Got a Sun Coral - advice

[Playdope]

Brought a Sun Coral home today, and I had a few questions.....

When can I expect it to first come out?

Is it alright that some of the polyps are covered? I'm guessing those couple of polyps will die off, but will the coral as a whole be alright?

I tried feeding some mysis with the bottle method... about an hour after the coral was in the tank, and it didn't open up at all...

Should I be waiting untill it is dark to feed?

I was rustling the mysis around with a baster, so there was a nice cloud of the stuff in the capsule around the coral, but I guess its too freaked out to open up right now.

When should I try feeding next (time of day + how long from now)?

Thanks!

[Playdope]

bump please :rollface:

[tanker]

I had a sun coral once, #@$#@$#^ to keep it fed and happy.

It will open during days or night depending on food. Try fooling it with some brine-srimp juice or mysis juice (the juice from the frozen cube). I stop all PH and water flow or take out of tank and squirk some juice ontoit, and it soon opens. Then I feed each polyp. Was a pain but it was so beautiful when open.
Good Luck. :)

[supertech3]

I feed mine with a baster, if the polyps are not open just squirt a small amount of brine shrimp to encourage it to open, do not panick if it does not open for a day it may take some time to settle in your tank. My suggestion is when it does open feed it with some small pieces of shrimp uncooked and deshelled by you this makes me feel like they are not starving.

[RamPuppy]

I am wondering if people with large fuges have success with allowing the coral to feed itself.

[Tasher80]

What do you mean some of the polyps are covered?? When I feed I mix some bio plankton by liquid life and some cyclopeeze in a glass. Squirt some on the sun coral to tease it then leave it alone for about 30 mintutes. Usually when I come back I shoot the rest at it. If the polyps dont open I just empty the stuff into the water. It will open up eventually and take it out of the water. I have mixed a little mysis in there too but only a few times. My sun coral has been doing great.
www.imageevent.com/tasher80/
I used to use the bottle method but then they got too big for a 3 liter bottle so I just use a turkey baster.

[Playdope]

When I say "some of the polyps are covered"... I mean some of them are facing towards the substrate, and are nearly touching the substrate - so I wonder how they will open up and be able to feed??

[tgfrench]

Just keep feeding at the same time of day for a couple of days, Give it a tease blast then another feeding about 10 - 15 minutes later. I will eventually open to feed regularly. I ususally let the excess also be the feeding for my fish and shrimp and lps also. Squirting some around in different positions in the tank will help keep the fish and shrimp from picking at the sun which will prevent it from opening.

[SteveC56]

Feeding at the same time is key. your sun coral will soon learn to open around the same time everyday. Feed your fish, and the food will trigger the sun to open, then use a turkey baster or something like that to feed them a mix of foods (reef1, mysis, brine, and most other meaty foods). If you feed them everyday you won't have to worry about feeding all the little heads everytime. Cut your flow as much as possible for a few minutes until you don't see anymore food in the sun coral.

I have three sun coral that are doing well, but I got this advice from someone (can't remember their handle) who had the best looking sun coral I have ever seen. Even had red which was very cool.

[Playdope]

Sounds good, I'll feed it everynight around 9:00. Like I said, some of the polyps are somewhat nosed into the substrate, and it's my guess they won't be able to feed and open that way... should the rest of the coral be fine?

How is the growth rate on Sun Corals if properly fed? Do they grow out in a mat?

[makoJ]

An easier way than the bottle: Get a large bowl, fill it with your tank water, put the sun corals in it and swirl with food. do this every night unitl they open up. After they start opening up almost instantaneously at the smell of food in the bowl then move onto spot feeding in the tank. Feed your fish and then by the time your done your sun corals will be out and ready.

[Mmaggicc2]

Hi, I've had mine for a about a year. It is a yellow sun coral but has some orange polyps also. I used to feed it every day with a turkey baster but now feed the tank cyclopeeze twice everyday and target feed with some Hykari brine shrimp about every 3rd day.
I also find, like Tasher80 that the coral opens up about 15-30 min. after I first feed the tank. It took mine about a week to acclimate enough to open frequently.
I find this coral very easy to care for. Mine started expanding by producing babies on the sides of the larger polyps. About 3 months ago, I started noticing about a dozen babies on the live rock. He's a picture of a few of them.
[url=http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/518/20613Feb_2005_Baby_Tubastrea__Custom_-thumb.jpg]

[Mmaggicc2]

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/518/20613Feb_2005_Baby_Tubastrea__Custom_.jpg

[Playdope]

Alright, well I tried feeding again tonight, and I saw the polyps partially come out. They didn't look like they were fully out like in the pics you guys posted above, but I saw some of them. Is it normally for this to occur at first? It grabbed some of the mysis I fed.

[Tasher80]

It will extend fully when its hungry. I just keep trying to feed it and it will extend fully. It might even be extending after lights out when you arent' watching the tank and eating whatever leftovers there is.

[kenny77]

i feed mine almost whe the light is about to turn off. that whe he open completly. i dont feed him daily . maybe 3-4 day a week but i try to feed every single polyp wich is a PITA since i have 2 shrimp and a bucnh od hermit crabs that craw below the buttle to take some food.

orange and yellow are very easy to keep. black ones for some reason they die easier. i do have some black polyps and they are spreading but they dont open as much as the orange one

[Playdope]

Yeh, it bugs me seeing the shrimp + emerald crabs trying to get under the bottle to steal the food. I notice they poke around inside the polyps to try to pick the mysis out. Can this do harm to coral? I'd to get it feeding in the tank, without having to take it out, but those stupid pigs keep getting in the way. I don't even have fish yet.

[April540]

I bought mine about 2 weeks ago, They never said anything abouyt the special feedings, only that they would only come out at night to feed! Thanks for all of the info, I had a blast taking him out to feed him in a bowl, I was soooo shocked. It was like hand feeding baby birds, He stays swollen but the polyps dont come out in the tank, I guess he will eventually, right?

[jharvey]

I've had mine for a while and it still hasn't opened all the way.

I use a bottle and feed mysis, cyclop-eze and phyto hopping that it will learn to open every evening.

[Playdope]

Mine have fully opened now... I guess they are happy with feedings every other day. I am annoyed with the shrimps and emerald crabs stealing their food. Does anyone know how long it takes these to digest the food they eat? That way, I could leave the bottle over it for however long it needs to finish the food.

The shrimp and crabs literally dig into the polyps and pull out the food. The crabs are clumpsy too and they look like they could be a threat to the polyp tissue.

[RamPuppy]

Playdope,

i have heard of people having this problem before. I think the solution (sadly) was feeding the shrimp and crabs before feeding the coral, and thus satiating them long enough to let the sun coral do it's thing.

[melev]

Jon, one night I forgot to remove the feeding dome, and it took the coral three days to recover fully. I'm sure it was oxygen depravation, as it sat in a soup of nutrient laden water for about 8 hours. Circulation wasn't possible with only a small opening at the top. It looked faded.

After I've fed my coral 3 times in 15 minutes, I leave the dome on for another 30 minutes. Once I remove the dome, enough food tend to blow around in the tank that the livestock chases that instead of bothering my suncoral.

[Playdope]

Sigh, mine rush right over to the sun coral to dig for gold the moment I remove the cup. They associate it with food now. :(

[BradL.]

How big will the suncoral get? Will it cover a large piece of live rock?Ive only seen them about the size of a hardball or so.

[mommaaj]

Lot of good information. We bought one this weekend. We did the bottle thing last night. Some of them opened up others did not. It is rather large. I think we did more harm to it trying to get the bottle over it. I think we shocked it. I think tonight we will try to use a turkey baster. Can anyone give us some advice on where is it in their tank. Ours is on the bottom. I heard they like it dark. Is it going to hurt it to be in the lights? Thanks

[melev]

Mine is directly in the light on the sandbed. However, if it sits on the sand, it can settle in and kill the bottom polyps once submerged in the grains. So I place mine on top of a small flat rock to keep it just above the sand.

Lighting doesn't affect it at all, with mine. It stays closed until the lights turn off each night. It is then open all night long.

If the 2-liter bottle is too small to fit around your coral, try a 3-liter bottle or something similar. Try not to touch the coral with the feeding dome.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0604/suncoral.html

I've had mine for 8 months now. Very cool coral, and not nearly as much work as I'd originally expected.

[Micki]

melev, my sun coral frequently opens up during the day. Does that mean it's hungry?

[melev]

I couldn't say. If you can feed it then, you might be able to easily train it to open up all day long instead. Since my fish are so voracious, I let it open at night when they sleep.

It would be nice to get mine open when the lights are on. Maybe I should go for it.

[Micki]

Mine is frequently open when I come home from work in the mid to late afternoon.

I would say GO FOR IT!!!

[Playdope]

It's unbelieveable how these guys will open up the same time everyday if you feed at the same time. Mine have been open all night, and they seem to open up periodically through the day, and then feeding time 9pm=> the next day when the lights come on.

[Playdope]

BTW- I have found a baster is working best. Still my only dilema is the food theives. Even if I keep the coral covered with the bottle for about an hour.. right when I remove it, they go for it.

It may be time to chuck the pepperment shrimp and emerald crabs. It just frustrates the hell out of me seeing them do that. It's like watching a fat kid eat a cupcake. (btw- no offese should be taken, I used to be a fat kid :))

[tgfrench]

They are non-photosynthetic you can put them nearer the top for easier feeding. I wouldn't throw it right up under a metal halide either.

[Dread Ventura]

I have a large yellow collonie and two small black suncorals. I had the two black in my refugium( when i got them they were in bad shape) and they did very well... a week or so, i placed them into my main tank and i can see there not doing as good... im wondering if it is ok to leave them in my refugium?..or will they eat to much of my cridders?:confused:

[Micki]

will your cun coral eat your critters? Is this what you are asking? If so, they won't eat any critters that I'm aware of.