"Kevin Muenzler, WB5RUE" wrote

I've had a small marine aquarium going for about three months. It's
populated with native life from the Texas Gulf.
[snip]
I feed the anemones goldfish
and the hermit crabs are fed brine shrimp.

"Billy" wrote

I would cease the goldfish feedings. Even if you vacuum, there is going to
be a ton of biological material floating about.

Hi Kevin,

First off, I agree with Billy - probably. The thing is, most anemones don't
eat fish. There are a few fish eaters and most large anemones are capable of
digesting a fish but the largest proportion of anemone species are better
optimized to eat small crustaceans such as copepods, amphipods, and shrimp.
In the wild, your anemones probably capture and eat several dozen to several
hundred 'pods' per day. When you give such an animal a goldfish it's going
to take him a much longer time to digest it and, while it's being digested,
you've got (essentially) a dead fish in your tank - An anemone's gut is not
very well sealed!

If you're collecting native species, the best thing to do is to is to stock
up on field guides and marine biology texts for your area. Then try to visit
one or more public aquaria that feature local species and ask questions
about diet, habits, habitat, etc. You'll not only be better able to care for
what you have, you'll also get ideas about what other animals might be good
additions to your system.

One caveat: If you're researching a species that doesn't happen to have any
commercial value there's always the chance that the field guides and
aquarium docents don't know any more than you do, so stay flexible! BTW:
It's been my experience that a true biology text is less likely to steer you
wrong - if the author doesn't know something he's not likely to try to fake
it. [field guides and docents* sometimes make stuff up]

*I'm a docent myself. I try to avoid making stuff up but I've been known to
grossly oversimplify things in order to avoid having a visitor's eyes glaze
over!

Natively yours,

TPG