Sea Anemones, BTA, LTA, Carpet, Haddoni, Mag - what is the right thing? Target or Broadcast or None?

[potatocouch]

Is Karens Rose, the famous karensroseanemones in Reef2Reef ? I want to ask her question if I may.

I've read her articles one by one on her site and she strongly emphasize that Anemones must eat ... it's almost she is considering Anemones are some sort of NPS and that the photosynthesis process is not enough.

And then from my research on the net, some folks (quite a lot of them) don't actually feed them directly .. they eat whatever they can get from water column, just when the fishes are being fed.

So what is the correct way of treating these anemones ... should we directly feed or broadcast is enough? I'm actually quite intrigued in knowing the answer if a tank only hosting Anemones and no fishes at all, will it survive without being fed at all? I mean Anemones have zooxanthella and should get the energy from its photo process.

 

[sbash]

It probably depends on the environment. In my 220 gallon DT, I never target feed the anemones (all RBTAs); however, in my frag tank (where I store the splits of the original anemone) I do target feed. There is not really anything going on in the frag tank (no fish, no broadcast feedings), so I find simply feeding dry mysis to the anemones every week or two is enough to keep everything happy in the tank...

 

[NanoCrazed]

Direct feed, once per week.

I usually just give a small piece from either fish I am cooking or sushi I am eating. Easiest way is with tweezers.

Clowns that host with anemones usually feed them either with food or poop...

 

[NanoCrazed]

Direct feed, once per week.

I usually just give a small piece from either fish I am cooking or sushi I am eating. Easiest way is with tweezers.

Clowns that host with anemones usually feed them either with food or poop...

 

[NanoCrazed]

Direct feed, once per week.

I usually just give a small piece from either fish I am cooking or sushi I am eating. Easiest way is with tweezers.

Clowns that host with anemones usually feed them either with food or poop...

 

[EmdeReef]

Is Karens Rose, the famous karensroseanemones in Reef2Reef ? I want to ask her question if I may.

I've read her articles one by one on her site and she strongly emphasize that Anemones must eat ... it's almost she is considering Anemones are some sort of NPS and that the photosynthesis process is not enough.

And then from my research on the net, some folks (quite a lot of them) don't actually feed them directly .. they eat whatever they can get from water column, just when the fishes are being fed.

So what is the correct way of treating these anemones ... should we directly feed or broadcast is enough? I'm actually quite intrigued in knowing the answer if a tank only hosting Anemones and no fishes at all, will it survive without being fed at all? I mean Anemones have zooxanthella and should get the energy from its photo process.

I’d say 80:20 and maybe even 90:10 to light vs.direct feeding. They will definitely catch a lot of your fish food anyway. IME it also depends on how fast you want to grow them, feeding more wiill mostly have a direct impact on faster growth.

 

[chizerbunoi]

I go two weeks without feeding. But as soon as I feed, I notice the colours become richer. I keep an 11 hrs photoperiod of on/off LED. No ramping. Not sure if that matters or not.

 

[davocean]

Light is their main source of energy, w/ good lighting you do not have to spot feed at all, many people don't spot feed.
I rarely do, but mine probably pick up some mysis now and then at fish feedings.

 

[OrionN]

I can go for years not feeding my anemone directly. I don't feed them once they get to about the size I want.
Color wise, my anemone strictly depend on the water and light. They just growth slower without direct feeding. They do grab any fish food come their way. One think for sure in my tank is that my clown NEVER bring any food to my anemone. The way I feed is to broadcast small pieced of food, frozen or dry flake all mixed in tank water then pour in right in front of my PH so they just dispersed everywhere. The fish and other animals in a mad scramble free for all.

 

[davocean]

It is funny to me how clowns can act so differently towards their host anemone.

I've had some clowns that absolutely fed their nem, often before eating for themselves(clarki and maroon very much so IME) yet I've had many that do not, and those were both tank raised and wild caught, various species.

I can't swear if it was a difference in clown species, or maybe the clowns sensed their need at the time, hard to say for certain, but like Orion I also do not spot often, not unless I'm trying to bring a bleached nem back to health, as those lack the zooxanthellae they need to process light into usable energy.

 

[ReefTeacher]

It is funny to me how clowns can act so differently towards their host anemone.

I've had some clowns that absolutely fed their nem, often before eating for themselves(clarki and maroon very much so IME) yet I've had many that do not, and those were both tank raised and wild caught, various species.

I can't swear if it was a difference in clown species, or maybe the clowns sensed their need at the time, hard to say for certain, but like Orion I also do not spot often, not unless I'm trying to bring a bleached nem back to health, as those lack the zooxanthellae they need to process light into usable energy.

I had a pair of GSM that fed their Rose BTA very regularly. But often I found it was any chunk they could not swallow in one piece. As the female got larger; these became fewer.

 

[davocean]

Funny I have just noticed the last couple weeks my female picasso has just started feeding her mag, and yes it does seem she grabs the bigger pieces she can not swallow herself first and gives them to her nem.
Now I'm seeing the male just starting to pick up on this as well.
It is pretty neat to see clowns taking care of their host anemone.

 

[JaimeAdams]

I would say that it is probably very close to the research regarding feeding coral. In a sterile environment without fish or pods or any addition of broadcast food the anemone imo absolutely must be given food. In a reef tank there is fish waste, dissolved organics, small pieces of food that they grab from time to time, pods that get to close and become a snack et cetera.

That being said, when I am actually into my tank I try to feed my news twice a week.