Nursing Sun Corals

[chrissaysyes]

I think my sun coral is on it's last leg. The frag never opened up...or even came close really. I fed it chopped mysis atleast every other day if not every day. Sometimes at night, sometimes during the day. By "fed" I mean I layed mysis on the mouths as the polyps never opened so nothing ever pulled anything in. Trying to feed it in a bowl now and nothing is happening really...the hollow looking mouths seem to have a little yellow tube that's trying to come out from the inside but not much. Lastnight I caught my big hermit stealing food from it. Im going to move him into the refugium in the next couple of days. What else to do?

 

[Lynden]

The best way to persuade them to feed is to place them in a bowl and flood it with tons of food. Hopefully they will open and take some; this usually works.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Do these still look alive?

 

[RadaR]

The best way to persuade them to feed is to place them in a bowl and flood it with tons of food. Hopefully they will open and take some; this usually works.

Ofcourse one has to be careful so not to pollute the water?

 

[chrissaysyes]

Theyre not going to be in the bowl long enough to pollute the water. I've tried this method before, but not until recently. That's actually what's going on in the pics. They just dont seem to be taking hold of the food as there are no tentacles. They do "change" though so I'll keep trying.

 

[Musho3210]

doesnt seem like there is enough food... Try like an actual whole cube of mysis or something.

 

[Lynden]

Yeah, put in TONS of food... and maybe some garlic too. You know, "stinky" foods.

 

[chrissaysyes]

Ahh I was going to ask that, didnt know whether garlic had an affect on corals appetites as well. Sweet, I'll try again once the sun goes down and they come out a bit.

 

[DarrenUnwin]

Hi ,

How long have you had the coral?

I purchased my first sun coral 3 months ago and for the first two weeks I had no joy feeding it using a bowl and mysis, brine shrimp etc. Then I found the secret was to ensure you tried to feed it at exactly the same time each night. Now I have a beautiful sun coral that opens up its feeding tentacles around 08:45 each night whether I feed it or not. I feed it every other night and seems to be happy and producing little off shoots.

Just for reference if you were to have one of the head die on you, you can tell be squirting normal tank water at it through a syringe. If it disintegrates then it is dead or just about dead, a healthy head will just remain as is and possibly close slightly. I know this as I lost one of the heads in that first two week window.

Hope everything goes alright as once you get it feeding there will be no looking back, its my favourite thing in the tank (at the moment)

Daz

 

[chrissaysyes]

Thanks a lot man! Good info. None of my heads are dead, and after feeding twice yesterday, the mouths are bright yellow and kind of look to be gagging on yellow tentacles (very small). I'm taking this as a good sign. If color is any indication then theyre doing much better. I think bowl feeding must be the key here. Also, I had just read the other day that they should be fed around the same time so I'll try and keep that cycle going. I also just moved them out from the rock they were on and to the underside of a ledge. They were in the shade before but now theyre totally blocked off from the light. Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

[chrissaysyes]

Make sure to check the before pic at the top of this thread

Ok so....I took an old sports drink bottle, cut the bottom off, drilled a hole in the top, slid some air line tube into the hole, then took a rubber band and attached some rocks to the sides for weight. Finished results:

 

[Musho3210]

its not always like that right? Because they do like some flow.

 

[chrissaysyes]

heh I'm not leaving that big goofy contraption in my tank It looks like a ghetto version of one of those breast milk pump devices. It's only for feeding.

 

[SkiFletch]

Nice solution to a problem, I like the ingenuity . Looks like you're starting to get some PE there in that last pic

 

[steelhealr]

I've kept sun corals and will never keep them again. They are wonderful for the first few weeks but then become a pain to take care of unless you are willing to feed them constantly. They love to eat. Each head must be fed. After initializing a regular feeding pattern, they will actually being to open up daily...typically after lights out since the don't prefer bright light.

The key isn't just dumping them in a bowl with food, but, INCREASING the flow rate. These animals are typically found at the underside of cave openings where there is very high flow. They require this for food to be swept into their tentacles.

I have some great pix of them and fond memories, but, I also remember wet arms, dripping salt all over the place and rising nitrates from constantly having to feed them. SH