Anemone Feeding Tools 3-31-2008
I want to start off by saying thank you and this site is the best.
<<Thank you sir.>>
I kind of have a almost silly question but I was told the only silly question is the question not asked.
<<I used to think that too until I started working in law-enforcement.>>
I have a brand new anemone and I was reading up on feeding it but how do you feed it without placing your hands or arms in an aquarium.
<<Gloves, Tongs, Chopsticks, Turkey Basters, Straws….to name a few.>>
I have a 30 inch deep tank so its a long ways down to feed the anemone at the bottom. I hope you are not laughing at the simplicity of this question but if you could help me out I would be greatly appreciated.
<<Good luck and see above my friend.>>
Thanks Again
<<Quite welcome.>>
Brad
<<Adam J.>>

Starving Anemone, BTA, E. Quadricolor – 12/17/07
I have a long tip bulb anemone in a 250 gallon reef tank with 7 surgeonfish, 1 fox face, 3 clowns, and 1 mandarin. I have 3 175 watt Metal Halides over tank.
<How deep is the tank?>
I also have several cleaner shrimp too. I have been having a problem with my anemone. It used to be like 7 inches in diameter and now it has shrunk to 3 inches in diameter.
<Yikes! How long have you had this anemone?>
I have never directly fed it because I thought the Perculas were feeding it.
<You can’t rely on clownfish to feed anemones. Some actually take food away from anemones.>
I do add Liquid Life BioPlankton and Cyclopeeze once a week.
<This is not adequate for an anemone.>
I do this mainly for my Derasa clam. I have tried to feed it frozen chunks of Mysis and he refuses it or my fish take it away from him.
<Is the anemone still able to hold onto the food? What does the color look like? What are your water parameters? What size portion are you trying to feed? Try 1/8” sized portions of Mysis shrimp, silversides, krill, or lance shrimp. You may have to protect the anemone while it eats. A plastic strawberry basket that you get when you buy strawberries at the grocery store will work for this.>
The tentacles have shortened up quite a bit too.
<This is a sign of starvation.>
How do I go about feeding this poor guy so that I can get him big and healthy again?
<Correct feeding and proper environment is the only way.>
Please respond back soon. Thank you
Christopher
<You’re Welcome! Brenda>

Can't get my anemone to eat. Anemone Trouble...  2/1/07
Hello.
<Hi.>
I've had an anemone for about a month and a half.  I can't remember what the retailer I bought it from called it, but I bought it under his recommendation and I trust him with that.
  It has a white base with white tentacles that are less than an inch long with purple tips.
<Maybe an H. crispa....maybe a little bleached, common for this animal in captivity....unfortunately.>
It ate about two to three times a week for the first two weeks and since then it's only eaten about once and I can't seem to get it to eat anything.  I've been feeding it freeze dried krill that I let sit in some tank water for about ten minutes before I attempt to feed it.  As I said, it hasn't eaten in almost three weeks and I'm a bit concerned.
<What is the animals condition? By that I mean has it moved at all, is it "planted" well into rock/substrate? Lighting and tank parameters?>
Any tips?
<Perhaps you should try a smaller food, like mysids or even frozen rotifers. Usually when anemones reject (throw-up basically) or refuse to ingest foods, they are being overfed or fed to large of items.>
Dustin
<Adam_J.> <<I'd send this person to the Sebae files... RMF>>

No to feeding dead Clown to Anemone  10/27/06
Hi there guy's
< Heya, Emerson with you today. >
Hmmm tricky one, this may or may not be the first on WWM . I came home this afternoon and as per .. I made a b-line for the tank only to find one of my percula's MISSING . He (since he was the smaller of the pair) didn't appear at feeding time and I couldn't see him any where in the tank when I noticed that the filter cap on my 300l/h power head was not on the pump. Yep you've guessed it,  power head 1  percula 0. Now although Am really gutted and I promise I am, can I feed my anemone the percula.
< Bag it and trash it. Although you did not mention what type of anemone you have I can bet it will not consume a dead clown without puking out a half digested clown mass that will do your tank no good. >
Yours sheepishly
< No worries buddy :) Give your departed clown a proper burial and keep an eye on those powerheads!>
dray

New Anemone Woes - 10/9/06
Hi there
<Hi Dray - Tim answering your question today!>
My names dray and I'm a reef tank newbie. (I bet that's a breath of fresh air, hey!)
Iv had my tank (trogon 190) for a little over two months now and yesterday I proudly bought an anemone hoping that my tank bred percula's would host (dream on?)
<Not necessary for your clownfish - particularly if they are tank bred.>
Today I got back from work and the anemone is a purple mass of string where it settled yesterday kind of how it seemed to go when the lights went out.
I've done a water change and I hope that might remedy the problem.
Can you possibly give me some advice and also some on feeding, coz after reading what you guys do to feed your anomie's, and if that's the way to do it. Then I'm gonna go back to my LFS and slap some body  "All they need to eat they get from the food the fish leave", is what I was told.
<This is not the case - the clownfish may help. You will need to supplement your anemone diet. Please do a search on the WetWebMedia website for relevant information - I assure you there is much of it! Unfortunately you do not give enough details regarding your system for me to offer assistance. I would suggest you read the online archives particularly focusing on the issues of lighting and water quality! Best of luck! Tim>

Re: sea anemone.. Carpet..., just read   10/8/06
Thank you for your fast reply.  I will have to find another interesting invertebrate.  One more quick question.  Why do anemones need so much light?  Because if you feed them meaty foods why would they need the light.  They do not do photosynthesis.
  Thanks
<Most do/can derive a significant portion of their nutrition through photosynthesis... Please, keep reading. BobF>

Feeding an anemone    8/29/06
I recently purchased a red tipped anemone.
<Mmm, maybe Heteractis crispa... a Sebae... you will want to know the species you're dealing with. Please read here: http://wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemones.htm>
I have read many questions about anemones not wanting to eat, but mine is doing just the opposite. Yesterday I fed it a piece of shrimp about the size of the anemones mouth, which it quickly consumed and re-opened fully. Today
<Whoa... slow down...>
I fed it another piece which it consumed as if it were starving, so about 5 hours later I fed it again, and had the same result. I have read that anything that it doesn't need it will expel, but this particular anemone isn't expelling anything, only consuming.
<... have slow metabolisms... will egest wastes, unwanted food in time>
So, on to my question - is it possible to over-feed an anemone, and what could be the possible cause of this voracious appetite?
<Is possible to over-feed... don't have much of a "food-refusal" response... food is scarce in the wild for the most part... Please read the linked files to the citation above. Bob Fenner>

Anemone feeding/lighting and Tank Upgrade - 5/11/2006
Lisa (or whomever the aquarist guru/happy helper of the day is),
<<Ha! This is Lisa again.>>
Thanks for getting back to me sooooo quickly.
<<You're welcome.>>
In response to your question regarding my lighting for the anemone-this is what I've got on the (still 30 gallon) tank: Current Dual Satellite Lamp- 65 watt 2-lamp with lunar light (Dual Daylight 6,700/10,000 K and Dual Actinic 420 Nm/460 Nm).
<<I have never used this myself.>>
I was told at my LFS that the lighting is sufficient for the corals and anemones, but I've seen many examples of disastrous consequences of poor advice while reading your FAQ's.  Was I misinformed?
<<Not entirely.  Certainly not enough light for SPS, or an anemone, in my opinion.  Proper supplemental feeding of the anemone will surely help.  Is this the lighting that will go on the 72-gallon you are moving to?  If so, I would look into upgrading.>>
Everything still seems to be perky in there, but one never knows.  I am feeding the anemone every 4-5 days with a small piece of raw shrimp or a small ball of formula one frozen food.
<<Not still frozen, I hope?  Small meaty foods are the way to go. Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/anemonefdgfaqs.htm, http://www.wetwebmedia.com/marine/inverts/cnidaria/anthozoa/anemonelightngfaqs.htm.>>
I guard him from the sneaky thieving shrimp or put a strawberry basket over him for awhile so he has a chance to decide if he wants to eat the food, or spit it out.  I AM somewhat unsure of the feeding technique- do I gently shove the food into his mouth or just put it on his "lips" waiting for his response?  I don't want to gag the poor guy, but I don't want to starve him either.
<<Do read the linked files. Is he no longer ‘sticky’?>>
As for my new setup- here is what I'm planning.  I've spent the last three days reading FAQ's (and subsequently eating nothing but beer and Cheetos)
<<Diet of champions, to be sure!>>
but I'm still a little unclear, so if you would humor me with some constructive criticism:
72 gallon display with 1 inch oolitic sand (and an area of deeper sand-about 3 inches as my firefish likes to burrow)
Filtration:
15-gallon sump/refugium with 6" sand bed of coarse- medium grade sand (taken from my current tank with a 2-21/2 inch sand bed.  Bad idea?)
<<Not a bad idea to use it from the other tank, no.  My preference for DSB’s is oolitic sand.>>
and some "spaghetti" algae.
Aqua C Remora Pro with Mag-3 pump (hanging on sump)
<<Good skimmer.>>
Rena XP3 canister filter (trying to decide if I should filter/return directly from tank or in sump after skimming) with charcoal, nitrate sponge.
<<I do not employ canisters on my reef tanks.>>
Water movement:
SEIO M820 Powerhead
the 1200 Powerhead off the cheapie SeaClone skimmer
couple of airstones (necessary?)
<<No.>>
Visi-Therm Stealth 250 watt heater
I'd like to move my existing fish but add a beefier cleanup crew... but many of the packages I see for sale seem excessive.  Do I really need 18 Scarlet Hermit Crabs, 15 Astrea Snails, 15 Cerith Snails, and 45 Red-or Blue-Leg Hermits?
<<You don’t NEED any of them.  It is a personal choice. I add ‘clean-up crews’ for interest/bio-diversity.  Ultimately it’s our job to feed properly/deal with organics.>>
I was planning to add a couple of Bumble Bee snails, a sifting type star or two, and another tiny hermit crab.
<<I would pass on both the BumbleBee snails and the sand sifting stars.  These stars quickly eat up all available organisms in DSB’s, and perish.>>
My poor abused fairy wrasse actually seems... happy... in the tiny 10-gallon quarantine as of right now.
<<She is finally getting a break!>>
She is not hiding all day anymore and will actually eat Formula One from my fingers.  I hate to put her back into the tank with the other nasty wrasse.  He's prettier, but I think he will go if I need to make a choice.
<<I think fairy wrasses are much more attractive than 6-lines.>>
Again, thanks for the assistance -
Stephanie D.
<<Glad to help. Lisa.>>

Re: Anemone feeding/lighting and Tank Upgrade - 5/13/2006
Hi Lisa-
<<Hey Stephanie.>>
Thanks for the links to all the anemone information.  I truly appreciate the patience and the lack of flaming at my stupid questions!
<<Not stupid at all!>>
All those hours I was browsing on WWM- how did I miss that (could it have been the beer)?
<<Haha, maybe!>>
I'd been looking at all the local stores in my area for a book on anemones but couldn't find one.  My poor anemone was never "sticky" from day one.  I will read some more of the FAQ's, and if I can't provide a suitable environment for him I will return him rather than have him slowly die.
<<A wise choice if you can’t care for the animal. Do try though!>>
We are planning on upgrading the lighting but not sure what we're doing beyond that. I've spent time looking over the site regarding specifics on lighting.  Since I can't seem to find anywhere that sells bowfront hoods (and only the hoods) it looks like we will be building our own (maybe this weekend!).
<<Do you mean a lighting hood?  A normal fixture is fine to use on a bowfront tank.  If you mean a cover, All Glass has a few different types.>>
Do you have a recommendation- lighting type or wattage that I should be looking for in order to sustain my corals and anemone?
<<In the 72, I would really recommend metal halides.  2- 150 or 175 watt lamps.>
I couldn't seem to find a standard formula for this, and many of the different postings in the FAQ's give different recommendations.  I am once again thoroughly confused but I truly want to provide the correct environment for the marine life I have, rather than return them to the LFS.
<<I understand. It can be confusing.  Do look for a unit/bulbs of 6,500K-10,000K >>
Again, thanks for your patience and for helping to "get the word out" about proper fish care.  It helps us ignorant but well-intentioned fish lovers immensely.
<<If only everyone was so well-intentioned!>>
Stephanie D.
<<Glad to help. Lisa.>>