How to Feed Anemones

Sea anemones make colorful and attractive additions to salt water aquariums and give the aquarium the appearance of being an underwater flower garden. Anemones are not plants however, they are animals and need food to survive. Fortunately, sea anemones have a symbiotic relationship with clown-fish, another brightly colored animal that enhances a salt water aquarium. By simply keeping a clown-fish in the tank with your anemone, most of the anemone's feeding requirements will be taken care of.

Things You'll Need

  • Clownfish
  • Frozen shrimp
  • Knife
  • Fish food
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Instructions

    • 1

      Buy a clown-fish at a pet store or specialty aquarium. You will also need to buy flaked fish food that has the same nutritional content as algae, or is made from algae, to feed the clown-fish.

    • 2

      Place the clown-fish in the tank with the sea anemone. The clown-fish lives around the sea anemone and is one of the only creatures that will not get stung by its tentacles. The clown fish hangs out in the tentacles for protection during the day and the anemone feeds on its feces in return. In this way, just by having a clown-fish in your tank you will be feeding the anemone.

    • 3

      Defrost the shrimp and cut into 1/4 inch or smaller cubes to hand feed to the sea anemone. This is only necessary if you don't have a clown-fish for your sea anemone or if the sea anemone is much bigger than the clown-fish and needs more nutrition than the fish can provide. Any anemone that appears white or bleached will need to be hand fed until it regains its color and becomes healthy again.