non-live food = useless?

[SnowManSnow]

interesting article....

the basic conclusion is that ONLY live food contributes to coral growth. corals fed artificial food grew just as much as corals that were fed nothing.

here's the link

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/aafeature1

B

 

[Anonymous]

I think that is too much of generalization. Based on the study, Golden Pearls, the dead food used, didn't contribute to coral growth. Generalizing that to all non live foods isn't a good idea especially since there are very different methods of preparing non live foods, and drying, like Golden Pearls, seems like the worst.

 

[SnowManSnow]

I agree.... I would have thought that it would have made SOME differance though.

B

 

[sihaya]

Be careful... the article isn't about all corals. It's about juvenile Pocillopora damicornis. Juvenile corals can be exceedingly difficult to feed. Also, he only tested ONE non-live food. I'd be interested to see if he could get different results with different foods (such as oyster eggs).

Btw, I still think it's a very cool study (especially if you're trying to culture baby Pocillopora damicornis). I just wouldn't go throwing out all your food just yet.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm with Rich, they used one particular food... "Which I wouldn't trust anything that has a fancy descriptor in front of it.. 'GOLDEN' Pearls " That doesn't say anything about dead food. I think a good test would be to use Rotifeast, that stuff is dead rotifers do a test with that and see.

Considering the mechanism for eating is to consume whatever you eat to change into energy I find it really hard to believe that something alive really has that much more nutritional content, everything I eat is dead and I'm doing pretty good as far as getting energy out of it.

 

[Len]

I haven't fed my corals in ages

 

[Anonymous]

I haven't fed my corals in ages

I haven't feed my corn snake in ages

 

[trido]

I think a good test would be to use Rotifeast, that stuff is dead rotifers do a test with that and see.

I think a good test would be to use a "blender mix" and see how that works. Dead clams, prawns, rotifiers, baby brine and mysis. Now theres some dead food that is guaranteed to make a mess of the tank at least. I would think a juvenile "any coral" could get some nutrients out of a tank storm like that.

 

[Anonymous]

interesting article....

the basic conclusion is that ONLY live food contributes to coral growth. corals fed artificial food grew just as much as corals that were fed nothing.

here's the link

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2007/6/aafeature1

B

Whoa there!



I think there are some huge differences between this experiment and what goes on in a typical reef tank. It's not always easy to translate an experiment like this to our situation.

Lots of people are growing non-photosynthetic corals like Tubastraea spp. just fine solely on the nutrition derived from dead foods like Cyclop-eeze and frozen mysids.

I'm curious to see a follow up on this where he tests water quality. I'd also like to watch the polyps under a scope to see whether the polyps are actually consuming either food.