Caring for Rose Anemones the right way

(Please see the  page called
"You want me to eat that?)

BTA's are meat eaters.

They love Silversides , the  tiny Minnow like fish that can be purchased at most Saltwater fish stores.

Here is what they look like.(see pictures below)

 

Below are two packages, one of large and one of small Silversides.
Depending on the size of the

Anemone, they get what is suitable for  them.

5. How to feed

If your BTA is a small one  you will most likely have to cut a large one in

half if all you have is the large size
over 2" in length.
They will eat the whole thing, head, tail and fins so there is no need to remove the head.

Use tongs or any long feeding device to drop the fish onto the tentacles

of the Anemone. If he is hungry he will grab it and take it to his mouth.

( Hint, break them up into small pieces when they are still frozen, it saves having to cut them up)

A word of caution, never ever force the silverside into the Anemone's mouth,

you will damage the inside.
If the Anemone won't take it, it is not hungry and will let it drop to the bottom

of your tank where it should be removed.

Same Anemone below, just swallowed the Silverside above.

new home that it be feed as it has probably not been feed for a few days.

I personally feed all of my Roses every week.
 

7. How often

They are feed this daily when they are smaller then a quarter because

they do not have large enough stomachs

to take even the smallest piece of Silverside fish.

Each will eat differently depending on the size of the Rose. So I always

have some pieces of Silversides as well as whole ones for the larger Roses.

Brine shrimp and other small plankton like food is fine for your fish and

other things but is not enough food to keep a Rose happy and healthy so

you must feed meaty foods to them.

If you have more then one Rose or plan on several in the future,

all the better as they love to congregate together and will be very happy.

Here are the tongs I used to use  to feed Silversides to my Roses.
They are surgical tongs and made of heavy plastic.
They work ok to but are not very long.

8. What to use to feed

(Note, the green end that you use to close the tongs do not last long and break easily

after a year or so. I have gone through several in the last few years)

9.Adding some things about feeding.

Your Anemone may be very small, say around 4 inches or less so you would

want to feed it small pieces of  Silversides or if tiny, mysis shrimp.

Do not attempt to feed a large whole fish to a small Anemone as

it will try to eat it and when it can't  it will just spit it out.

Cut(or break up) the fish into pieces of 1/4" for small BTA"s under 4".

I break the fish into pieces when it is still frozen so that the guts do not come out.

If they are larger, feed a half of a fish.

If it is spit out you have usually feed to large of a piece so try a smaller one,

also feed the head and all of the Silverside. No need to remove that.

I have also started to feed every other week some raw uncooked shrimp

because I have many small Anemone buds that are just to

small to handle anything with

bones or scales.

I have taken pictures of what the bag of shrimp looks like, how it is cut and what size I cut

them into.

The pieces are fed to all of my Anemones one at a time.

If the Anemone swallows it fast, they are fed

another.

Each piece is around 1/4 inch long, but can be cut smaller for small bud Anemones.

So give this a try also for finicky or small Anemones. They will love it.