anemone puke
 

so i was cleaning the tank today when i discovered a strange glob containing fish bones next to my [alleged] curly cue anemone. not sure if this was poop or puke, i scoured the internet for about an hour to discover that it is indeed regurgitate. apparently i'm not supposed to be feeding him little goldfish... oops! so what's best to feed? pieces of cocktail shrimp, fish, etc? i assume i can feed the same things to the condylactis i just added the other day. sorry this is such a stupid question, but i'm kinda learning as i go since i ended up with all this stuff that i don't even know what half of it is. thanks :)

Unfortunately there is not a correct or incorrect answer to your question. To date, no method for long term success in anemone-keeping as been found. One of the most basic topics on this discussion is what the correct diet and frequency of feeding should be. The answer is... we do not know yet.

The general rule of thumb by the hobby, which has not been successful with anemones and generally kills the animal within 2 or 3 years, is to feed your anemone meaty foods a couple of times per week. Examples could be silversides, krill, or fresh shrimp or scallops. Bottom line, there is no definitive answer because even the experts in this hobby continue to kill anemones with a high degree of frequency.

Again, these animals have a natural life span in excess of 200 years. Please do not share "success" stories of anemones that lived for 8 or 10 years in captivity prior to their demise.

reply
 

There are alot of different things that could have caused this but in order for me to make a diagnosis I need to know the things listd below. you can I.M. me the answers


Questions

1. What do you feed the anemone
2. How often do you feed the anemone
3. what kind of lighting system do you have
4. what are your water parameters
5. what other animals do you have in the tank
6. what kind of heater do you have
7. what kind of filter do you have
8. how big is the tank
9. how big is the anemone
10. what are your souces for water movement
11. do you have pics of the tank

We are here to learn and advance the hobby. If you can help, lets do so in this thread so everyone can benefit.

ok... if i had known that tank specs were pertinent to what to feed the anemone, i would have posted them in the first place... sorry

1. What do you feed the anemone - have been feeding small (approx. 1.5") feeder goldfish (do not know what the previous owner fed him)
   
2. How often do you feed the anemone - 1 to 2 times a week
   
3. what kind of lighting system do you have - 50/50 compact fluorescent
   
4. what are your water parameters - ammonia: 0, nitrate: 0, nitrite: 0 (tested every 3 days)
   
5. what other animals do you have in the tank - 2 blue damselfish, 3 peppermint shrimp, 1 crab of unknown origin (just added 1 condylactis anemone and 2 small ocellaris last thursday)
   
6. what kind of heater do you have - 300w submersible set to 80*F
   
7. what kind of filter do you have - rena xp3 canister + aquac remora 1400 protein skimmer
   
8. how big is the tank - 55g containing approx 60lbs live rock with various unidentified polyps, zoanthids, soft corals, etc
   
9. how big is the anemone - approx 8" in diameter
   
10. what are your sources for water movement - return pipe from filter at one end of tank; powerhead at other end of tank (is where the red x is in the photo)
    
11. do you have pics of the tank - tried to attach one, hope it worked
    

NOTE: this system was functioning for 2 years before i acquired it, so it's not new (just new to me). the photo was taken just after i set the tank up in my place. the corals look really bad from the shock of being transported in plastic totes for almost 3 hours. i promise they look much better now and that the big toadstool by the anemone (circled) has been moved to a location where it cannot be stung. will try to get better pics soon... have been meaning to anyways.

As Pasfur said, we aim to provide help to individual members with specific problems as well as build a database of information that can be used by other hobbyists. We ask that you keep discussions public so that others may benefit from them.

well i did some reading and it some people are feeding little pieces of cocktail shrimp with good results.

Well I have a Flower Anemone, and I feed him bits of Cocktail Shrimp and Mysis. He is becoming very colorful now as well. You may want to try that out.

Cody - it might be helpful for you to start a thread and provide updates on the care of your anemone. I would enjoy hearing how your success with this animal continues over the next 9 to 12 months. - Mark

It is very common for anemones to regurgitate blobs like you describe after eating whole fish. There are parts of the fish that the anemone can not digest, like bones. To keep this from happening in the future, you can use small chunks of marine meat, like fish or shrimp. If you don't feed things like fish bones or shrimp exoskeletons there will be nothing for them to poo out later. That is if the food is small enough. Feeding chunks larger than the anemone can handle will also cause it to regurgitate part of the meal.