Should I feed

[W Churchill]

Should I be feeding my anemone, poor picture, sorry we are in the blue light phase before we go to bed.

My supplier says let him filter feed, you guys seem to feed yours all sorts, I have another (different type in another tank) that does all right filter feeding, but he's only about 50 mm across, this one is about 175 mm across.

Thing is this is a new tank and still have a slight nitrite level (0.05 mg/l), so I'm guessin' if I do feed it should be very little.

He does seem to me eating something though because he's regularly producing waste.

If I do feed him what should it be.

[BigAl07]

slight nitrites? this tank is still cycling then. You've jumped the gun buddy.... you need to loan/give/sell this critter to someone with an established tank or it's most likely going to slowly perish in your new tank. Not worth the risk.

[Gina]

Anemones need an established tank (1 year or more) to do well.
Allen is right, you should take him back till your ready.
I know all about them dying in the tank. I got one when our tank was only 3 months old. He seemed to be doing very well in the beginning then he started closing up more and more until he died.
When we took him out we fouled our tank and lost alot of other critters in the process. That was a horrible mess!

[goldenmean]

The best advice has already been given.
I can only urge you to hear Gina's experience.

[DAHansen]

I'll second (or is it third or fourth) the previous advice.

An additional thought:

If your Local Fish Store (LFS) encouraged, or did not try to dissuade you from buying the anemone, please ignore them in the future regarding the stocking of your aquarium. Particularly if they DID know that your tank was young. The only quick things that happen with marine aquariums are bad things.

I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just want to make sure you know that it's inadvisable to put an anemone in a young tank. And that those who would advise you to do so should not be trusted.

Edit: PM me if you would like my "rules of thumb" for who to trust at the LFS.

[Varga]

sorry for your loss man. I've done this myself, live and learn

[DAHansen]

Oh, feeding. Try giving him a piece of shrimp or silverside, or something similar. They do definitely eat meaty things.

[W Churchill]

I'm not sure he'll peel off of the 4 or 5 rocks he's on right now, I can't see even the smallest part of his foot, so I sort of guess I wait till he moves to the sand or the glass.

So do I feed him until he's ready to move.

Yes my tank is only about 10 weeks old. Is the nitrite that high?

I still believe I'm a real novice, but I kept corals some years ago (10) and I started again around November 2007 when I set up a small nano tank (I suppose my new tank is also a nano tank). I went through this before, my supplier assured me his rocks had been in his store for months, some even a year and that adding livestock after 6 weeks would cause a small nitrite spike but that 3-4 weeks would see it off.

I panicked at first when I was told here that I'd introduced stock too early, but everything turned out OK and I know it's only 8 months but everything looks stable. I figured I'd follow he same policy this time around, I've had anemone in my first tank for 6 months now and it's doing very well.

Please don't think I'm dismissing good advice, I want to learn, but I think this anemone is just too well glued at the moment to move. I think I will move him given the strength of advice here, but he is quite obviously very strong at the moment and well glued. He's been in there for a month now.

Going back to nitrite (no ammonia by the way), I'd be interested in opinion I know my nitrite isn't zero, but 10 years ago my nitrite test kit went 0, 1 mg/l in steps, now it goes 0, 0.01 - are these levels really that high.

[W Churchill]

Originally Posted by DAHansen

Oh, feeding. Try giving him a piece of shrimp or silverside, or something similar. They do definitely eat meaty things.

What do yo mean by shrimp.

[BigAl07]

It's not that it's "That" high but just the fact that you're getting that reading means you either have something LARGE in the tank decaying or your tank is still cycling.

Yes you feed it a couple times a week. You CAN over feed one too.

As for "waiting for it to move" you can "persuade" some to move by pointing a power head at it. Sometimes they get upset enough to try and move to another location.

[BigAl07]

Small "Deli" shrimp from your local deli.... Mysis from your LFs...

[W Churchill]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Small "Deli" shrimp from your local deli.... Mysis from your LFs...

Not sure what deli shrimp is, mysis I've got, not brineshrimp then, do I put in his mouth or just in his tentacles. I haven't fed him as yet but he's definitely eating something as he produces waste quite regularly.

By the way what sort of anemone is he, is he clown native.

[BigAl07]

Deli Shrimp are the lil shrimp you get at your local "Deli" for eating. Like Cocktail shrimp but smaller maybe? If you have some cocktail shrimp you can clean and slice them into more "appropriate" sized pieces for the anemone.



I don't have an ID as I am not that good at telling them apart... still waiting for my tank to mature enough to be able to support one... plus I'm just CHICKEN

[DAHansen]

Originally Posted by BigAl07

Deli Shrimp are the lil shrimp you get at your local "Deli" for eating. Like Cocktail shrimp but smaller maybe?

Fresh Deli Shrimp! Fresh! Don't use the little cooked can shrimp. And the more shell the better.

Originally Posted by BigAl07

I don't have an ID as I am not that good at telling them apart... still waiting for my tank to mature enough to be able to support one... plus I'm just CHICKEN

MMmmmm... Chicken! Actually, that's why I don't have one either. After all the powerhead/overflow/vacation-death/etc. posts... not for me... at least not yet.

[BigAl07]

The little ones here ARE fresh....

Oh I've TRIED the Anemone thing.... was NOT My thing... not then anyway!!