Do you feed your anemone?

[msavoy]

I recently bought a BTA for my tank, it’s my first one. The lady at the fish store said I didn’t need to feed it. I purchased the anemone around 2 weeks ago now. In the beginning it was open all the time, big and full. Now during the past 4 days or so it’s been very shriveled and just opening a tiny bit during the day but not fully. Today I decided to see if I could give it a piece of shrimp in case it was hungry and dying. Anyway it was really hard to get it to take the shrimp because it wasn’t fully open but I managed to put it near it’s mouth and after about a half an hour it ate it. Then within about an hour the anemone was opened completely like when I bought it. Since the first piece of shrimp I gave it was quite small I decided to give it another piece to see how it would react. It completely took the shrimp and ate it quickly.

My question is do you think it fully opened after I fed it because it was hungry and needed food or was it coincidental? And if it’s beneficial to feed them, how often should I do it? Is once a day too much?

Also, my water parameters are all good, ammonia, nitrates, nitrates are all zero. Thanks for your help.

 

[itsken37]

Yes. I feed mine one a week with frozen fish feeder shrimp or plankton. Mine also LOVES reef-roids.

 

[msavoy]

Yes. I feed mine one a week with frozen fish feeder shrimp or plankton. Mine also LOVES reef-roids.

Great thanks! And once a week is enough?

 

[itsken37]

Yes. That is what mine seems to like. Remember, they have to digest everything they eat so over feeding can be dangerous.

 

[msavoy]

Yes. That is what mine seems to like. Remember, they have to digest everything they eat so over feeding can be dangerous.

Ok that makes sense. Thank you

 

[itsken37]

Your welcome!

 

[LeftyReefer]

Mine will eat pretty much any meaty food.
larger chunks of shrimp or squid taken off a skewer.
I'll also squirt brine/mysis/frozen foods into them with a turkey baster.
or even pellets.

I try to feed mine about once a week.

 

[itsken37]

Mine will eat pretty much any meaty food.
larger chunks of shrimp or squid taken off a skewer.
I'll also squirt brine/mysis/frozen foods into them with a turkey baster.
or even pellets.

I try to feed mine about once a week.

I have not tried large shrimp or squid cuz i don't trust colorado seafood

 

[dazzler]

I feed my all Nems (currently have 26 or so total) Raw Frozen Table Shimp, typically 2x per Week, but I have them splitting like Crazy too as a result...... also with Nems my understanding is lighting, temp and Flow is super important too....

 

[MohrReefs]

My bubble tips tentacles change shape when its hungry, bubbled when hungry, wiry when fed. I feed mine every 3 days.

 

[vetteguy53081]

My clowns feed the anemones. They grab food and use it as a dinner plate. Of course the scraps fall into the mouth of the nems

 

[ArtisticReef]

Feed to settle them in and/or if you want them to grow and split. I prefer easy digest food like mysis and pellets. I use a turkey baster to squirt the food on the tentacles. If you squirt it in the mouth you risk internal infection. Also I’ve found mine are sensitive to UV light. Once I reduced it the nems stopped moving around & shrinking. Good luck

 

[RMD_4]

Yes, definitely feed them. I feed my rainbow BTA once a week. I feed it thawed out pieces of Reef Chunk and it loves it! It has at least doubled in size since I got it a few months ago.

 

[jbenn]

I have a green BTA and I used to feed it a silverside 3 times a week. I did this for almost 2 years. It grew from the size of a lemon to the size of a grapefruit. The tentacles don’t bubble which is something I want. I read somewhere that they would bubble if they were hungry, so I stopped feeding it. It’s been 3 months and I’ve seen no change at all in its appearance. Doesn’t look unhappy, still open and the clowns are still all over it.

TLDR: In my experience it doesn’t matter if you feed a nem.

 

[dbowman5]

thanks everyone, i have been feeding my RBTA freeze dried krill chunks and mysis just about daily, maybe ill just slow my roll

 

[BeckyW]

I feed my BTA’s reef roids a couple times a week. I feed my tank heavily so they also grab leftovers floating to the bottom of the tank. They seem very happy with the feeding schedule. On the other hand, I don’t see a difference in their appearance if I neglect to feed them either. I sure do love them though!! Their movement is mesmerizing!

 

[Qtfrags]

I will say that I stopped or wasn’t feeding mine and it would close or “shrivel” up at night,the colors slowly faded or the green disappeared, and feel like the foot would be tight. Since I’ve been feeding my BTA the colors have intensified appearing more, the actual anemone is open more often, and I feel like tentacles extend futher. Overall feeding is definitely more beneficial for it then not

 

[Cell]

I only feed the ones I want to grow fast. Provided sufficient light, they do not need supplemental feeding.

 

[See Gee Sea]

Reading the comments I guess I've been overfeeding mine . I wasn't feeding it at first because it decided to go into the rockwork that was impossible to reach with the baster. Once it moved where I could get it, I was feeding it daily and it split. Now I have 2 large RTBAs that host my emerald crab. The clowns in my tank are, well clowns!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I feed once per week. My clowns feed them everytime i drop food as they use the nems as a dinner plate and drop all the scrap over the nems