Feeding a flower anemone

[jkeithh1969]

Have a question. I tried feeding my flower anemone for the first time last night. I fed it a whole silverside and it took it into it's mouth and closed up around it. This morning I see the carcas of the silverside with only it's head and backbone remaining. Is this normal or should the anemone have eaten all of it bones and all? This is my first anemone and I have had it a few months but this was the first time I had tried to feed it. It has been doing really well with just the lighting in the tank but I wanted to try and give it something more.



Thanks (and hopefully that isn't a stupid question),

Keith

[Ninong]

I don't know much about flower anemones but it is perfectly normal for any anemone to spit out undigested food and waste. The fact that it ate the fleshy parts is a good sign, in my opinion.

This is what Drs. Foster & Smith has to say about these guys: "The Flower Anemone is a carnivore, and requires meaty foods to survive. Offer mussels and freshly chopped fish meat, as well as high quality frozen foods."

[jkeithh1969]

Thanks for the reply. I was hoping that it was only spitting back out what it couldn't digest but wasn't sure. As I said, it is my first anemone and has been doing well without any feeding but I wanted to start feeding it to see if it would do even better.

[Ninong]

As you probably know, all anemones are aggressive carnivores, so keep an eye on it. Even the Indo-Pacific clownfish-hosting sea anemones that are so popular in the hobby are known to eat the wrong thing every now and then, especially the carpet anemones.

[jkeithh1969]

The flower anemone is in a tank with live rock and no fish...just some turbo snails. I knew it was a Caribbean species so no clown fish would use it and I decided to give it a tank all to itself.

[reggiepe]

If you were to give it half the portion that you did, it will more than likely digest it all. I have one that will eat 1/3 to 1/2 of a silverside. When I first acquired it, I fed a whole silverside and it would spit out what it wouldn't digest. JUst my two cents....try just a pice of a silverside the next time.

[CSeaSee]

I once has a flower anemone... if we're talking about the same thing. My tomato clownfish loved it, and accepted it quickly. Then it ate my pair of cardinalfish!
This is what it looked like, except it was pink in the middle: http://www.reeftopia.com/images/floweranemones.jpg

[jkeithh1969]

I once has a flower anemone... if we're talking about the same thing. My tomato clownfish loved it, and accepted it quickly. Then it ate my pair of cardinalfish!
This is what it looked like, except it was pink in the middle: http://www.reeftopia.com/images/floweranemones.jpg

That is it.

[Frogfish]

depending on the size of the anemone, I would say that a whole silverside was way too much for it. I would think 1/4-1/2 at most would be enough. It might have spit out the whole thing and your crabs are what went to work on it leaving the bones.