Hi all, I have a wonderful yellow carpet anemone that I've grown over about a year, from a size of about 5" across to 14" across. I feed him small pieces of shrimp every other day. About 3 weeks ago he regurgitated the shrimp. My local store owner told me to hold off on feeding for a while then to switch to live goldfish and/or scallop. Since then he's eaten a small scallop and a couple of goldfish, but is very slow to eat and he did spit out a scallop one time. His "mouth" looks terrible - not tight like it should be, and you can sort of see inside (see photo). What's going on with him, anybody know? Thanks.
Sick carpet anemone?
- Thread starter Mik
- Start date
Cheeser
I Love Reefer
probly ate a bad gold fish. i wouldnt feed it goldfish anymore.
lbcathee
Reefing newb
what are you water tests reading? did you recently change lighting? or add anything new?
Cheeser
I Love Reefer
i would just feed him like once a week. sometimes overfeeding can piss them off.
yote
In Memoriam
Not trying to be a smartass. But your store owner ain't very bright.
You should never feed an anemone ANYTHING from freshwater. The nutritional makeup is different from the 2 types of water. So a damsel would make a better meal than a goldfish. Just be sure the damsel has been purged of any medications first.
From your pic, I can't see that there is anything unusual about that carpet. Look healthy to me. It's normal for them to pucker like that after a meal or relieving themselves.
You should never feed an anemone ANYTHING from freshwater. The nutritional makeup is different from the 2 types of water. So a damsel would make a better meal than a goldfish. Just be sure the damsel has been purged of any medications first.
From your pic, I can't see that there is anything unusual about that carpet. Look healthy to me. It's normal for them to pucker like that after a meal or relieving themselves.
ErinCahir
Sausage Wrangler
Absolutely do not feed him goldfish.
I will be checking water soon and doing a water change tonight. Nothing new that I can think of....
He did eat a goldfish about an hour ago (sorry Cheeser, fed him before reading your post) so we'll see if he keeps it down.
Cheeser
I Love Reefer
Krill, mysis. Ideally u should chop it up but they'll eat whole pieces of krill.
little_fish
Moderator
Do not feed your nem large food particles!!! They would never ever catch a large piece of food in the wild (ie greater than than a 1/4 inch piece of meat), and are not equipped to properly eat something that big! That pooping we think is so funny really isnt good for your nem, a properly kept nem doesnt do that. If you do some research on carpet nems over at WWM you find that feeding large food particles will cause damage to the gastric cavity and can cause eventual death. I know that its common internet lore to say feed your nem, but you really shouldnt!
Thx Little - do you have a link to a good source for more research?
