Bad news for my BTA

[davidryder]

Well, I bought a very healthy BTA about a month ago along with a GSM. The GSM took to the anemone very fast. I had heard they are rough on anemones but this was pretty bad. Anyway, I have been feeding him (at least I thought) for the past month a whole piece of salad shrimp a couple times a week trying to get him back in shape.

Well tonight I was watching because it was getting worse and I fed him and my fire shrimp came and tried to take it!! I watched for a half hour and the BTA got most of it in it's mouth so I walked away. Came back and he was tugging on it again and nipping at it's flesh. Sooooo I had to watch it eat the entire shrimp (almost an hour). I put a metal strainer over the anemone so the GSM couldn't get to it. I'll keep it under there until it recovers. It it a metal grater with made of thin wire so it let's quite a bit of light in.

Any other thoughts?

I'll post a picture tomorrow.

[rachelcb80]

My Clarkiis will take the food from my BTA when I feed it. I have to "stand guard" with the pole I feed the BTA with and push away the Clarkiis. I was having trouble awhile back with my BTA not eating the shrimp very fast, or not eating it at all. After some reading and posting I determined a whole shrimp was just to big for it. I've gone to feeding a half, or third, of a scallop and my BTA seems to do much better with that. I'd say try a very small piece of shrimp, or whatever else you want to feed, and see if it does better with the smaller size.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/rachelcb80/BTA003.jpg

[RichConley]

The problem most people have with maroons and BTAs are that their BTAs are WAY too small to be hosting those size clowns.


You people do realize that BTAs really dont need to eat, right?


Also, BTAs aren't fish eaters in the wild. If you do feed them, feed them small food: brine and mysis.

[MACJMC]

You people do realize that BTAs really dont need to eat, right?

I would like to see some proof on this statement.

Here is a pretty good article on feeding anemones http://www.karensroseanemones.com/feedingyourbta.htm (not sure if I can insert this link) HTH

[rustybucket145]

If your metal strainer isn't 316L Stainless Steel it will begin (already has) begun to break down releasing metals into your tank (not good!!) Pull it out asap and replace it with a tupperware with holes cut in it.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10557504#post10557504 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MACJMC
I would like to see some proof on this statement.

Here is a pretty good article on feeding anemones http://www.karensroseanemones.com/feedingyourbta.htm (not sure if I can insert this link) HTH


Check out any of the thousands of tanks with BTAs that dont target feed them. Yes, they grow faster with target feeding, but they still grow ridiculously fast with just good water and light.

Even without feeding, they grow fast enough, that long term, they can become a nusiance.

[hensleyrobw]

there isn't any need to feed a BTA if you have good lighting and especially if it host a fish. most clowns will feed the anemone themselves with there waste or i've seen them feed the BTA with shrimp fed to the fish. had many years of BTA without target feeding, even had reproduction of them.

[kirkland]

I agree with feeding the BTA smaller bits of food. Chop that shrimp up! Our BTA is hosted by 2 GSM but the BTA is huge and doesn't have a problem with them. When I feed the tank, the clownfishes take small morsels over to the BTA who eats them pretty quickly. It's funny watching because the GSM go back to the BTA after all the food is gone and seem surprised that there isn't any food left in the BTA for them.

[Aquaman]

The following is quoted from

FIELD GUIDE TO ANEMONE FISHES AND THEIR HOST SEA ANEMONES

Dr. Daphne G. Fautin
AND
Dr. Gerald R. Allen

Sea anemones are invertebrates, or animals lacking backbones, in contrast with fishes, which are vertebrates.

Primitive animals, anemones belong to the phylum variously known as Cnidaria (with a silent "c") or Coelenterata ("se-len-ter-a'-ta"). The former name alludes to the cnidae, or nematocysts, that are manufactured by all members of this phylum, and only by them. The latter means "hollow gut," referring to the single body cavity that serves as stomach, lung, intestine, circulatory system, and everything else. There is but one opening (the mouth) into this cavity, through which all water, food, and gametes pass in and out. It is surrounded by few or many tentacles, which are finger-like or filamentous projections, typically studded with nematocysts. They are active in capturing food and transferring it to the mouth, and may be used defensively, too


The very fact that they are classified as an animal means they eat. They do capture small fish, shrimp, mysis and what ever else that comes in contact with their tenticles. If you have clowns that host with the anemone the clowns can feed it their waste but that is not a good nor reliable method of ensuring the anemone's survival.

[TitansFan]

well lets keep this simple... if it did not need to eat why would it have a mouth and stomach?

[Tyler.L]

why do any corals have a mouth and stomach?? mushrooms, brains, acans.....everything can be spot fed but do they really need it?

i feed my bta formula one pellets and eats it no problem...but i like watching my corals eat anyways...

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559193#post10559193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitansFan
well lets keep this simple... if it did not need to eat why would it have a mouth and stomach?

Ever heard of a vestigal organ?


Dont forget, its stomach and mouth are also its butt and its colon.


The very fact that they are classified as an animal means they eat. They do capture small fish, shrimp, mysis and what ever else that comes in contact with their tenticles. If you have clowns that host with the anemone the clowns can feed it their waste but that is not a good nor reliable method of ensuring the anemone's survival.

No, it doesnt. Many zooanthid species have mouths and dont eat.


These are animals capable of providing 100% of their nutrient needs through photosynthesis and adsorption. They can eat, yes, but they dont need to.

[woz9683]

Which are also things that wouldn't be necessary if it didn't eat (the butt and colon)

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559536#post10559536 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by woz9683
Which are also things that wouldn't be necessary if it didn't eat (the butt and colon)

Just because something doesnt eat doesnt mean it doesnt expel waste. Photsynthesis converts energy into matter.

It also expells gametes from its mouth. Do things that dont eat not reproduce either?

[SPARTAN VI]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559433#post10559433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley

Dont forget, its stomach and mouth are also its butt and its colon.


And even reproductive sac. :eek:

[Aquaman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559433#post10559433 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
These are animals capable of providing 100% of their nutrient needs through photosynthesis and adsorption.

Can you point me to published documentation that colaborates your above statement?

Thanks.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10560181#post10560181 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aquaman
Can you point me to published documentation that colaborates your above statement?

Thanks.

No, can you post published papers saying otherwise? (and I dont mean reefkeeping, advanced aquarist, etc, articles without trials and carefully done experiments)

I've kept quite a few BTAs, and never target fed a single one in my tank. They grow quite fine, and reproduce to the point of being a nuisance. Many others have had the same experience.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10557602#post10557602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Check out any of the thousands of tanks with BTAs that dont target feed them. Yes, they grow faster with target feeding, but they still grow ridiculously fast with just good water and light.

Even without feeding, they grow fast enough, that long term, they can become a nusiance.

The anemone is severely damaged that's why, among other reasons, I feed mine - to speed its recovery. Thanks for the info, though.

[ludnix]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10560238#post10560238 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
No, can you post published papers saying otherwise? (and I dont mean reefkeeping, advanced aquarist, etc, articles without trials and carefully done experiments)

I've kept quite a few BTAs, and never target fed a single one in my tank. They grow quite fine, and reproduce to the point of being a nuisance. Many others have had the same experience.

I agree completely with Rich here. The purpose of being photosynthetic would be to obtain the energy from the light. For example Pitcher Plants are plants capable of digesting animals and insects however they can be 100% healthy without feeding on them from photosynthesis alone.

That aside, I think it's good that you're feeding your anemone while it is sick. Also I would try and build a new feeding cage for, that is not made metal. I would try and piece together a couple of strawberry baskets using zip-ties.

[LobsterOfJustice]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10559193#post10559193 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitansFan
well lets keep this simple... if it did not need to eat why would it have a mouth and stomach?

Why do you have an appendix?

They do not need to eat if they have sufficient lighting (like most corals we keep in our tanks). Most people that keep coral and anemones dont feed them anything but light.

They have a mouth and stomach because they evolved from other cnidarians which did not posess zooxanthellae, and therefore could not meet their energy needs by photosyhthesis. There are indeed types of anemones and coral that need to eat. Then again, there are also coral that have evolved so far away from this that they could not eat if they tried. Xenia's stinging cells and gut have seen no use in so many thousands of years that xenia is not able to capture or digest prey.

[davidryder]

They have to eat, but don't necessarily have to be fed - if there is enough food to be eaten. Whether it is intentional or not, we all feed anemones if we feed fish. Surely you aren't suggesting that all mass and energy comes from the light.

[davidryder]

After a day in the cage it's already doing much better. I will continue to feed it - daily - until I feel it's large enough for the GSM. Thanks for all the comments.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Daily feeding will probably result in two anemones rather than one larger one.

[LobsterOfJustice]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10563393#post10563393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Surely you aren't suggesting that all mass and energy comes from the light.

Well, not exactly, I never said they do not absorb nutrients and other things from the water. Why cant anemones do it? Plants do it. Think about those huge redwood trees. They dont eat, where do they come from?

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10563786#post10563786 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Well, not exactly, I never said they do not absorb nutrients and other things from the water. Why cant anemones do it? Plants do it. Think about those huge redwood trees. They dont eat, where do they come from?

Either way their mouths aren't useless or a leftover part of evolution - I watch my anemone eat food they are very useful. I don't know how plants create mass, but I know it takes hundreds of years for a giant redwood to reach maximum size.

And my point was only that anemones eat and we feed them - directly or indirectly. I don't know if they can survive solely on nutrients in the water but I would be interested to know for sure.

[Aquaman]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10564033#post10564033 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Either way their mouths aren't useless or a leftover part of evolution - I watch my anemone eat food they are very useful. I don't know how plants create mass, but I know it takes hundreds of years for a giant redwood to reach maximum size.

And my point was only that anemones eat and we feed them - directly or indirectly. I don't know if they can survive solely on nutrients in the water but I would be interested to know for sure.

Redwoods as well as any tree also pulls nutrients out of the water and soil. the nutrients get replaced with the natural occurances such as rain, lighting, flood, wind and animals doing their duty.

While I am sure they BTA's can survive using light and absorbing nutrients from the tank, If you feed your tank ANYTHING, the very design of the anemone will allow it to consume that food. If you feed a clown thats hosting in the anemone the fish waste can get fed to the anemone. If you feed the tank any kind of phytoplankton then you are feeding the anemone indirectly. If your tank has any population of pods, plankton then I am sure some of that will get fed to anemone as well.

I just don't buy the argument about good water quality and light is creating the energy needed to grow these animals. I've kept RBTA's in several tanks over the years and for the past 2 years six have been in a species tank with a pair of clarks and nothing else and without being fed directly they reduced in size almost half. Excellent water quality, good lighting, no indirect feeding other than what the clowns may have fed. The Clowns would only host in the largest of the 6 so the others were never fed by the clowns waste. No this is not a perfect scientific setup for testing but it has proven to me that they do need to be fed.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10565684#post10565684 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Aquaman
Redwoods as well as any tree also pulls nutrients out of the water and soil. the nutrients get replaced with the natural occurances such as rain, lighting, flood, wind and animals doing their duty.

While I am sure they BTA's can survive using light and absorbing nutrients from the tank, If you feed your tank ANYTHING, the very design of the anemone will allow it to consume that food. If you feed a clown thats hosting in the anemone the fish waste can get fed to the anemone. If you feed the tank any kind of phytoplankton then you are feeding the anemone indirectly. If your tank has any population of pods, plankton then I am sure some of that will get fed to anemone as well.

I just don't buy the argument about good water quality and light is creating the energy needed to grow these animals.

I agree - it's crazy that trees can turn so little nutrients from the soil into so much mass. I also agree that anemones can't live without food. We are in agreement :D

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10563393#post10563393 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
They have to eat, but don't necessarily have to be fed - if there is enough food to be eaten. Whether it is intentional or not, we all feed anemones if we feed fish. Surely you aren't suggesting that all mass and energy comes from the light.

No, a lot of it comes from the FACT that they can absorb nitrogen and other compounds DIRECTLY from the water.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10565866#post10565866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
No, a lot of it comes from the FACT that they can absorb nitrogen and other compounds DIRECTLY from the water.

I would ask you for reference but you would probably ask <b>me</b> to prove <b>you</b> wrong. :lol: Thanks for all the input RichConley :rollface:

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10565939#post10565939 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
I would ask you for reference but you would probably ask <b>me</b> to prove <b>you</b> wrong. :lol: Thanks for all the input RichConley :rollface:

Its a commonly know property of all Actiniaria, including BTAs, anemones, mushrooms, etc.

[LobsterOfJustice]

From: http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/4/595

"The animal partner has had to evolve the ability to absorb and concentrate dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater in order to supply the symbiont's photosynthesis."

There are other google hits (you dont even need to click on them, just read the short description) for "anemones absorb nitrogen".

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10566070#post10566070 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
From: http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/45/4/595

"The animal partner has had to evolve the ability to absorb and concentrate dissolved inorganic carbon from seawater in order to supply the symbiont's photosynthesis."

"And my point was only that anemones eat and we feed them - directly or indirectly. I don't know if they can survive solely on nutrients in the water but I would be interested to know for sure."

LobsterOfJustice, what are you concluding from that statement? That doesn't mean they are purely photosynthetic and don't need to eat.


From "Field Guide to Anemone Fishes and Their Host Sea Anemones" by Dr. Daphne G. Fautin:


Diet: In nature, anemonefish feed primarily on zooplankton (tiny animals, mainly crustaceans), supplemented with algae. This diet can easily be simulated, at least nutritionally, in captivity with finely chopped raw prawns and fish, and flake-type commercial fish food containing vegetable ingredients. This diet should be supplemented with live foods such as brine shrimp, Daphnia, mosquito larvae, and Tubifex worms whenever possible. However, freshwater organisms should be given in small quantities to prevent tank fouling. Several small feedings per day are better than a single one.

From http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/2/fish#h2


Anemones, as almost all cnidarians, are carnivorous and feed on the animals that stick on their tentacles.

[LobsterOfJustice]

I was backing up Rich's statement that they absorb compounds directly from the water.

I am not arguing that anemones will not, or do not eat. I am saying that they do not need to. In the absense of food, they can use photosynthesis, and the absorbtion of nutrients directly from the water, to meet their daily energy needs.

Basically, ingesting sizeable prey items into the mouth and digesting them is not the only way to obtain "mass", and the other things needed for photosynthesis and cellular activity.

[RichConley]

Quoting advanced aquarist isnt really a reference.



Diet: In nature, anemonefish feed primarily on zooplankton (tiny animals, mainly crustaceans), supplemented with algae. This diet can easily be simulated, at least nutritionally, in captivity with finely chopped raw prawns and fish, and flake-type commercial fish food containing vegetable ingredients.

It can also be simulated by dosing potassium nitrate/ammonium nitrate and a couple of other chemicals.

Its tough to find research for this because the research is SO OLD. Nobody is doing research on this stuff because its just known at this point.

Blank, R. and R.K. Trench 1985. Speciation in symbiotic
dinoflagellates. Science 229:656-658.

D'Elia, C.F. 1977. The uptake and release of dissolved phosphorus by reef corals. Limnol. Oceanogr. 22:301-315.

Franzisket, L. 1974. Nitrate uptake by reef corals. Int. Rev. Gesamten Hydrobiol. 59:1-7.

Muscatine, L. and C.F. D'Elia 1978. The uptake, retention, and release of ammonium by reef corals. Limnol. Oceanogr. 23:725-734.

Muscatine, L. and J.W. Porter 1977. Reef Corals: Mutualistic symbioses adapted to nutrient-poor environments. BioScience 27:454-460.

Sepers, A.B.J. 1977. The utilization of dissolved organic compounds in aquatic environments. Hydrobiologia 52:39-54.

Trench, R.K. 1979. The cell biology of plant-animal symbiosis. Annu.
Rev. Plant Physiol. 30:485-532.

Wotton, R.S. 1988. Dissolved organic material and trophic dynamics
BioScience 38: 172-178.

[Musho3210]

is there any proof that feeding is bad? Not over feeding or feeding the wrong stuff, but just plain feeding? If tehre is none why is the OP getting such a hard time about feeding it? Maybe you dont NEED to, but what is the harm of doing it if you do it correctly.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10566341#post10566341 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Musho3210
is there any proof that feeding is bad? Not over feeding or feeding the wrong stuff, but just plain feeding? If tehre is none why is the OP getting such a hard time about feeding it? Maybe you dont NEED to, but what is the harm of doing it if you do it correctly.

Well, because for him, feeding it is directly leading to the maroon clown damaging it.




The only time i've heard of food damaging a BTA is when they are fed too large pieces of food, and it begins to decay in their stomach, and causes infection.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10566356#post10566356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by RichConley
Well, because for him, feeding it is directly leading to the maroon clown damaging it.




The only time i've heard of food damaging a BTA is when they are fed too large pieces of food, and it begins to decay in their stomach, and causes infection.

So what IS a reference to you Rich? Something that proves your point? :lol:

You haven't offered anything that suggests that anemones live off of nitrogen absorbed from the water or photosynthesis alone. For one, that's ludicrous. For two, I have 3-4 books that says otherwise along with a large number of online articles. You said something along the lines of "It's tough to find research on the topic because it's so old and everyone just knows it" and I think you meant to say "It's tough to find research that supports the theory that I just made up." :rollface:

So, are books by Robert Fenner valid resources?

From <u>The Conscientious Marine Aquarist</u> by Robert Fenner:

<b>Feeding.</b> Anemones possess rings of tentacles around their mouths used for prey collection and manupulation. These are arrayed with numerous stinging and sticky cells below their surface. These specialized cells may be found in and on other body areas and assist in immobilizing and holding prey as well as in warding off would-be predators. Anemone nutrition has been and will likely continue to be a contentious subject, with aquarists wrangling over the extent to which captive specimens need to be hand-fed. Here is my advice, which may be controversial: underfeed underfeed underfeed. Many anemones - especially larger species - are detrivourous, filterers of small plankton, and use photosynthetic alagae.

He goes on to talk about feeding once a week should suffice and many anemones can go months or even years without direct feeding. Again, the point of them eating food, not absorbing nitrogen from the water.

When all is well, I feed my BTA about once a month. But when injured or recovering I keep him full of food to speed the recovery. Directly feeding the anemone had nothing to do with the GSM damaging the anemone. I don't know where you got that, but it was way off.

From <u>Anemones in captive systems</u> by Robert Fenner:


<b>Feeding:</b>

Iodine, alkalinity, biomineral content... are as important to Anemones as they are to stony, soft corals and other Cnidarians. Again, "Reef" circumstances are required to keep a BTA.

Both foods derived from photosynthesis and augmented physical feeding with meaty foods are necessary for this species. If your animal is or becomes bleached to a degree, ancillary feeding will become even more important. I suggest meaty foods, no bigger than the anemones mouth 2 – 3 times a week, less if the food items are large. The best are fish based (Silversides of appropriate size are excellent, as are various kinds of shrimps, defrosted/frozen cube-foods, planktonic organisms that can be gently directly baster-placed...), and always of marine origin. Tongs can be used to place food items directly onto the open anemone's tentacles.

Some folks endorse the occasional to regular use/soaking of such foods in a vitamin and HUFA prep. like Selcon. This is not a bad idea.

And a note re post feeding behavior. It is not unusual for a just-fed, digesting BTA to "hunker down", shrink in size, pull it's tentacular disk inward and stay this way sometimes for a few days... Do be on the lookout for egested waste packets... and remove these with a net or siphon.


Now, I'm not sure what led you to believe that I was arguing with you, but I will restate what I have been stating since the beginning: Anemones eat meaty food fed directly or indirectly by us. I can further that point by saying their mouths and stomachs are NOT useless (LobsterOfJustice?), and that they certainly cannot live off of nitrogen (or whatever) absorbed from the water alone.

For some more reading, check <a href="http://www.wetwebmedia.com/btafdgfaqs.htm">this out</a>

I wasn't trying to start a debate, just wanted to discuss a declining BTA. But it is in your nature RichConley to start an argument with some ludicrous statement and then transfer the burden of proof to someone else by saying something like "It's been known for years, <b>YOU</b> find something that disproves me". That's backwards... And where did you get the idea that anemones don't have to eat? ONLY if there is enough plankton in the tank would you not have to directly feed an anemone. While this may be the case in some/many tanks, it's not the case across the board.

So what's the next statement going to be? I assure you whatever it is it won't reference books and/or articles stating that anemones don't have to eat and with good lighting and flow they will be fine.

[LobsterOfJustice]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10569655#post10569655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
Anemones eat meaty food fed directly or indirectly by us.

Agreed, that they will if it is offered.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10569655#post10569655 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
I can further that point by saying their mouths and stomachs are NOT useless (LobsterOfJustice?), and that they certainly cannot live off of nitrogen (or whatever) absorbed from the water alone.

How can you further it by saying that? You just cited a book that says they can go years without eating. Guess what it is living off of inbetween yearly feedings... dissolved nutrients and glucose provided by the photosynthesis of the zooxanthellae... just like almost every coral we keep in our tanks.

And about them certianly not being able to live off nitrogen absorbed from the water alone, why not? As I said before, plants do.

There are plenty of people keeping anemones out there that are not feeding them.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10569792#post10569792 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Agreed, that they will if it is offered.



How can you further it by saying that? You just cited a book that says they can go years without eating. Guess what it is living off of inbetween yearly feedings... dissolved nutrients and glucose provided by the photosynthesis of the zooxanthellae... just like almost every coral we keep in our tanks.

And about them certianly not being able to live off nitrogen absorbed from the water alone, why not? As I said before, plants do.

There are plenty of people keeping anemones out there that are not feeding them.

The point that anemones don't eat keeps being reinforced with "several people don't feed them." I'm not arguing that anemones have to be directly fed. I'm arguing that they HAVE to be fed, and not just by absorbing nitrogen or other compounds from the water.

You are simply making facts up and that's all there is to it. I mean, one of your first few posts in this thread was comparing the use of a human appendix to the use of a mouth and stomach of an anemone. You are suggesting that anemones don't have to eat, as in ingesting food to survive. Wait, I have it right here:


They have a mouth and stomach because they evolved from other cnidarians which did not posess zooxanthellae, and therefore could not meet their energy needs by photosyhthesis. There are indeed types of anemones and coral that need to eat. Then again, there are also coral that have evolved so far away from this that they could not eat if they tried. Xenia's stinging cells and gut have seen no use in so many thousands of years that xenia is not able to capture or digest prey.


That was you, right LobsterOfJustice? Did you make that up on the fly?

I urge you to read the article I linked. And maybe take a day to think about it because you are really, really wrong. So please, instead of offering something that would contradict what I'm saying, dissect a part of my post - not furthering your point, but belittling mine.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Well, at least we are understanding eachother.

You are suggesting that anemones don't have to eat, as in ingesting food to survive

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. And I do not understand why it is that hard to believe that.

[Scissorhand]

davidryder, if you reference a book that says anemones do eat but can go years without eating, then it's kinda hard to argue that they do not require direct feeding.

I'm just offering a personal experience with my RBTA. I don't directly feed it and it's completely healthy and growing under my MH light.

[davidryder]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10570213#post10570213 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Scissorhand
davidryder, if you reference a book that says anemones do eat but can go years without eating, then it's kinda hard to argue that they do not require direct feeding.

I'm just offering a personal experience with my RBTA. I don't directly feed it and it's completely healthy and growing under my MH light.

I understand and fully believe that anemones can go years without their caregivers ever <i>directly</i> feeding them. But in the articles and books I referenced I was concluding that they are indirectly fed by us... every time you feed your fish, copepods, amphipods, etc they are planktonic carnivores and opportunistic feeders. They don't have to be directly fed but I do not believe that they can live on photosynthesis and absorption of trace elements from the water column alone.

[Scissorhand]

Fair enough. I'm unsure either and so I'm offering nothing but observations based on experience, and that is if you have adequate lighting, regular feeding is not required.