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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> |
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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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