Sun cor. question

[Clearblue303]

I have only one polyp wich lately is developing 2 new small polyps at it's base.
I think,I'm witnessing the rare moments (or,probably years) of spreading this nice creature into a colony. Well,so much for the poetry.
I know,they have to be fed and I'm dosing calcium regularely.
The problem is that they are not opened during the short time when I'm home (including the daily feeding).I noticed on the weekends,they are opened when the lights come on.
So,basicaly I can only feed them on weekends (wich is still OK,they develop),but they would grow faster if fed daily.

Is there any other way to feed this coral?
Thanks FM

 

[dmm32]

Hi,

You can take some water from the tank and place it in a small bucket and place the animal in it and add some type of coral food, I had a large colony and when I did this all the polyps opened up fully. I Left it in tht bucket for about 30 minutes. This allowed all the polyps to get food, since each polyp needs feed.

David

 

[dmm32]

Sorry

Needs food, Not feed. I can't type.


David

 

[reefhope]

You could try feeding with DTs. Turn skimmer and pumps off for 1/2 hour or so after adding to water. Or you could feed at lights out with DTs, it will stay in the water column for awhile as long as no skimmer is sucking it up.

Previous post is good idea but sometimes the animals are located in a very inconvenient spot for removing from tank. Good Luck!

 

[Anonymous]

i tried the bucket trick and it didn't make my sun polyps open. I'll try ordering some DT's for nighttime feeding. thanks.

 

[danmhippo]

if you are ordering DT's, why not order Phyto Concentrate from Brineshrimp Direct? Its a more concentrated stuff, Direct from manufacturer, less time on the shelf, and 5 drops of them is all I need to feed my tank (150G). 5 drops when diluted, makes a cup of water very green!

 

[Anonymous]

danmhippo, i went to the brineshrimpdirect.com site and could find Phyto Concentrate. Do you (or anyone) know of a good site where i could find comparable quality DT's? These sun polyps i've got are hanging in there, but i'd really like to see some bright yellow extensions! thanks for the advice.

chris

 

[danmhippo]

I apologize, its not called phyto concentrate, its called microalgae paste in BrineShrimpDirect.

Here is the link:MicroAlgae Paste I would chose the Tetraselmis or nanochloropsis paste for their larger micron size.

 

[Clearblue303]

Thanks guys.
I'll look after the paste.
I just wonder if is not causing some sort of algal outbreake due to increase of nutrients?
Or some other sort of imbalance?
Take care
FM

 

[Anonymous]

I had pretty good luck using tweezers and O.S.I. shrimp pellets. It took a little patience but eventually it would open up when I fed the fish.

Glenn

 

[eodjj]

Mine open late in the evening and stay open all night and I feed brine with a turkey baster. Try using a turkey baster with just a little food and wait about 15-20 minutes and see if they come out, target feeding is the way to go with these.
jj

 

[jamesw]

Cryopreserved phytoplankton and DT's is designed for feeding filter-feeders. A tubastraea or "sun coral" is not a filter feeder. It needs to CAPTURE some kind of meaty food to eat. Enriched brine shrimp or frozen meaty food needs to be fead to each polyp. A turkey baster will help.

HTH
James

 

[Anonymous]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote

and could find Phyto Concentrate

i meant 'could not' find... thanks for reading between the lines there danmhippo. Ok, i added a quarter pound of white shrimp to the grocery list this evening. The advice i can follow with what i have here in the house tells me to tear up little bits of shrimp and offer them to the coral with tweezers. It's 2AM now and the sunpolyps are prolapsed ever so slightly. I hope this works.
thanks guys,
chris

 

[Anonymous]

I'll second James, feed it real meaty food man, phytoplankton is not this coral's diet.

Dan:

The cryopaste is NOT necessarily a direct replacement for DT's. First off DT's is LIVE and the paste is dead. Dead phyto has much the same nutrition however it's extremely easy to overdose causing unwanted problem algae outbreaks like cyano because anything that isn't immediately eaten begins to break down. Shelf life doesn't really matter when you are talking live versus dead however depending on who you are buying DT's from it usually doesn't spend much time on the shelf unless your source buys ridiculous amounts.

 

[danmhippo]

Got it, Thanks

 

[Clearblue303]

The tweezer is my way too,with meety food.I only have 3 polyps,so thats appropriate.Even if they aren't fully opened,the food sticks to them.
Thanks
FM

 

[XXX]

My sun will open whenever I feed the fish. If yours do not, try feeding the tank with something like Golden Pearls after lights out and I believe you will see yours open wide.

BTW is a tubastraea a soft coral or LPS? I thought it fell into the soft catagory like most rock-spreading polyps but I saw it listed under LPS on the Premium Aquatics page.

 

[NaH2Ofreak]

Often times when the new sun coral is placed in a tank, it will take some time to start feeding. To encourage the coral to feed, the aquarist should submerse the coral in a bowl of tank water and blow food around the coral for like a half hour or so. Then remove the coral and put back in the tank. Do this every other night or so and the coral will start opening at that particular time every night. Likewise, if you want the coral open during the day, then do start this feeding cycle at sometime during the day. The first few times you remove the coral to feed it, it probably wont open at all. But eventually it will. Then, when it starts opening on its own, in the tank, blow meaty food into the open tenticals with a turkey baster. Works like a charm! I usually feed three times a week with either Hikari enriched brine shrimp or Marine Cuisine.

HTH's
Dennis