worth the hassle for me.

too often anemone keepers feed large chunks of fish flesh to their anemones only to see it eat the food and miss seeing the anemone regurgitate the chunk of food 6 hours later when the tank lights are off. The regurgitated chunk is eaten by crabs or fish or pureed into chunks by a pump and filtered out...

I know that is the feeling of at least one reef expert, but it has not been my experience with healthy anemones. Food the size of the resting mouth, is small enough. Minced food is difficult to keep track of and it is hard to determine if the anemone is actually eating. JMO

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

Phil,

I appreciate your sharing your experiences. Perhaps a healthy anemone can handle large, solid portions but a minsed meal may require less energy on the part of the anemone.

What I do is feed a mixture that is blended but It holds together in smaller chunks (pinky nail size) that I suck out of my saltwater/mixing cup w/ a turkey baster and "blast" the anemone with...

 

[Rockitmakr]

Well, I know that the Rose was not puking last night. I saw that little bugger dig deep into the mouth & pull it out. I think the cleaners seem to get into mischief after dark so this time I will feed well before the lights go out!
Other comments??
:beer:

 

[RedSonja]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9485549#post9485549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rockitmakr
Well, I know that the Rose was not puking last night. I saw that little bugger dig deep into the mouth & pull it out. I think the cleaners seem to get into mischief after dark so this time I will feed well before the lights go out!
Other comments??
:beer:

Sounds like a good plan. I don't have any shrimp where they can get to 'nems but I know the peppermints in our other systems are much much bolder after lights-out.

-Sonja

 

[RedEyeElf]

my nem spits the silversides acouple hours after i feed sometimes, maybe you shrimp saw that and made moves, looking like him stealing

if mine are gonna steal, they steal when i feed, before it makes it to the nem usally
i poor some fresh hatch brine in, the shrimps go nuts, and i feed the nem with a feeding stick

 

[phender]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9485311#post9485311 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TheVillageIdiot
Phil,

I appreciate your sharing your experiences. Perhaps a healthy anemone can handle large, solid portions but a minsed meal may require less energy on the part of the anemone.
.........

I hope you didn't mean that to be as condescending as it appears. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss 20 years of experience with anemones, just because you read someone's opinion online.
I don't know how much energy an anemone uses during digestion, but since it is just a bag without a circulatory system, I can't imagine it is very much. In my observations it takes a lot more energy to bring all the little pieces into the mouth than one larger piece.

For sick anemones it is often impossible to feed lots of minced pieces. A sick anemone often doesn't have the energy to pull all the pieces to its mouth nor a sting strong enough to hold the pieces for a long enough time before they float off.

I'm not saying that small pieces are not good. My anemones get fish mouth sized pieces everyday when I feed the fish. I try to place my anemones in places where they catch as much missed food as possible.
Again, IME, anemones that are spitting out food at night have bigger problems than food that is too big.
I'm talking about 1/2 a silverside, not a 6" tang.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9486975#post9486975 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
I hope you didn't mean that to be as condescending as it appears. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss 20 years of experience with anemones, just because you read someone's opinion online.

If you were offended, it was not my intent, and I apologize. Nor am I dismissing your opinion anymore than you, I'm sure, are dismissing the opinion of someone (the person i read online) who has been in the industry for many, many years.

I don't know how much energy an anemone uses during digestion, but since it is just a bag without a circulatory system, I can't imagine it is very much. In my observations it takes a lot more energy to bring all the little pieces into the mouth than one larger piece.

that is speculation on my part with smaller pieces being more easily broken down than larger, that is all that i meant.

For sick anemones it is often impossible to feed lots of minced pieces. A sick anemone often doesn't have the energy to pull all the pieces to its mouth nor a sting strong enough to hold the pieces for a long enough time before they float off.

sure, but i wasn't speaking (or typing rather) about a sick anemone but rather anenomes in general.

I'm not saying that small pieces are not good. My anemones get fish mouth sized pieces everyday when I feed the fish. I try to place my anemones in places where they catch as much missed food as possible.
Again, IME, anemones that are spitting out food at night have bigger problems than food that is too big.
I'm talking about 1/2 a silverside, not a 6" tang.

fair enough, and again, i wasn't in anyway trying to offend you. I have read a lot of your posts here and respect what you say whether I agree with it or not. I'm not online to attack people or be condescending so thank you for pointing out that a post of mine came across that way and giving me the opportunity to clarify it.

Matt

 

[Rockitmakr]

Well,
my plan worked! Just feed early WAY before the lights go out. This gave the Nem plenty of time to digest its food. The Cleaner Shrimp seem to get into all sorts of mischief at night, either you love them or vise versa!
:beer:

 

[phender]

Sorry Matt,

I should know better. For whatever reason your post pushed a couple of my buttons. I should have just deleated my response and wrote my opinions on feeding a little later.

 

[TheVillageIdiot]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9492580#post9492580 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by phender
Sorry Matt,

I should know better. For whatever reason your post pushed a couple of my buttons. I should have just deleated my response and wrote my opinions on feeding a little later.

hey, I appreciate it. I'm thick skinned

I actually have a collection of 7-8 scientific periodicals on anenome feeding (various genus and species)... but I also have all these professors who, for some odd reason, think I should be reading finance and accounting texts... so I haven't had time to delve into the anenome stuff to see what exactly they are eating on the reef...

 

[Slakker]

That finance/accounting stuff will kill ya...I'm at what they tell me is one of the better accounting schools in the country, and I absolutely hate my accounting classes.

Luckily I'm a Management Computer Systems major...hehe.