Feeding Long Tentacle Anemone

[Sink_or_Swim]

Hi everyone. I have had a purple LTA for a week now, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm underfeeding it (or overfeeding, either way). It has eaten every day since I added it to the tank, and I've only purposely fed it a small piece of mysis maybe twice. Every time I feed the fish (I alternate between Rod's Food and Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef frozen), it catches tiny pieces of food that float by and will curl up and eat. I tried researching online and read conflicting advice - from LTA's needing to be fed 2 to 4 times per week, to don't feed them at all. That a slightly open mouth means they're hungry (mine looked like that a couple times which was when I hand fed it, and then it was closed and "happy"). I'm not sure what to do - is it possible I just have a hungry hungry hippo?... errr... anemone? lol! It's about the size of my outstretched hand, so it's a decent size, so maybe it needs a bigger piece of food like once a week? What/how do you guys feed your LTA? Here's "Violet":

 

[blaxsun]

You have a very happy, healthy long tentacle anemone. Whatever you're doing - just keep doing it.

 

[dvgyfresh]

I feed just once a week , but for the LTA I give it a lot due to size . Gave it a whole scallop last week

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

You have a very happy, healthy long tentacle anemone. Whatever you're doing - just keep doing it.

Well that's encouraging, thank you! I struggled keeping a BTA, so was very nervous to try another nem (and am still traumatized by my BTA nuking my tank, ugh). I love this one though, even if my clowns never do, lol.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I feed just once a week , but for the LTA I give it a lot due to size . Gave it a whole scallop last week

Good to know! How do you decide how large a piece of food it can handle? Close to the size of its mouth?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Good to know! How do you decide how large a piece of food it can handle? Close to the size of its mouth?

Yep size of mouth , smaller but large amounts of mysis is what it usually gets

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Looks like your doing fine, the anemone looks great

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Yep size of mouth , smaller but large amounts of mysis is what it usually gets

Ok great, I bet it will enjoy a bigger piece of food now and then. I'd approximate the mouth is maybe the size of a nickel, maybe a little smaller.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Looks like your doing fine, the anemone looks great

Thank you! I hope so, lol.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi everyone. I have had a purple LTA for a week now, and I'm trying to figure out if I'm underfeeding it (or overfeeding, either way). It has eaten every day since I added it to the tank, and I've only purposely fed it a small piece of mysis maybe twice. Every time I feed the fish (I alternate between Rod's Food and Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef frozen), it catches timy pieces of food that float by and will curl up and eat. I tried researching online and read conflicting advice - from LTA's needing to be fed 2 to 4 times per week, to don't feed them at all. That a slightly open mouth means they're hungry (mine looked like that a couple times which was when I hand fed it, and then it was closed and "happy"). I'm not sure what to do - is it possible I just have a hungry hungry hippo?... errr... anemone? lol! It's about the size of my outstretched hand, so it's a decent size, so maybe it needs a bigger piece of food like once a week? What/how do you guys feed your LTA? Here's "Violet":

drop food such as mysis shrimp on its tips and it will draw it in.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

drop food such as mysis shrimp on its tips and it will draw it in.

I'll try that. I've dropped a little chunk of thawed frozen food (Rod's fish only blend) on the tentacles, but it falls apart in the water. A whole mysis shrimp would probably be easier for it to pull in.

 

[Dolphin2409]

(and am still traumatized by my BTA nuking my tank, ugh)

Interested to know what happened. Was it as bad as it sounds?

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Interested to know what happened. Was it as bad as it sounds?

Yeah... well here's the long answer - I picked up a small BTA from a friend who had one that had split a bunch. It was small, but looked healthy. It was fine for about a week, but couldn't decide where it wanted to stay (typical nem). Then one day I saw it was upside down in the sand which concerned me, so I placed it back on the rocks. It seemed better, but quickly went downhill over a couple of days. I was watching it for signs that it was dead, but kept seeing tentacles move even though it was very drawn in and shriveled up (now I know it's because of water movement and at that point it was likely dead already). I said I'd give it the night and the next day I'd remove it. I just didn't want to kill it if there was any chance it was alive. All my fish were totally fine that evening... and all 3 were dead the next morning. I was freaking out thinking they developed some fast killing disease (unlikely as I had all quarantined fish that had been thriving in the tank for a couple months)... I removed them and they had no visible signs of infection... then I removed the nem - it started falling apart. So it definitely was the cause (I have a 32.5 gallon tank, so not enough water volume to handle a spike like that). Really, really sucked. I really wanted a nem and I still don't know what caused it to decline... but I'm now very paranoid about them. This LTA I got has been awesome though - I just watch it like a hawk so I can quickly spot anything that looks off and won't lose fish again. (I waited a few weeks then added another pair of clowns and a blenny, all are thriving). Good thing is, one of my cleaner shrimp somehow survived and all my corals. Bad thing is, I lost so much trying to save one thing... my uncle (50+ years reefing experience) said I should've sacrificed the nem and it would've saved my fish. Probably right. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

I feed just once a week , but for the LTA I give it a lot due to size . Gave it a whole scallop last week

I've been curious about mixing LTA with BTA - any issues?

 

[dvgyfresh]

I've been curious about mixing LTA with BTA - any issues?

Not much really , they don’t like touching each other tho lol I do run chemi pure blue and extra carbon as well

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

Not much really , they don’t like touching each other tho lol I do run chemi pure blue and extra carbon as well

Gotcha. I run chemi pure blue currently. In the future if I ever get brave enough to try a bubble tip again, I'll make sure to keep them apart and add extra carbon. Thanks!

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I've been curious about mixing LTA with BTA - any issues?

None.


Direct feeding an LTA Every day is too much. If it's catching a piece here and a piece there from broadcast feeding your fish, great. Like @dvgyfresh said above. Once a week direct is Plenty.

 

[Sink_or_Swim]

None.


Direct feeding an LTA Every day is too much. If it's catching a piece here and a piece there from broadcast feeding your fish, great. Like @dvgyfresh said above. Once a week direct is Plenty.

Ok good, I'll just continue letting it decide if it wants some of the fish food and give it a larger piece once a week. It has definitely looked happy so far, so I don't want to disrupt that by doing too much. I can get some chopped mussels from my lfs, think that would be good to try? I like to vary what I feed my fish and corals, so figured the nem would like that too. Maybe shrimp one week, mussels the next, etc.?

 

[jrmrleb]

I've been curious about mixing LTA with BTA - any issues?

I’m curious about that as well