Anemone Movement and Freeze Dried Fish Food – Common Aquarium Questions

Back for another installment of FAQs submitted to Marinebio@thatpetplace.com!  Here are two questions we hear pretty often.  We’re here to help, so keep the questions coming.

Ryan wrote us with a common question about anemone behavior:

I have a pink-tip anemone in a seventy five gallon tank. I have had it for a couple months now and it seems to be doing good, but it never stays in one spot. It is always moving around on the glass, around the rock work, everywhere.  Is this normal? Is there anything I should do or just leave it alone?

Marine Bio responded:

That sounds like a fairly typical behaviour for that type anemone. They move constantly it search of favorable conditions as far as lighting, water flow, and feeding opportunity, as they depend a lot on food items passing by in the current that they can grab onto. It may eventually find an area that it favors and it may stay there for awhile, but probably not for extended periods.  Host anemones are often more prone to finding a position they like. In a spot with good conditions, they can anchor onto a solid surface for longer amounts of time, expanding to feed and take in the light, though they do move periodically as well.  Just make sure that any intakes to pumps or filters are covered with a sponge so that if he crawls on them he won’t get sucked into the equipment! Other than that you shouldn’t have to do anything except feed and maintain the aquarium as normal. They move to a happy place, maybe every day, maybe once a month.

 Beth wrote to MarineBio with a question about feeding:

I have a 75-gallon saltwater aquarium housing a lawnmower blenny, false-eye sharp-nosed puffer, long-nose hawkfish, spot-tailed wrasse, and 2 blue damsels. I feed my fish the frozen food and pellets recommended by the professionals at That Pet Place. I have been reading about the freeze-dried foods–shrimp, plankton, etc. I was wondering if freeze-dried food would be acceptable as an additional supplement to what I already feed them so that they are getting a healthy variety of foods to include all vitamins and minerals they need. If freeze-dried foods are appropriate, what would you suggest I get for my fish?

Marine Bio response:

Freeze-dried plankton and/or Mysis would work well for you. It is hard to give you fish too much variety. It is important to vary their diet as best as you can so that their dietary requirements are met and they don’t develop nutritional deficiencies, and that goes for any type of fish tank.  I typically recommend a good basic flake or pellet like Spectrum or Ocean Nutrition supplemented with a frozen mix and freeze dried treats appropriate for the fish you’re keeping. In your case, the fish you have will be most interested in a meatier diet, though some of them will happily take vegetable matter too, like sea veggies or bits of algae in the frozen formulas, especially if you lack natural algae growth. You can customize your feeding regimen according to their needs, but be sure not to overfeed the tank. Smaller amounts of a variety of foods can be fed at different times, or at your scheduled feeding time, but make sure the fish are consuming the foods and they are not falling to the floor of the tank or collecting elsewhere where they can cause water quality issues.  It sounds like you’re doing just fine!