Possible to Overfeed BTA?

[MbunaJohn]

Howdy, i just got a beautiful rose bubble tip anemone from UC a couple of weeks ago an it seems to be doing great so far. It settled into the perfect spot in the tank where it catches your eye when you approach the tank. It was mad for the first couple of days, but since has been full with great color. My question is, how often should i be feeding? I started giving parts of crab or shrimp pulled out of my LRS or Rod's frozen food, but picked up some silver sides yesterday after watching someone at a LFS feed those successfully. So far it hasn't rejected food, so i've been giving it a little something every day. Is it possible to overfeed it or will it reject the food when it's full? I've seen people say "every other day" or "every 3 days", etc... on here, but the opinions seem to vary a lot. I just wanted to make sure i didn't hurt it by feeding too much or often. As always, thanks for the help.

 

[helen ann]

You don't necessarily have to feed them at all and opinions about it are all over the place :rolleyes:

I have 3 BTAs that I feed LRS 2 times a week.:)

 

[Lonely reefer's]

I feed mine one time per week,but person that I bought it from he told me 3 times per week if you're thinking of propagation

 

[jsker]

Every other day for mine.

 

[dbl]

Never feed mine directly. They eat "food" when everyone else eats. But as Helen said above, opinions will vary greatly on this one, including feeding Silversides.

 

[Sam Ross]

I feed mine a lot, it will eat every time. Sometimes it throws up a large ball of food so it may not always be hungry.

 

[MbunaJohn]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Cheerios67]

I got a bta about a month and a half ago and I have been feeding him almost every day. He seams to take all the food and I haven't seen him reject any of it. It has probably almost doubled in size since I have had it.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

As @helen ann pointed out, there are opinions all over the place. I haven't ever really fed mine intentionally unless it was small or bleached. Since they're photosynthetic, they don't need food per se (at least that's what I've read and seen). However, I have seen that when I've overfed (on the occassions when I have fed), they spit out whatever they don't need.

 

[Frosty Latte]

It is possible to over feed a nem. You will see black stringy goo come out of their mouth. This is when you have over fed. Also, I've heard of nems having a hard time, getting sick, and even dying from trying to consume silver sides. I believe it may have something to do with digesting the bones and/or the silver side was sick when it died. Stick to meaty foods or pellets and your nem and you will be much happier.

 

[Frosty Latte]

Also, nems have zooxenthellie that produce food inside of them. The excess feeds the nem. So you never have to give them anything if your lighting is acceptable for them (100-250 par). It is just fun and they grow faster with feeding!

 

[MbunaJohn]

The day after I posted this the nem threw up about half of a piece of silver side I fed it a few hours after the feeding. I'm going to give it a few days and go with smaller pieces every other day and see how it goes.