I got a sun coral - pics

[AquariumFish]

Thanks SaltyJane!

I am probably at least several months from (POSSIBLY) taking the plunge.

Currently; I have a brackish tank that will need to be full marine in the future.

I am borderline thinking FOLR ... but the excessive part of my personality says .... HAAAAAA! :drool:

Just went and got a Dragon Goby today :headbang2: for the brackish tank.

It all stems on getting (hopefully) at least a 210 FW tank and possible converting one of the living room tanks to full salt ....

I am a bit of a snake shaped fish fanatic .... and puffers! :grinyes:

... but those corals are awesome .... can't call myself a coral fanatic yet ... never owned any yet.

MORE QUESTIONS:

I have been reading here people feed them late at night .... can it be a pre-dawn schedule?
Do they require all night to digest their food?

I am early to bed - early to rise kind of person ...
That is a BIG factor in doing this or not ....

I coddle my aquariums more than I did my son when he was a newborn ...

Thanks for all the info!
Randy

 

[Pallen81]

I'm going to try the 1 liter soda (i can't bring myself to say pop. lol) bottle trick and see how it works. i bet my sun coral is hungry. he's barely eaten anything in 3 days. I am gonna use plankton and mysid shrimp.

I'm gonna make sure he pigs out tonight!

 

[saltyjane]

Sun corals require small meaty foods preferably, cyclopeeze is good but not as good. Phyto is useless with these corals in my opinion......where's the BEEF LOL!!! They love aqua yums silversides......those little one that look like toothpicks. I have broken off little 1/8 inch pieces and fed each polyp with tweezers.......that's really babying it though They prefer to be fed small meaty food when lights out but can be trained to open up when lights are on. Make it fit YOUR schedule! I have also taken coral out and placed in small tupperware bowl and thawed out a cube of PrimeReef and basted it all over the coral.......waited 15 minutes to a half hour until all the polyps are out and then swirled the meaty buffet around with a with a turkey baster until all the food was gone. You'd be amazed how much they can eat when they get the chance. You have to slowly move the coral back into the tank (try immersing the bowl with coral into the tank water)so as not to make them polyps retreat and push all the food back out of their mouths

Nuf said,
Janey

 

[Pallen81]

Sun corals require small meaty foods preferably, cyclopeeze is good but not as good. Phyto is useless with these corals in my opinion......where's the BEEF LOL!!!

yeah, I have large plankton/small krill pieces that I'm going to use... no phytoplankton. I should have made that clearer. I can't wait to try this out tonight.

 

[saltyjane]

Good luck!!

 

[Pallen81]

okay, I'm about ready to feed these guys. I have a seperate bucket set up so that I can properly feed them without my shrimps stealing their food.


However, my tank is running at about 83.7 degrees... (it got a little hot today)

and my bucket is 79.9. is that too big of a difference or can I just move him with no problems?

 

[saltyjane]

I don't think it will cause you any problem but you need to keep your tank cooler......maybe run a fan on your sump to increase evaporation. If your coral does open up and eats you will still have to protect it when you put it back in the tank. The shrimp will be all over it sticking their feet down inside the mouths trying to dislodge food. Sometimes they are turned off by the stickiness of the polyp but they are pretty agressive most of the time.

Hope things work out well for you.........

Janey

 

[AquariumFish]

Good Luck!

 

[Pallen81]

ok, it worked. I know for sure about 20 of the 30 polyps ate. I didn't see all of them. some are very small. but most at least got something. a few ate like pigs. I put the plastic bottle on top of the coral when I put him back in the display tank. fire shrimp stayed away.

I still have yet to see my polyps actually open up completely.

yeah saltyjane, yesterday my tank temp went up a few degrees, its cooler today so I'm sure its around 78-80 this morning. I didn't check though. if my tank hits 84 I put on the A/C.

I must be doing something wrong because it took me over 3 hours to ensure this coral ate well. lol.

How long does it take you guys?

 

[saltyjane]

It does take a while especially at first......you are doing nothing wrong Once the coral is trained to open and it is hardy (eaten several times and looking good) you can stop the bucket feedings and find a permanent home for it in your tank. You can give up daily feedings (although some continue daily) and go into a maintenace schedule of feeding. I always fed mine daily at first to get it nice and healthy then went to every other/every third day. If you ever notice that it isn't opening and declining, you can always remove and do a food bath to rejuvenate.......

Janey