Do anemones puke?

[Cheech]

Hi,

I recently bought a pink tip anemone. It ended up eating my cleaner shrimp, and that day, all kinds of wierd gooey stuff came out of its mouth. Should I be worried?

Actually, it;'s doin the same thing today.

thanks for any help.

 

[rift-n-reef]

As for your primary question...yes, if a meal is too large, an anemone will spew its lunch. However, an all day affair of "gooey" stuff comming out of its mouth does not sound very good. To the very best of my knowladge there is nothing in a cleaner shrimp that can harm a condy, so it could just be coincidence that it happened at the same time. Nomally when you see anemones sliming up, its a sign they are about to go inside out and foul your tank. Keep a close eye on it to make sure its not dying. If it does, and you don't catch it quick enough, real harm could come to the other inhabitants of your system. HTH, and on a side note, sorry bout your loss....sucks to lose a $20 shrimp to a $10 condylactus.


"J"

 

[Cheech]

Thanks for the advice.

yeah, it is sad that I lost the shrimp.. I had just recieved it 2 days prior.

how will I know when that best time to get rid of the anemone is? Sometimes it almost looks like it's dead, but moments later, it triples in size and looks healthy...


Thanks again for your help.

cheech

 

[OrionGirl]

Actually, anemones have one opening for all their digestive processes. After a large meal has been digested, the remains are spewed out the mouth. Many fish love this, and will risk getting stung to snap it up.

A dying anemone is shrunken, discolored, and dissolving. Sounds like yours is fine, just ridding itself of wastes.

 

[Cheech]

Thank you Orion, I'll keep a close look....