LTA/Feeding    4/3/06
Hello, <Hello Chris.>  I recently had an Astrea snail fall into my LTA, and I was not able to retrieve it...is this going to cause harm to the anemone?  <Shouldn't> Will it recognize that it is not food, or will it immediately try to ingest it? <Anemone will take care of the problem by itself, no worries.> The LTA is being tended by two skunk clowns, will they try to remove it? <Doubtful, may try though.>
Thanks <You're welcome.  James (Salty Dog)>

LTA question
Hello,
<Hi there>
About 2 weeks ago I purchased a Long Tentacled Anemone.  I added it to my twenty gallon tall aquarium.  The tank currently has about 12lbs of Fiji live rock and a 3 inch bed of crushed coral and live sand.  There is also a lot of different kinds of macroalgae that I am culturing in there.  There is a protein skimmer and a power filter (for water movement).  The water is turned over about 10 times.  I have a 65 watt Power compact 50/50 light on the tank.  The light duration is about 13 hours.  The PH is 8.1 around noon, Salinity 1.025 and Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate are zero at all times.  I replace evaporated water with R.O. water.  I also do partial water changes every 4 weeks.  The only inhabitants in the tank are about five Astrea snails.  
<Sounds very nice>
My question has to do with the anemone.  I had tried feeding it Mysis shrimp.  It refused this so I fed it Brine.  It accepted this.  I was wondering if a feeding of brine shrimp once a day will support a 7-8inch wide anemone.  If not what suggestions do you have?  Also the tentacles have begun to shrink.  Is this normal.  Usually they inflate back up, but lately fewer and fewer reach their normal size.
Thank you , Sam Reef
<Some diurnal, periodic shrinking of tentacles is normal, to be expected... I would not try to sustain this animal on a steady diet of brine shrimp. Please read over the anemone feeding FAQs archived on www.WetWebMedia.com
Bob Fenner>

LTA post feeding behavior  
Hi Bob, <Adam here today, at your service.>
I have an LTA. I have had it for a couple of weeks. My Tomatoes are very attached already and are loving it. Last night all of a sudden when the MH turned off, (The actinics then continue for one hour), decided to shrivel up 50% of his tentacles into thin horrible looking threads. I watched for 10 minutes and they returned back to normal. admittedly I just fed him a piece of fish! He looked fine for the rest of the night.  <Sounds completely normal to me.>
This morning he looks a bit different. His entire base is stretched out flattish like leather and his tentacles do not look fully inflated even though they are not shriveled. His colour hasn't changed.  <Still sounds normal.  Many anemones close and re-open after feeding or disturbance and often take a couple of days before they look "normal" again.>
My nitrates are around 20, KH 14, everything else good.  Any ideas? I doesn't seem right. What is the feeding regime best for an LTA?  Regard, Craig.  <I would try to track down the reason for the high nitrates (though 20 is not too big of a deal).  I generally suggest feeding a grape sized chunk of meaty food at least a couple of times a month, but not more than a couple times a week.  More feeding will lead to faster growth.  Best Regards.  AdamC.>