sun coral feeding

[PXH_Blackmagic]

what do people have as there feeding regime for their sun coral?, currently feding mine every other day, target fed with all pumps off, but what do you guys do?.

regards

si

[Linda]

I target feed mine with the PH's off about twice a week, and once a week I feed chopped prawn , cockle or mussel, using tweezers to feed every polyp.

It's a bit time consuming (takes a good half hour), but the difference it's made is amazing.

Here's how mine looks now:

http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s74/Feebscass/79.07017.jpg

[craigg]

I litterly chuck about 10 cubes in the area of my 11 sun corals

No direct ollocks, they either catch or go without.

simple

Oh I do do this daily mind.

[Alan Gabriel]

Mine was 'rescued', half dead, from a LFS. There were only a dozen polyps still alive (just).

I feed mine daily on 'blitzed' haddock (chopped up fine in a blender). I thin it down with RO water and freeze it in an ice cube tray.

I chop a piece off, let it defrost with a drop of tank water and feed through a turkey baster. I cover the coral with a cut off pop bottle to stop the fish nicking it.

The Sun coral is recovering well and starting to grow new polyps.

[sky1ine]

I must be going crazy then! Mine are fed a mix of mysis, red plankton, krill, cod and mussel. All soaked and drained then enriched with seachem reef plus for anything up to 24hours (it smells too much after 24hours) :laugh:

As with craigg though, i don't target feed my suns other than my micranthus which i always target because it needs endless amounts of food.

Marc

[evilervin]

Hi

I feed with white fish (cod or haddock), Gamma Red Plankton 1-2 times a day, and dump a level (heaped if I’ve only fed the previous once) tsp of Cyclop-eeze into the water daily (after re-hydrating it in a jug of tank water)… basically this means I feed 2-3 times a day - mainly due to the two large’ish Tubastraea micranthus, but for ‘yellow suns’ every to every other day should be more than adequate.

Circulation pumps are left on at all times.
I use to turn the slimmer off for an hour when feeding Cyclop-eeze, but now I run completely skimmer less (no fish etc in tank, only Dendrophylliidae), so I don’t have to worry about such things.

I deliver the food via a turkey baster to the vicinity of the corals allowing the fully expanded polyps to capture it. (I do ensure every polyp has been fed though – especially with my beloved black suns)

The only time I directly target feed an individual polyp is when I’m feeding the ‘babies’ bits of fish.

I wouldn't go as far as Craig and say direct target feeding is “ollocks”, as IME a newly acquired sun coral should be target fed to help elevate any ‘stress’. I would also advocate the use of target feeding if the calices are clearly showing when the coral is closed (the coral is either not catching enough food or not enough is been offered).

HTH
Roger

[PXH_Blackmagic]

Thanks for the replies guys!. So far I have been target feeding as mentioned with marine snow (plankton replacement) as advised by the LFS, but looking at what you guys are doing I think i might use the coke bottle method and feed it whit fish mixed with the marine snow.

So far the coral seems healthy every polyp opens up everyday when I feed the rest of the fishand tend to stay out for the rest of the evening.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/P1010647.JPG

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/P1010648.JPG

Regards

si

[evilervin]

Hi Si

Nice looking piece.:)

with marine snow (plankton replacement) as advised by the LFS IMO you should steer way clear of marine snow, in favour for something like Cyclop-eeze and or ‘red plankton’.

The particles in marine snow are way too small to be of any use for a sun coral (apart for coaxing it to open). I can see how me (and others) saying to use Red plankton might be a bit confusing, but the stuff I use (TMC Gamma) is a copepod (calanus sp) and each 'pod is approx 2x1mm, much bigger then the ‘bits’ found in marine snow. IIRC the largest particle in MS is 150 microns (0.15mm). As a comparison, Cyclop-eeze has a body length of 800 microns (0.8mm), and I personally wouldn’t go below this size, unless feeding newly spawned offspring. MS is still too small a food stuff for 'babies', I wouldn’t go below the size of a baby brine shrimp (400 microns or 0.4mm).

In case the above has made you glaze over a bit, and think; “what is this twit on about”:whistling:, to put it simply (ime) food stuffs should range from 0.8mm – 5mm… oh and don’t use brine shrimp;).

IMO there’s no need for the coke bottle thingy unless the food is being taken from the polyps by fish or shrimps.

HTH
Roger

PS. reference the 'red plankton' - The brand is Gamma (supplied by TMC) and the product name is, Red Plankton – calanus sp

[PXH_Blackmagic]

Thanks for yor help Roger, much appreciated!, will endevou to purhcase something more appropriate tomorrow!

Just want to do the best for this fantastic looking coral!

[PawsReef]

I direct feed all 3 of my sun corals and make sure each polyp gets fed every other day, sometimes everyday.
I looooove my sun corals :wub:

http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s253/Pawsreef/tank4.jpg

[ChrisBFish]

Mine get the (generous) leftovers from feeding the fish - enriched brineshrimp, mysis, and marine cuisine/marine mix. They're fed most nights. I target the black sun coral first, then share the rest around between the 2 oranges, trying to do a different patch each evening to make sure it all gets fed regularly. (Ever tried feeding a black coral with no lights on in the room?!?)

Saw a lovely bright yellow - really true yellow, not orangey yellow - sunny in the LFS recently, but couldn't quite persuade Mr B that we needed another... :)

[philw307]

Just picked mine up from a member on this forum, it looks stunning

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2007Q2/sun1.JPG