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FAQs on Anemones of the Caribbean/West Atlantic
Foods/Feeding/Nutrition Related
Articles:
Anemones,
Anemones of the Tropical West Atlantic,
Colored/Dyed Anemones, Related
FAQs:
Atlantic Anemones 1,
Atlantic Anemones 2,
Condylactis,
Tropical West Atlantic (TWA) Anemone Identification,
TWA Anemone Behavior,
TWA Anemone Compatibility,
TWA Anemone Selection,
TWA Anemone Systems,
TWA Anemone Disease,
TWA Anemone Reproduction, Anemones,
Anemones 2, Clownfishes & Anemones,
Anemone Lighting,
Anemone Reproduction,
Anemone Identification,
Anemone Selection,
Anemone Behavior,
Anemone Health,
Anemone Placement, Anemone
Feeding, "Feed me, feed my system" | 
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Haitian Anemone, fdg. 5/1/08
I was wondering what types of
things these anemones eat?
<... Condylactis... Read here:
http://wetwebmedia.com/condyfdgfaq.htm
Bob Fenner>
Feeding and care of Calliactis tricolor anemone 1/9/07
Howdy -
I have some questions about the Calliactis tricolor
anemone.
<Let's see if we can answer them>
Walking along
beaches of the barriers islands near Savannah GA we have been
finding anemones washed ashore that range from 3-8cm in length. A
search on Google, and read through some of your pages, identified
them as Calliactis tricolor/hermit crab anemone.
<Interesting to
speculate how they might have become separated from their usual
host's shells>
When we find them we put in a pail with some
seawater and see if they recuperate. If so, dump them on the
calm/estuary side of the island and hope they find their way. A
number of ones we collected had defects in the pedal disc and
couldn't stick to anything,
possibly from desiccation after
being washed ashore or otherwise.
<Yes... and this sort of
damage is a common cause of loss of "giant Pacific" anemone
species... damage from extraction...>
We brought some home and
now have 8 Calliactis in a 3 gallon Eclipse aquarium. Only other
inhabitants are a few small slipper shell snails that came with
found shells placed in the tank.
<Okay>
The tank has 2.5 lbs
of live sand. We started with ocean seawater, but have converted to
preparing water (distilled) with Instant Ocean sea salt, to 1.023 sp
grav (what local waters seem to be).
pH and nitrite have been
stable; ammonia sometimes creeps to 0.5ppm until we do a partial
water change.
<Mmm...>
The tank has a charcoal and
biological filter, and a fluorescent light built into the lid. We
leave the light on for 12h/day. We haven't added a protein skimmer
or additional circulation beyond the impeller that came on the
Eclipse tank. Do we need additional circulation or light for this
species?
<Not essential... though some redundant filtration
(perhaps a hang-on that the lid can be fashioned to accommodate, or
a canister... will help you avoid the ammonia accumulation
(important)>
As best I can tell, they live in pretty murky water
'round here.
7 anemones seem to have recuperated and adhere to
shells in the tank. One still can't open it's basal disk, though the
area remains touch sensitive. However, the anemone is regularly open
and seems to feed as well as its tank-mates. Can anemones repair
damage to their basal disk and how critical is it that the anemone
adhere to solid substrate?
<The adherence capacity is indicative
of general health (so is important) If not too damaged, anemones
can/do heal here>
As for feeding - reading some articles in
PubMed, a few centers reported maintaining Calliactis for months
feeding them daily-to-weekly, with as much as they could eat at a
time (brine shrimp and krill). We feed them twice/week with minced
raw shrimp. They don't seem to like minced clam meat or "Prime Reef"
fish food/Ocean Nutrition. Sitting on hermit crab shells we would
have thought anything dead would be fair game -- is there something
else we should be feeding them?
<I would get/use a small bag of
frozen "mixed ocean meat/stew" from the grocery store... cut up bits
of this... apply directly... with tongs, an all-plastic turkey
baster...>
They did well on the twice/week schedule for the
first 2 weeks, now we find that they feed well one day, are
refractory for two days (but open) and completely close up for 1-3
days thereafter. Not certain this is normal? Is feeding every 3-4
days too frequent?
<Is right about right>
Thanks for your
help!
Anna G.
<Thank you for caring, sharing. Many others
will find your words of use, interest. Bob Fenner> |
Re: Feeding and care of Calliactis tricolor anemone
1/19/07
Hi Bob -
Thank you so much for your reply.
It was very helpful.
<Welcome>
In the interim..
The
two largest anemones went back to the ocean before we headed
inland (taking up too much space). The other 6 have continued
to feed well.. ammonia was ~ 0.25-0.5ppm.
<Do watch this...
no feeding if it approaches 1.0 ppm>
Jan 9th they consumed a
whole shrimp that had been minced..
<Too much>
and by
the 14th the ammonia had spiked to 8ppm (or higher, yikes!).
<... dangerous>
We're letting the tank complete its cycling.
We transferred all inhabitants to a clean container with regular
input of fresh saltwater. 4 anemones looked none the worse
during this time. Two had developed 1-2 translucent/depigmented
areas in the column and have been segregated into individual
containers. The areas were covered in a lot of mucoid material
though the underlying tissue was still firm -- attached images
show one of the areas beneath my fingers (sorry for the poor
image quality). They have continued to feed and adhere to shells
during this time. The areas are not getting worse, nor do they
appear to be healing, though pigmentation has started to return.
Ammonia has stayed at 0ppm in our temporary refugium.
<Good>
I'm curious what causes such lesions?
<"Environmental
stress">
I swabbed the afflicted areas + normal skin from
healthy anemones, & Gram stained the material (I'll admit that
my day job involves a lot of biochemistry and microbiology).
Didn't see anything obvious if its something bacterial or
fungal.
<Mmm, no, not until decomposition usually>
Thanks for your help.
<A pleasure to share. Bob Fenner> | 
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Re: Feeding and care of Calliactis tricolor anemone - 02/09/2007
Just wanted to say thanks again for your help. Bonus pictures attached
;)
<Neat!>
After waiting 2 weeks for the tank to cycle with just
live sand, we invested in 2 lbs cured live rock, which dropped the
ammonia to 0, almost overnight.
<Ah, good>
Nitrites range from
0-1ppm and nitrate 5-10ppm with 10% water changes over the week.
<Very good>
Everyone's back in the Eclipse tank. The anemone we
found with a desiccated pedal disk adhered to a shell a few days later
while being moved during cleanup of some goo (skinny one in the back RH
corner).
The anemone in front, named "Goldenrod" by my husband, is
definitely the tank poser (2nd picture).
<Heeee!>
Cheers..
Lynn AG
<Thanks for sharing. BobF, who really likes the Tiger Cowry
shell> | 
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Anemone Feeding, Food Types And Frequency - 03/15/2006
Hi.
<Hello.>
I have been searching yours and other websites and am
having a hard time getting a straight answer on this question. I have a
Condy who seems healthy and happy. Just got him, is accepting food right
away. Gets natural sunlight, will be upgrading our lighting system to
250 watt metal halide. The question: How much and how often do I feed
our Condy? Twice a day? Twice a week?
<Once to twice weekly.>
We
are feeding him minced, thawed shrimp...he seems to like it very much.
Should I vary it or is just the fresh minced shrimp enough.
<Best to
offer variety. Meaty marine foods (fish flesh, crab, shrimp) only.>
Again, How much and how often?
Thanks...Melissa and Micah
<Read
up here
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/condyfdgfaq.htm and on through the
related links. Hope that helps. - Josh>
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