Feeding BTA

[Diana]

Hey all

I just got a beautiful purple/green BTA that is about 3-4" in diameter. How often should I be feeding it, and how much? I've had it 3 days now and fed it twice, both times about a half chunk of krill. It looks like its found its spot just under an overhang on my rockwork.

My saddleback clown is eyeing it but hasnt made a move yet.... :mrgreen:


-Diana

[Delphinus]

Once a week is probably fine. Not that it's bad to feed it more often than that, but overall they're pretty undemanding as long as other things are good.

[reeferaddict]

Light light light! Keep the supplemental feedings to a minimum... really. When your clown starts hosting HE will feed the anemone. Once in a blue moon I will put in a whole silverside which the clown will retrieve and take to the anemone, but the single most important nutritional element in keeping these animals comes from their zooxanthellae, which require intense light. Trust me.... I've done it both ways, feeding and not feeding, and I can say the results from not feeding are working, while I lost a number of anemones that I fed.

Just my 4 bits with inflation... :mrgreen:

[DanG]

I have a green bta, and I feed it once or twice a month at the most. As long as it's getting lots of light, it's going to be happy. If it starts wandering, that means it's not happy for one reason or another.

[OCDP]

Agreed with everyone.. I have kept many BTA's .. barely ever fed them.. lighting is key!! Enjoy your new anemone.. and pics please!!

Saddlebacks aren't natural hosts, but if he's noticing your anemone, chances are looking up!

Scott

[Delphinus]

Light light light! Keep the supplemental feedings to a minimum... really. When your clown starts hosting HE will feed the anemone.

Ok I'm sorry but I have to butt in again...

In nearly ten years of observing this, I can count on my ONE hand (luckily 4 fingers and one thumb) how many times I've seen a clownfish reliably feed an anemone.

And who's to say you HAVE to put a clownfish in an anemone? I have 4 BTA's and none of them host clownfish. So there! :wink:

The energy derived from lighting are high-energy/quick-release carbohydrates. The energy derived from feeding/digestion is low-energy/slow-release things like proteins. Subsisting on lighting alone is equivalent to subsisting on those energy bars athletes might scarf down while working out. It's not a suitable long-term nutritional plan.

Ideally you have to have both lighting and feeding taken into account for keeping these things healthy for the long-term.

Having said that, they don't need as much as you'd think. As long as you're feeding the tank something, odds are pretty good they're catching something out of the water column for themselves, even if you don't necessarily notice it.

It does depend on the species. BTA's are less demanding that other species. Some species you should not even dream of trying to keep without trying to directly target feed. If I relied on my ocellaris to feed my ritteri (H. magnifica), it would have perished years ago. I can literally observe that thing shrink if I go so long as a week without target feeding it. The ocellaris that inhabit it are completely useless in this respect.

In fact, I remember reading one academic who went so far as to suggest that the anemonefish/anemone relationship is not one truly symbiotic, in fact it's more parasitic. I.e., the fish get more out of the relationship than does the anemone. Personally, I think that's a little extreme, but I can sort of see his point. A case could probably be made that says that the anemone benefits more from the anemonefish defending their territory against potential anemone predators. However I would venture to say that too might depend on species. A clarkii might be more boisterous than say an ocellaris. I know my ocellaris couldn't defend their anemone against a fly if one were to fly into the tank.. :lol:

[Diana]

Okay thanks guys! I'll feed it next in a couple weeks then... since it must have a full gut right now. :cool:

Theres quite a bit of light on the tank... its a 20 gallon with 130 watts coralife PC... two 10,000k bulbs and two actinic. Its not metal halide or anything but hopefully it'll do. The anenome has nice bubble tips with points which it only gets during the day... so im asuming thats because there's enough light? He moves up a little towards the light when its on and then retreats back to the overhang at night. I'll post pictures as soon as i algae the glass :mrgreen:.

Ive read that the clowns dont actually feed the anenome... or theres no proof of that... they only bring extra chunks of food back to thier 'home' when they get an abundant amount, and are kinda saving some for later. The only time this behaviour is witnessed in the wild is when divers feed clownfish, and there is lots of food, so they bring extra peices back home.

Hopefully my saddleback will go for it! Hes certianly looking curious.


-Diana

[ed99]

As far as clowns feeding the anemone, I had the opposite occur- my pink skunk clowns would always steal from the anemone when I tried to target feed it. I had to keep the clowns away to give the anemone time to swallow it.

[DanG]

My maroon will do both, steal and share, depending on what's for dinner. If it's a raw chunk, I have to try and keep him occupied over in one corner while a put a piece of shrimp on a skewer in the anemone's tentacles, if it's algae wafers, he happily steals those from the crabs and shrimp and puts it into the anemone's tentacles. Flake, he will go after on his own, but rarely does he go after flake that gets caught in the tentacles.

[golden69_ca]

my mated pair of marron clowns are funny the large female feeds it everytime i feed the clowns and some times the male will try to take some foor and the female chases him away and wont let him near the bta .

[reeferaddict]

I'll get back to this as I don't have much time ... BUT....

A clownfish simply hosting is feeding the anemone.... whether or not it brings it food is a moot point... some anemones in the wild never see a clownfish...

Anything you feed in the water column that drifts by the anemone it may or may not take for food....

As for quick release carbs... hmmm.... the zooxanthellae are the ones using the light and the by product of their photosynthesis is amino acids and essential nutrients for the coral itself... remember.... we are keeping the symbiotic algae happy first, which in turn feeds the animal. Without the algae, the animal dies, and algae needs light to thrive...

Like I said, a feeding from time to time will not hurt.... but light light light is the KEY to keeping any tropical anemone.

[Abbyreefer]

My maroon clown would eat anything that would fit in its mouth and if it was too big then would feed to my BTA.. I used to feed chopped up scallops and LOVED IT!! Mine grew like crazy and split 3 times in less than a year. Good luck with yours :)
________
BMW R11 (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/BMW_R11)

[scuglass]

abbyreefer what kind of lighting do u have and what size tank?

[Abbyreefer]

I have the coralife 55 watt x 2 PC set up on a 15 gal tank and had them for the past 1 year before selling to take the tank down along with my current 50 gal to set up my new 95 gal tank... But for 1 year grew like crazy.. Fed it about once a week a small piece of chopped up scallop.
________
Suzuki DR350SE (http://www.cyclechaos.com/wiki/Suzuki_DR350SE)

[Delphinus]

A clownfish simply hosting is feeding the anemone.... whether or not it brings it food is a moot point... some anemones in the wild never see a clownfish...


Not really sure what you're trying to say? Initially you said the clownfish will feed the anemones, now you're saying the anemones don't need clownfish to be fed, and you also seem to be saying that the mere presence of clownfish means the anemone is getting fed. Make up your mind man!! :razz:

... Seriously, I'm just trying to say that the mere presence of clownfish does not guarantee that an anemone will receive enough food. It might; but it's important to realize it also might not. Ultimately we cannot escape the commitments of responsible husbandry.



As for quick release carbs... hmmm.... the zooxanthellae are the ones using the light and the by product of their photosynthesis is amino acids and essential nutrients for the coral itself... remember.... we are keeping the symbiotic algae happy first, which in turn feeds the animal. Without the algae, the animal dies, and algae needs light to thrive...


You're close, but missing a few key points. The issue is what the zooxanthellae end up feeding the corals (or anemones in this case). The byproduct of the photosynthesis that is available to the symbiont host, is carbs (sugars). Sure, you can get pretty hyper off eating too much sugar, but it's not going to be enough to sustain you your whole life on that diet alone; eventually you need proteins for growth. You can get both proteins and carbs from diet alone (doesn't mean you "will", but you "can"); but you cannot get both from photosynthesis.

Here are some threads I managed to find that talk a little about this:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=327718&
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=34041&



Like I said, a feeding from time to time will not hurt.... but light light light is the KEY to keeping any tropical anemone.

It's not that I want to dispute the need for lighting, but I want to qualify that statement by saying that light is but one part of the key to keeping any tropical anemone. Other animal needs are just as imporant, such as subtrate and habitat selection, water currents, nutrition, water quality, etc. etc. Lighting is a part of the equation but is not enough by itself to guarantee long-term husbandry success.

In general, a good rule of thumb you can use is to think of it this way: if an animal has a mouth, odds are pretty good that it eats something. Even SPS, which I'm sure most would universally agree upon the need for intense lighting for long-term success, benefit greatly from feeding. They have mouths, ergo they eat. :biggrin:

cheers :smile:

[reeferaddict]

Heya Tony,

Sorry for turning this into the great debate... but it's good reading. :biggrin:

Probably the point I wanted to make earlier was availability of food on the reef in nature. As nutrients are sparce in general on the reef, most reef inhabitants are opportunistic omnivorous feeders. By supplying a varied diet to your fish and corals you will most assuredly meet the protein needs of most species, but some have adapted to an existence based on carb intake and rely less on protein. They have adapted to what is available on the reef. Some adapt as they mature... Giant clams rely on filter feeding when young, but when older and able to gather more light, they almost solely survive by the production of their food by their symbiotic algae.

I think the key is not to over do it. Once a week IMO may not be bad in a sparsely fed tank, but then I'm a heavy feeder and observe my anemones eating most of any meaty foods I put in my tank.

When I say that a clownfish hosting is enough to feed an anemone I should qualify that as being my observations with my Maroon/LTA and Ocellaris/Rittieri relationships. I constantly watch these guys drag food items too large for them to eat back to the host. The maroon in particular dotes on his anemone, constantly moving HUGE mounds of sand and moving corals ... soon followed by the anemone moving into his new spot,,,, *GRRRR!*

But yes.. in principle I do agree with the rest, clean water, stable parameters, movement, and lighting are ALL important... all more important that direct feeding, especially in a well fed tank.