Sweeper Tenticles

[Demm]

hey all,

i just got a torch coral, i know that it has sweeper tenticles. while they might not be big and it has plenty of room i have a question. onc ei get more corals that have sweepers, whats gonna happen to the fish at night? if the fish swim into them wont they get hurt? or will they learn to go around them or something? i tried to search the forums for an answer but i didnt find nothing

 

[Lynden]

I don't claim to know much about this topic but I am pretty sure that sweeper tentacles are built for warfare and perhaps for catching plankton to eat, and I would imagine they would not be able to catch and hold onto a fish let alone kill it and eat it. I have never heard of a problem such as the hypothetical one you have thought of so I would say you have nothing to worry about.

 

[Musho3210]

dont expect stingers, my lps never have stinger tentacles out, except my brain coral which extends 2mm once a week, at that time i feed.....

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, Torch corals themselves do not have specific tentacles used for sweepers. What they do is take one of their normal tentacles and thin it/extend it out very long. Anything it touches will be grabbed/digested/attacked on the spot.

Live fish are rarely the victim of corals with sweeper tentacles for two reasons. First, the fish is usually able to pull away from the grip of the tentacle. And second, corals usually only extend sweepers at night, when most fish have hunkered down for bed anyways and aren't blundering around into coral sweepers. Corals will however eat dead fish via sweeper tentacles, especially larger LPS... I've watched a Cynarina literally consume a dead percula clownfish at my LFS. Quite the site to see.

Coral sweeper tentacles are more used for coral-coral warfare. And just because you haven't seen them doing it, doesnt necessarily mean they're not doing it... Sweeper action can be quick, but the results are usually the death or "burning" of one of the two combatants. Can be realy nasty.

 

[Demm]

ahh ok that makes me feel better, i didnt wanna wake up to floating fish lol. thanks for the info!