feeding my anemone

[carpenterwrasse]

so what food out there is best to feed my new anemones 1 LTA and 1 BTA???
I have read about krill and brine anything else?

[graphixx]

George, I would feed them meaty foods such as scallops, clams, shrimp, shiners, I allways used to feed mine those. and they love it!!!!

[carpenterwrasse]

shinners alive or frozen? and heres a couple of pics of the guys[/img]

[carpenterwrasse]

the BTA sucked right into the rocks

[graphixx]

those look nice, you can go frozen or fresh.

[jerryc]

Silver sides work good you can get them frozen

[carpenterwrasse]

i have a better chance getting frozen than anything going to the LFS when Gwen gets home

[Sweetpea]

Aside from the squid and scallops that my BTA eats, I hear they like clams, oysters, and mussels, but I don't trust myself enough with a knife to get them open! :oops: I'm hoping to get some silversides soon! I just want some variety for my nem like you do!

Nice lookin' nems you got there! Congrats, George! :D

[Reef_Angel]

It's not a good idea to feed whole silver sides, or big chunks of anything like scallops, etc. I've also read that if you are going to have them in your Reef tank, do not feed them live foods. Many anemones that we are able to purchase from an LFS are tank raised. They're stomachs are not used to a "wild" type feeding experience. They can be trained to eat them though, so if you decide to give them large or live foods, you may also find your favorite fish hanging out of it's mouth one day. Those that are in the ocean eat what comes their way, including live fish. They can be picky eaters at first, so don't give up on them if it seems they are not eating enough. They are busy filtering food out of the water column between your hand feedings all the time. Feeding them brine shrimp, mysis, silver side, (cut up in tiny pieces), clams, a good health variety in a mush state etc... are the best way to go IMO. I feed my Sebae- "Briney" mostly brine shrimp twice a week. You'll have to see how much food they will accept from a baster full of food. It's a learning experience between the two of you, so starting out with small amounts is best. Most will take only the amount that it's used to, and let the rest go into the tank. Gently put the tip of a baster deep down into the fleshy material near the mouth. Wiggle it around and let some food free in his mouth so he gets the idea and has a taste for MORE! If your anemone's are anything like my Sebae, he brings his sides up around that baster like he's holding a baby bottle. Push the amount of food he eats in deep, so it can hold on to the pile of food your giving him. Briney (10-12' accross) eats a full baster of brine shrimp twice a week. If you overfeed, "and I know this because I've overfed Briney thinking he wanted an increase" , they will sometimes eat it all, and then one odd bump from another tank mate and he'll spew his whole dinner back into the tank. When they have a host, the fish or shrimp that it's hosting will bring it food on non-hand feeding days. Your anemone also filter feeds on the foods residing in the water colony. Good luck with your new tank mates, and as always....we love pictures so please keep sharing them as you go! It's fun to watch their progress! Briney started off as a 3" Sebae...unbelieveable, and it was a learning experience for over a year now!! .....Angel :angel2:

Just for fun, if you missed it.... :razz: I wrote about an experience I had with my Briney & his "host" Sally. I'm not sure who host's who on this one! :scratch: :mrgreen: He're's the link:
http://www.captivereefing.com/viewtopic.php?t=2220&highlight=

[Sweetpea]

Feeding them brine shrimp, mysis, silver side, (cut up in tiny pieces), clams, a good health variety in a mush state etc... are the best way to go IMO.

What kind of clams do you use? I'd really like to give my nem some mollusks, but I'm not so handy when it comes to a knife and a shell, and I'm not sure about using canned stuff.

Do you ever feed fleshy fish, say a little piece of flounder or grouper? I bought some frozen, but I haven't given him any yet. I really like grouper, and I'm thinking lunch for me! ;)

Do you have any pics of Briney taking his "bottle"? I think we'd all love to see that! :D You always have such great information to share and such fun stories! Thanks!

[Reef_Angel]

:tease: You know something Tracy, I always feel a little "guilty" about my answers to posts. You made me feel better about them with your kind words! Everyone else just post their answers to questions in a short well worded reply. Then there's me, answering a post to the best of my ability, and have it turning into a book like entry! Then when I'm almost done with my post, my lappy locks up, or IE takes a poo and I lose all the knowledge I spewed out. Even worse, when I'm done with my reply to a post, ready to send it to all of you, I go back and look at the original post. Low & behold, 5 :lurk: members have already posted beautiful answers during the time it took me to write my response. It makes me laugh while I consider whether I said anything in my post that wasn't covered by all the answers already given! Generally, I just delete all that stuff I wrote and smack myself for being so fussy. Then I just bask in the glory of Dakar- Dave having a good laugh at my expense. He's seen me do it so often, I should have learned by now....right? So I'm warning you, this one is going to be one of those replies, and this time I :notworthy: will press the "send" button. :puter1:


What kind of clams do you use? I'd really like to give my nem some mollusks You can get fresh frozen clams from the freezer section in your local market, but you'll pay big $$$ for them. I know you can get them from seafood specialty stores, and some grocery stores add a seafood section in their meat case. I know this because the first time I ever saw fresh seafood, they even had octopus in there, all intact...head, suckers on all those legs, the eyeball....eww! it was just to much for my 3yrs old at the time when he asked me what that was in the meat case. I gave my best mommy explanation, compared it to one of the cartoons or book characters he knew so he'd make the connection, and then dropped the bomb on him... Yes, people eat that! He threw up right there :pukeleft: , yet he couldn't seem to pull his little eyes away, and we'd come around the next isle, he would look toward that case and start up the "I'm gonna puke again Mommy" noises. :pat: Frankly I agreed with him. We went on with our shopping while some poor stock boy :smt100 got to mop up the hot dog pieces Joshua had eaten earlier. My 3yr is no longer a baby, actually he has a 3 year old :love1: daughter of his own. I'm sure she entertains her Daddy-Josh & Mommy just as much, as he's done for us! 8)

**Clams in cans have been through processing, so I'm uncertain about feeding anything that isn't pure to any of my critters. IMO wouldn't be the best thing for your nem. Some fresh Cod is a good choice, but just make sure it's in small pieces for safe digestion. As far as the flounder and grouper are concerned, I believe that would be fine as well.

**You mentioned mollusks also, and that's something I'm curious about myself. Living on the Wisconsin River, we can pull mollusks out of the sandy beds by the pail full. I wondered if we could use them if we make sure the meat we take out is cleaned carefully? Being they dwell in the River would be my concern. I'd appreciate some info on that question too!


Do you have any pics of Briney taking his "bottle"?
You know, I never thought to take a picture of Briney dining. I stand on a stool with my arm in the tank up to my armpits in order to feed him comfortably. Between Dakar-Dave and I, maybe a little luck thrown in, we will do our best to get a good shot of him during one of his :smt030 "bottle" :binky: feedings.

Anyway....that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
:lovestory:
.....Angel :tease:

[Sweetpea]

... when I'm done with my reply to a post, ready to send it to all of you, I go back and look at the original post. Low & behold, 5 members have already posted beautiful answers during the time it took me to write my response.

Omigosh - that happens to me ALL the time! I usually just delete my post after that... :(

I've been feeding my nem pieces of food that are about 1/2"... maybe the size of a lima bean... he's a good size nem (at least 8" in diameter), and he handles these pieces well. I've yet to see him regurgitate a meal.

I have been trying to vary his diet. Right now all he eats is squid (2 tentacles or 1/2 of a "ring") and scallops (1/3 of a bay scallop). I haven't been able to get him to eat any shrimp (I've tried Mysis and fresh market shrimp)... I guess he's just picky. I need to try some other stuff... fish pieces, clams, oysters, mussels.

I'm not ready to trust anything in a can for the nem... I'm too worried about some kind of contamination. I guess you could argue if it's fit for human consumption it would be fine for the nem, but that's not good enough for me. I think you're wise not pulling anything from the river - why take a chance? We all have so much invested in our tanks... not just money... our sweat, blood, and tears - literally.

Well, I'd better wrap this up - I've written my book for the evening, lol! ;) Don't you ever feel guilty about writing long posts! Your words are always so kind, helpful, fun, etc. ... it's a joy to read them! The hot dog thing was too funny! (Brings back memories... :-? ). If you ever get a chance, do snap a pic of Briney with his "bottle" ... that would make a GREAT photo!!!

HUGS,
Tracy

[carpenterwrasse]

books are good if the story is well written and as far as i am consered you ae up there.

[Reef_Angel]

It's just life! I think we get some of best& funniest experiences from life. It may not have been to funny at the time, but hindsight gives us back something from any incident. It save's us from going nuts! :lol:

[dakar]

a while back I added something fun to everyone's profile it tracks the number of words each person has posted and calculates an average number of words per post.

Tracy = 9,713 words @ 55.82 average per post
Angel = 133,149 words @ 123.4 average per post
me = I'm too afraid to look

[Reef_Angel]

Oh my goodness!

[Sweetpea]

:shock:

[carpenterwrasse]

what are you saying here dakar long winded or full of knowledge

[dakar]

I like think of myself as being just a little smarter than to answer a loaded question like that.... one of the girls I live with and the other is a friend... neither do I want angry with me :razz:

[carpenterwrasse]

smart man smart man