Sun Corals

[beckalexis]

How do you know if a coral is getting enough food? I bought a sun coral a week ago and I have been target feeding it with mysis, cylop-eeze, and DTs (not all at once, it vaires day to day). The polyps come out every evening/night but how do I know if each polyp is getting enough food? Thanks for any insight.

beckalexis

[ReefDiver]

Well, if you observe closely you will see the polyps "swell up" somewhat. You can also observe the tentacles pulling in and the food particles actually being "engulfed". It's fairly easy to tell if these corals are feeding or not.

[beckalexis]

i have seen some do the "engulfing" when a piece of mysis falls on the polyp....but what about cyclop-ezze or DTs...since they are so small, will the polyps act in the same way?

[EricHugo]

If you see new polyps budding, its getting plenty of food.

[EricHugo]

If the tissue is receding, it isn't ;-)

[nia]

Does each individual polyp need to feed, or is the food captured by a few shared by the entire colony? Always wondered that. I read of one hobbyist that would remove his suns to a shallow dish to feed them, & would then replace them back in the tank. I would think that would be stressful, but I guess it was successful for him.

[indy!]

I bought sun coral for a week and it was open for only one time.That makes me can't feed it. I just fed it yesterday but today it's not open again.
what can I do?

[beckalexis]

I heard that each polyp needs to be fed (I have about 15-20 polyps). I tried removing the coral into a dish and feeding it that way but the polpys never came out all the way. Now I just target feed it in the tank... not every polyp will get a mysis piece each day but the whole coral will be engulfed in cyclopeeze. Im going to try the "coke bottle target feeding" feeder. I just have to get supplies

[nia]

What's coke bottle target? Since the sun needs to be in a protected place, wouldn't it help fashion a little cave, & position it in there? I would think that would keep whatever you're feeding a little confined a bit , so all the polyps could feed. A couple of serpent stars & some cleaner shrimp would take care of the excess. Off the subject, what kind of parrot do you have? I have African Grey & Citron Cockatoo(also have 2 Arabs, one starting to jump).

[beckalexis]

The sun is in a cave already...

I have a quaker parrot and 3 horses (two TBs and one TB/WB cross) two of them are retired and I ride them for pleasure.. the other one does hunters and equitation with me (no jumpers yet)

[EricHugo]

They do not need to be in a "cave" and it is not necessary (although it is desirable) to feed every polyp - they are intereconnected, though not highly interconnected.

[nia]

The topic of debate here was best way to feed suns. My "build it a cave theory" (just meant a little semi-circular rock area) was to try to help contain spot targeted food in a semi-contained area a little longer, so the polyps could have a chance to feed before it all drifted off. Positioning under a ledge would even help a little & turning off pumps for a feed cycle. And suns need to be protected from strong light don't they? I am NOT saying that you implied so, but I've never heard it suggested that a sun should be put anywhere unprotected with halides running. I would assume that means it has to be under at least a bit of overhang. I'm far from expert, but do try to read up on everything I can to do the best by whatever animal I'm trying to keep. I try to make sense of things by logic & reasoning out what info there is. I'm sure a good deal of the time it is flawed, & I appreciate being corrected. One cannot continue to learn without venturing opinions or asking questions, & I am not afraid to do so. The more I learn, the more I find out I don't know, so it's a never-ending process.

[polymorphus]

Both my red and yellow Sun Corals are right smack dab in the middle of the tank under 2x 250w Halides. These guys dont care what kinda light you throw them in (of course proper acclimation as with any coral is recomended). Flow is a much more important factor IMO. Here is a pic you decide if they need to be under a cave :-D
http://www.phatkids.net/redandyeller.jpg

[nia]

How long have you had them, & how do you feed them? Curious, as all my references say they are naturally found in shaded areas.
Well, in the early 60's all the books said it was difficult to breed freshwater angels too(at least the ones I had access to). I was just a kid, & I had a pair start to breed in a 10 gal tank. I used straight tap water(we had a well), & rarely did water changes, & used no additives(who knew about that in those days?), & I didn't have a clue about testing for anything. Moved the pair into a 30, & raised several batches of babies. I did collect fresh daphnia for them from vernal ponds near where I lived at the time, & had a brine shrimp farm going. Might have been a factor. Always exceptions out there for just about everything.

[nia]

Got a little off the track there, the maint point of this thread is HOW BEST TO FEED THEM.

[nia]

Got a little off the track there. Main point of this thread is HOW BEST TO FEED THEM. So, let us know what your feeding methods are. Your suns are magnificent.

[nia]

sorry, computer operator induced glitch, didn't mean to double-post

[polymorphus]

Feed every polyp possible wth meaty foods 2-3-4 times a week.

And you will have a very happy suncoral. These things are not hard to take care of they just need the aquarist taking care of them to be consistant.

[nia]

What type of dispensing equipment do you use? Turkey baster, or something more sophisticated? I had one first year I started reef, & I target fed as many polyps as I could with a pipette dropper I made. Had a nice chili coral too. Lost them & most of my good stuff during heat wave before I was able to get a chiller. Don't know if I would have been successful in the long run or not. So far I haven't mustered up the courage to try again. Nothing worse than to see a treasured animal fail. And they ALL are treasures.

[Medaka]

I have my sun polyps about 12 inches directly below a 150hqi and I use a turkey baster to squirt a bunch of food at them such as mysis, cyclop-eeze or whatever I'm feeding at the time.

Oh yeah, I turn off or turn down the flow in the tank so the food doesn't blow all over the place.

Nice and simple :p

[EricHugo]

Nia, don't get so fired up.

Here's the deal. Most Tubastraea are common under ledges and in caves because that's where they don't get outcompeted. They don't grow fast, and they don't grow big, so generally they would be overgrown or overtopped by other corals. But, I have a really cool photo of a Tubastraea on an anchor chain in The virgin Islands in about two feet of water. Out in the Gulf, Tubastrea are among the most common corals growing on oil platforms in crystal clear oceanic water in full sun. T. micranthus only grows out in the open among other reef corals where there is strong current. My book says that they do not need to be placed in shaded conditions, too.

In fact, most of the Tubastraea that do really well in tanks that I have seen are in the open where they get currents that bring them food...putting them in recessed positions actually limits the food availability to the colony, especially the polyps towards the back of the recessed area.

[polymorphus]

Exactly feed them and make sure they are in good flow and more than likely your gonna have a happy healthy sun coral.

[beckalexis]

mine is under a "cave"/"arch... and has an indirect flow going towards it....the other night I fed each polyp (around 15-20) individually mysis shrimp. I suspect i will do this about 3 times a week. It only took me about a half hour with a turkeybaster and no flow. Its was only hard getting food to the new/really small polyps that are appearing. The rest of the week it should pick up stray cyclop-eeze/DTs/mysis that I feed to my fish and the rest of the tank.

thank you everyone for you thoughts and advice