Tubastrea Care

[ca1ore]

Just acquired a sun coral (yellow tubastea) that was not doing well in a friends tank. It is not photosynthetic and requires plankton feeding, and - I am told - either a vertical or upside down placement.

Coral is expanding in my tank, and it looks hungry!

Anyone here have sucess with this coral. Specifically around feeding choices and strategies?

Thx!

Simon

 

[Chamberflyer]

I feed my suncoral small pieces of mysis shimp. I try to feed each polyp (not always possible) about every three days. I feed the tank and then wait for about 1 hour, this gets the coral to open up. I keep my coral upright in a med. flow area that is easy to get to. The only problem I've had is my cleaner shimp is greedy and likes to steal from it. It takes some time ,but is well worth the time invested.

 

[rissaroo]

I have had my sun polyp for about 4 months. I have found feeding cyclop-eeze through a medicine dropper has worked great. I feed about 2-3 times a week. I also wait an hour after regular feeding to ensure the polyps have expanded. I have mine sitting in a shady spot upright, and seems to be thriving there. Good luck with yours. They are truly beautiful!

 

[kasmd73]

I use Cyclopeeze and oyster eggs, I feed twice a week on Wed and Sat. I start when the light cycles off, using a 14g angiocath connected to a 20cc syringe (but a turkey baster will work). I put some food around the coral, wait until it's fully open then feed each polyp. The polyps retract, and re-open, and I feed each about three times. It's working great, and seems to be thriving. I've also heard, but haven't needed to do this, that you can cut a 2L Pepsi bottle and place it over the coral, and then put the food in there and it should get enough food. Also turn off your skimmer for an hour or two while feeding.

 

[MarkLehr]

I also found that if you feed at the same time every day, after a few weeks the Sun Coral will open as the feeding time approaches. Pretty neat addition to any reef!

 

[Phreebsd]

My colony has grown at least 6 new polyps in the last 5 months. I feed every other day. He gets a diet of mysis shrimp, bloodworms, and prime reef.

Here's my method:
I have a small bowl that I use to hold a small amount of water and the tubastrea colony. The open up very quickly when I drip a few drops of shrimp juice into the water. Once my cubes are thawed I use a bamboo stick to break apart the cube and ensure that each polyps gets his share. I've had nothing but success.