Can I feed Open Brain solid food?

[KCReefer]

Not only can I but should I? In addition to the zoo and phytoplankton I feed my new corals, I give my plate coral a small piece of shrimp once a week. It appears the brain coral would also accept a piece but I'm not sure if I should give it or just stick to the very small stuff.

[VaderWS6]

Yup. He'll appreciate you for it. :)

[Duce]

I give mine whole krill from time to time

[gcvt]

Indeed - your open brain would thank you for a nice chunk of shrimp, krill, etc.

[KCReefer]

Wasn't sure. However, it looks like it's begging all the time. I'll try it tonight.

[technoshaman]

Yeah I feed most of my LPS at least once a week - only thing is dont make the pieces too big or they can't digest it easily and may regurgitate it instead.

I regularlly feed my trachyphyllia, lobopyhllia, fungia , caulastrea corals like this.

[gcvt]

Also, if you have shrimp in your tank, you may want to keep an eye on the when you feed the brain. My cleaner shrimp and fire shrimp seem to make a hobby of stealing food from my open brain and they're quite good at it http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/images/graemlins/naughty.gif

[niko5]

How do you feed a brain coral? It doesent seem to be able to take anything with the lights are on... now i have seen it witn tenticals out at night... do i just wait until night to feed?

[James56]

You need to feed it when the tenticals are out. I heard some people can train their brains t opend during the day but I don't know how to do that. The tenticals are sticky and will hold onto the food. Turn some power heads off so the food does not blow away. Just rest some food ontop of the tenticals. That it all I do and it eats a lot

[niko5]

so by some food... should i put like a half a chunk of frozin brine shrimp on it or just hold them over it so some shrimp fall into the tenticals?

[James56]

I thaw the food before so that there is no chance that anything that is even a little frozen gets eaten. What I do is use a turkey baster and fill it up with some small mysid shrimp or cylop-eeze and softly baste the brain.

[niko5]

cool great idea. Would the Mysid be better than Brine?

Thanks

[James56]

I think mysid is way more nutritional the brine. Even enriched brine is mostly water. You can feed raw shrimp all cut up from the store and scallops to. I like cylop-eeze the most.

[LOTUS50GOD]

mine feeds during the day. I put a piece of krill on a skewer, and wait for him to take it.

[niko5]

Lotus50god, IV got some pink frozen stuff that says its Krill and when unfrozen is kinda a pink squishy lump ... is that the krill u use? And you just drop it on the brian?

[s13silvia]

i feed mine a few pieces of krill maybe 1-2 times a week. it looks so happy when it is eating because it balloons up and looks like a big smile. :D

[KCReefer]

At the same time I thaw out my standard coral food mix, I throw in a small piece of shrimp or oyster. It should be a small piece. I add a couple drops of vitamin to the liquid it thaws in. I stopped using a skewer for fear of sticking one of my corals. Instead, I found a two foot long tool with a plastic claw on the end. Works like fingers. You can move the end by pushing on a button on the top. I just grasp a piece of food with the claw and put it on the coral, release and then keep my cleaner shrimp occupied with another small piece until the coral gets it. It costs about $8 at the LFS. I can also use it to retrieve items off the bottom.

[picture the reef]

KCreefer, What is the brand and name of that tool. Looks just like what I have been looking for.:)

[sjdyer]

I have tried to feed my green brain krill at night but he just closes up. Is i possible that it is to small to feed on large food yet?
He is about 3" or so across.

[gcvt]

Originally posted by picture the reef
KCreefer, What is the brand and name of that tool. Looks just like what I have been looking for.:)

I think those are the "Penn Plax Claws"...*Link* (http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19673;category_id=1617;pcid1=1537;pcid2=)

I had a set of those for a while but they broke on me so I got some Aqua Tongs (http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=19665;category_id=1617;pcid1=1537;pcid2=)

[Nemesis911]

We regularly use the Penn Plax one and lovingly refer to it as the claw - as in "Honey, get the claw, a hermit crab just tumbled into the anemone". We use it feed our LPS and the only way we can get the ribbon eel to eat is if he sees his friend, the bright orange claw coming to bring him silversides.

They are somewhat cheaply made and we go through a couple a year, but at $7.00 a pop, it's well worth it. You can find them at your local Petland Discounts store.

Oh - and yes we feed our open brain small pieces of silverside. We had to make a feeding hat to keep the food from being stolen while it eats.

Mike V. <><

[KCReefer]

Originally posted by picture the reef
KCreefer, What is the brand and name of that tool. Looks just like what I have been looking for.:)

It is made by Penn Plax. Looks like I paid double what I could have bought it for on the net. Oh well.

[Rendos]

I don't have any pics of my open brain eating, but attached are pics of my scolymia eating. my open brain eats the same way. I feed it 1/2 of a silverside every week.
Red scolymia
http://fishman.smugmug.com/photos/1375924-M.jpg
http://fishman.smugmug.com/photos/1375932-M.jpg
Green scolymia
http://fishman.smugmug.com/photos/1375929-M-1.jpg
http://fishman.smugmug.com/photos/1375930-M.jpg

[niko5]

pikey, thats some great shots :)

I got my brain to eat some krill last night.. jsut attached a piece of ridgid tube to a syringe and squirted soem krill into the center and he closed up around the tube and well he either ait it or waited untill i was gone and spit it out.

So do you guys just drop a whole silverside on it or do you chop it up?