[dragonladylea]

Any ideas on what kind?? Bought it as a bubble tip but I'm not to sure, Its white with a reddish brown foot.

[Ninong]

It's difficult to say from the photograph. There is one positive characteristic that will either rule it in or out as a bubble tip anemone (Entacmaea quadricolor). E-quads have no verrucae (warts) on their column. All other clownfish-hosting sea anemones have verrucae.

P.S. -- Looks like your maroon clown (Premnas biaculeatus) likes it. E-quad is the ONLY natural host for P. biaculeatus. They may sometimes accept other anemones as surrogate hosts in captivity but they have only one natural host, E. quadricolor.

P.P.S. -- The reason it's white is because it has expelled all of its zooxanthellae. White is NOT a good color! Not at all!

[Ninong]

Check out this article on host sea anemones.

[dragonladylea]

We have had this anemone for a couple of months and it is eating well and seem to be growing. Foot doesnt have any warts and after trying two other BTA's this is the anemone that the Maroon likes, wont go near the other two at all, any idea why??

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dragonladylea

We have had this anemone for a couple of months and it is eating well and seem to be growing.

I'm glad to see that you are feeding it. They should be fed two to three times a week. What sort of lighting do you have it under?

Foot doesnt have any warts...

That would seem to confirm its identity as E. quadricolor.

...and after trying two other BTA's this is the anemone that the Maroon likes, wont go near the other two at all, any idea why??

I have no idea why. Did it ever go near either of the other two BTA's. I mean before you got this last one, did it accept either of the other two as a host?

[dragonladylea]

It actually eats every other day - the clown feeds it like clockwork, and the clown never feed the others and never that I saw tried to go near the rose colored one we have, I saw it nip at the green one a few times but that was it. Since this seems to have expelled its zooanthellae will it survive?? Anything else I need to do with it? Here is another pic.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dragonladylea

Since this seems to have expelled its zooanthellae will it survive??

What sort of lighting do you have it under?

[dragonladylea]

Its under 14K 175 MH and all of my BTA's are under "shelves" or in "caves" I didnt think I had to much light. Heres where the anemone in question moved the day I put it in the tank and it hasnt moved since. Mid - pic in the cave. Thank you for your help.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dragonladylea

Its under 14K 175 MH and all of my BTA's are under "shelves" or in "caves" I didnt think I had to much light.

No, you don't have too much light. I just wanted to know if you had enough light.

Heres where the anemone in question moved the day I put it in the tank and it hasnt moved since.

It's quite common for this species to "go into hiding" when first introduced into a tank. It should come out of hiding soon.

E. quadricolor likes to have it's foot hidden. It will usually anchor itself in a crack or crevice so that the column is mostly hidden with just the tentacles exposed.

[dragonladylea]

Great - so then with the regular feedings and the lighting is there anything else I need to do to get this anemone healthy?? The clown loves it and I really want to see these guys happy. Thank you again I appreciate your help.

[Ninong]

You should be feeding it twice a week. You can't rely on the clownfish to do the feeding. For one thing, it's not certain that the clownfish is actually "feeding" the anemone. It may simply be bringing the food "home." This behavior is only observed in captivity. It is NOT a natural behavior. One of the reasons it's not observed in nature is that clownfish don't feed on stuff that is big enough to save for later in nature. Whatever the reasons, clownfish do not "feed" their hosts in the wild, only in captivity.

Don't forget to check out this article on host sea anemones.

[dragonladylea]

How funny, I never knew that. With my clown you have to feed him the little stuff, mysis, brine shrimp, cyclops first then when I put a piece of krill on the baster the clown will grab it and take it to the anemone. The anemone will close up right away after this so I was under the asumption it was eating it. Am I wrong?? Also will it grab some of the smaller foods from the water like the cyclops and brine?? The clown takes the krill or squid to the anemone every other day if the anemone is eating it is this to much?

[Ninong]

In the wild, both the clownfish and the anemone feed almost continuously on tiny zooplankton. The clownfish rarely travels more than a meter away from its host. Besides feeding on zooplankton, it also feeds on certain benthic algae and tiny epifauna.

In nature, it is rare that the anemone will come across larger sized prey. Most of its prey is tiny. However, for good health, you should feed your anemones regularly. What you feed them depends on their preferences. Fortunately for you, E. quadricolor accepts a wide variety of different commercially available foods. I no longer have my reference source to look it up but if you get a copy of Joyce Wilkerson's excellent book, Clownfishes, she spells out the dietary preferences for all ten of the clownfish-hosting sea anemones. I believe E-quads like shrimp -- regular shrimp from the supermarket. Just chop one of them up into smaller pieces and feed a piece that is sized appropriately for the size of your anemone. Do NOT shell the shrimp. Feed shell and all.

Zhenya can tell you what he feeds his E. quadricolor anemones. He has quite a few of them. I would post a picture of his tank but I'm afraid it might scare you. Especially since I believe your tank is much smaller than his.

P.S. -- Maybe I'll post that picture anyway just for the heck of it. Be forewarned, it's a very scary sight.

[Ninong]

Zhenya started out with one Rose BTA:

[dragonladylea]

Wow that is amazing!! As for the shrimp from the store stupid question - cooked or raw.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by dragonladylea

Wow that is amazing!! As for the shrimp from the store stupid question - cooked or raw.

Raw! They don't throw their shrimp on George Foreman grills in the ocean.

[dragonladylea]

Love it!! The picture that brings to mind is priceless.

I thought raw but sometimes you just dont know. Thank you again.

[zhenya]

Also will it grab some of the smaller foods from the water like the cyclops and brine?? The clown takes the krill or squid to the anemone every other day if the anemone is eating it is this to much?

First thing about this animals that one should know is that you can;t possibly overfeed them, so no worries there. You may skew your water chemistry some by having too much nutrients but still, the anemone will eat if you keep offering food.
Also, they can certainly capture some of the brine and mysid shrimp if you can turn off all pumps and let the food fall on the anemone, they will grab just about anything, including flake food. The question is is that food any good, or better yet is it providing enough nutrition? Probably not enough, in my estimate. I always feed mine some raw fish, like silversides, but BTA's will accept raw shrimp from the supermarket's seafood secton just fine. And some take good sized krill as well. I think the best aproach to feeding anemone would be to experiment with the few meaty foods that are available and see what brings the best results. After all, not all of them come from the same exact location and foods that are available to them may differ in the wild as well.

As far as your bleached anemone, I think feeding it may be the most important factor in recovery at this time, so feed it well with the best foods possible that it accepts. I mean the most nutritious foods that you can provide ( shrimp, silversides,etc.)

[dragonladylea]

Gene -
So far its been eating the krill and squid that the clown takes to it. Do the silversides come from the grocery? I also feed my tank mysis, cyclopeze, Marine cusine, phtyoplankton, bio-plankton, and brineshrimp all mixed with a turkey baster. Anything else besides the silversides and the shrimp I can add and/or take away??
Thank you I appreciate your help.

Tracey

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by dragonladylea

Gene -
So far its been eating the krill and squid that the clown takes to it. Do the silversides come from the grocery? I also feed my tank mysis, cyclopeze, Marine cusine, phtyoplankton, bio-plankton, and brineshrimp all mixed with a turkey baster. Anything else besides the silversides and the shrimp I can add and/or take away??
Thank you I appreciate your help.

Tracey

Hi Tracey,

The silversides that I get come from my local fish store.Sometimes they are called lancefish and sometimes silversides. Anyways, it is seasonal fish and at times not available but I'm lucky because it;s been packaged here in NJ and I buy a good enough quantity and stick it in a freezer.
You don;t necessarily must feed your anemone silversides for it to regain its health, store bought shrimp may do just fine as Ninong had already indicated.

All of the other foods that you use are fine to use for the tank if you have critters that will consume it. Most of the fish will eat cyclop-eeze but it;s like an appetiser. It is mostly used for the rearing of the fish when they are young, also some corals will eat it as well. Feelter feeders will benefit from the phytoplankton, in general, but not anemones or the fish. It is good to use it for the tank to promote growth of critters that you don't necessarily see with the naked eye.

Mysys ae fine food for the fishes and your anemone will pronbably accept if it can get it to fall on it,however they don;t provide enough nutrition for anemone to survive or recover it;s health, I would think.

I once fed my recovering H.crispa that was bleached severely with flesh of the salmon and guts and such. Not very pretty to look at but it provided lots of nutrition for the anemone. I;m not saying that you should run and buy whole salmon to feed to your anemone..,I just said that as an example to point out that you can improvise and experiment with food items.

As an aside, I use the most poweful skimmer I could get to fit under that tank and DSB to help reduce nutrients. With lots of feedings comes responsibility of maintaining water quality and you should carefully experiment with the amount of food you feed ( just a precaution).