i just recently purchased a bunch of new corals, and among the group was a sun croal. all of the corals are opening up and doing great but the sun coral is not opening up and hasnt for two days. i have it near the top of the tank, under four 6' VHO bulbs (2 super actinics, 2 aquasun). what gives?
HELP - shy sun coral
- Thread starter gr_reefer
- Start date
A-ha, you didn't do your homework didn't you?
Sun coral are non-photosynthetic, and are mostly kept in shades. Lighting is not important. Most usually only opens up when the lights are out, especially when introduced into the tank. The coral prefer medium current and has to be fed small meaty food chunks often. Each polyp has to be hand fed individually.
A very hard to care for specie especially for novice.
My suggestion is to return it to the store as most don't make it into 3rd week.
Sun coral are non-photosynthetic, and are mostly kept in shades. Lighting is not important. Most usually only opens up when the lights are out, especially when introduced into the tank. The coral prefer medium current and has to be fed small meaty food chunks often. Each polyp has to be hand fed individually.
A very hard to care for specie especially for novice.
My suggestion is to return it to the store as most don't make it into 3rd week.
Take the coral out of the water and out it into a container with tank water and add some food. Agitate the water a few times until the polyps begin opening. Do this for a couple of days until the coral is trained to open. Place it in the tank where it is easily accessible and blast it with food every few days. Either that or search for the soda bottle method for feeding this coral. Give it a shot.
Dhippo-- Dont you think it is worthwhile to help out instead of sending him back to the store which obviously didnt give him the right info in the first place?? At least now we have a chance to help. That is the purpose of these boards. This species is not very hard to care for, but unlike other corals, does require some care.
Dhippo-- Dont you think it is worthwhile to help out instead of sending him back to the store which obviously didnt give him the right info in the first place?? At least now we have a chance to help. That is the purpose of these boards. This species is not very hard to care for, but unlike other corals, does require some care.
Great discussion.
Tell me about the BEST:
* food
* way to deliver food (baster? tongs?)
* coke bottle method?
Sun corals have fantastic coloration. I am very curious as I want to keep them some day but understand they're a little tougher than mushrooms (to say the least).
Thanks for the word -
Tell me about the BEST:
* food
* way to deliver food (baster? tongs?)
* coke bottle method?
Sun corals have fantastic coloration. I am very curious as I want to keep them some day but understand they're a little tougher than mushrooms (to say the least).
Thanks for the word -
This info is based on my experiences of keeping black and orange Tubastrea for 4+ years. See : http://72gallonbf.homestead.com/
I like using frozen homemade foods to feed this coral. Any small "meaty" food will suffice. The absolute best method for feeding, other than taking the coral out of the tank each time, is to place this coral on the sand. Take a 2 liter soda bottle and cut out the bottom. Place this over the coral, with the neck pointing up (cap off of course). Fill your baster with food and blast it into the soda bottle. This way, no other critters can steal the food, and you can keep the soda bottle in as long as the coral is feeding. Just keep on agitating with the baster to keep the food in suspension.This was not me idea, so I cant take credit for it.
I do not feed mine this way. About every 3 days, I just blast them with food. I do not take the time to "feed every single polyp" as many will suggest. Law of averages indicate most will get fed. Mine has popped babies all over the place, and will settle in whre they can receive food. Hope this helps.
Ken
I like using frozen homemade foods to feed this coral. Any small "meaty" food will suffice. The absolute best method for feeding, other than taking the coral out of the tank each time, is to place this coral on the sand. Take a 2 liter soda bottle and cut out the bottom. Place this over the coral, with the neck pointing up (cap off of course). Fill your baster with food and blast it into the soda bottle. This way, no other critters can steal the food, and you can keep the soda bottle in as long as the coral is feeding. Just keep on agitating with the baster to keep the food in suspension.This was not me idea, so I cant take credit for it.
I do not feed mine this way. About every 3 days, I just blast them with food. I do not take the time to "feed every single polyp" as many will suggest. Law of averages indicate most will get fed. Mine has popped babies all over the place, and will settle in whre they can receive food. Hope this helps.
Ken
I just read Cakepro's thread about the feeding hat - WHAT A GREAT IDEA! Thanks for sharing the idea. I have had a black and an orange sun coral for about a year and have been feeding them every night . .. I have a feeling that this will help with the problem of overfeeding the tank - just to make sure that the sun corals get enough. Every now and then I get a cyano outbreak from overfeeding . . . . but both of the corals have doubled in size over the past year. They are my favorite corals.
Thanks for the tip - This Board is great!
Sea Serpent
Thanks for the tip - This Board is great!
Sea Serpent
I got some new corals last night! (shipped in)
1 strawberry coral (scleronephthya)
1 pink tip ( heliofungia actformia)
2 sponges
1 gorgonian
I've read all about them and tried to place them in the spot where I think they may do best. The strawberry coral's are sometimes pictured in the books hanging upside down? does anyone hang theirs upside down?
any tips are greatly appreciated.
Pics are posted!
1 strawberry coral (scleronephthya)
1 pink tip ( heliofungia actformia)
2 sponges
1 gorgonian
I've read all about them and tried to place them in the spot where I think they may do best. The strawberry coral's are sometimes pictured in the books hanging upside down? does anyone hang theirs upside down?
any tips are greatly appreciated.
Pics are posted!
I rescued a dying sun coral from my lfs some time ago and it didn't want to open up for about 3 months, but when it did, it became one of my most prized corals! I believe that you really need to be persistent and patient with them. I feed mine once a week (should feed more, but I'm lazy 
) by taking it out of the tank and putting it in a bowl of tank water to feed. This way I can just spray food all over it without worrying about polluting my water or having my shrimp and hermits crawl all over the coral and steal the food right out of their mouths! I wait until the polyps have completely eaten their fill before I put it back in the tank.
My method is as follows:
Put coral in bowl of tank water.
Put food in feeding syringe and spray over each polyp.
Feed again once polyps have "sucked up" food.
Repeat several times.
Return coral to tank by quickly shaking off leftover food in bowl and then quickly lifting coral out of bowl and back into tank.
I feed mine a combination of Hikari frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp.
As stated, they are not photosynthetic so light means nothing to them. In fact, too much light can cause nuisance algae to grow on any exposed skeleton and can irritate the polyps. Mine lives in a 10gal nano lit with only a single 15w NO actinic strip. I've put them in bright lighting before and found that there was no preference between bright or subdued lighting.
Good luck with your new sun coral! Once they get going, they are very nice
) by taking it out of the tank and putting it in a bowl of tank water to feed. This way I can just spray food all over it without worrying about polluting my water or having my shrimp and hermits crawl all over the coral and steal the food right out of their mouths! I wait until the polyps have completely eaten their fill before I put it back in the tank. My method is as follows:
Put coral in bowl of tank water.
Put food in feeding syringe and spray over each polyp.
Feed again once polyps have "sucked up" food.
Repeat several times.
Return coral to tank by quickly shaking off leftover food in bowl and then quickly lifting coral out of bowl and back into tank.
I feed mine a combination of Hikari frozen brine shrimp and mysis shrimp.
As stated, they are not photosynthetic so light means nothing to them. In fact, too much light can cause nuisance algae to grow on any exposed skeleton and can irritate the polyps. Mine lives in a 10gal nano lit with only a single 15w NO actinic strip. I've put them in bright lighting before and found that there was no preference between bright or subdued lighting.
Good luck with your new sun coral! Once they get going, they are very nice
danmhippo":f20i0kuc said:
IMO sun corals are not necessarily hard to keep in that they are hard to keep alive, but they are hard to keep in that they are alot of work. I've found that many novices just don't have the patience to feed each individual polyp on a regular basis while making sure not to pollute the tank water with too much food!
I agree though, if you don't think that you have the time or patience to keep a sun coral healthy, I'd also recommend returning it to the store.
I have had mine for about 6 months or so and I rescued it from a LFS. It is thriving now and is a great coral. I don't feed each individual polyp either. I use both the trukey baster method and the 2 litre hat method. I used silicon to glue some air tubing through a hole I drilled in the cap of a 2 litre and then connect the air tubing to the turkey baster. I asked a while back on here if it mattered if each polyp was fed, and after some very informative people showed, they usually share a stomach and nutrients. Therefore it doesn't matter if each individual polyp gets food. However I do my best to ensure that the majority of the corals gets food. I feed a homemade batch every other day of shrimp, mussles, selcon, algae sheets, and cyclopeeze. It went from all but dead to full huge gorgeous expansion in a few weeks and is now open nightly for business lol. They just need a little extra attention. Great corals and very easy to take care of. Just have to invest the time. I keep mine in a little overhang/cave. No direct MH lighting for mine.
I'm still not buying this business about Tubastraea sharing a stomach or sharing nutrients with other polyps in any meaningful amount. If a polyp isn't getting fed in the location it's in it makes no sense for a healthy polyp to devote energy to it.
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... ight=polyp
http://reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t ... ight=polyp
I suppose Eric could have been more vague in his response....
Does this mean they share a stomach? I doubt it. Just looking at the skeleton makes me doubt such a thing is even possible. Does this mean the tissue on the surface transfers nutrients in some meaningful way? If so, we're talking about a circulatory system that corals simply don't possess.
EricHugo":zc0686i8 said:
Does this mean they share a stomach? I doubt it. Just looking at the skeleton makes me doubt such a thing is even possible. Does this mean the tissue on the surface transfers nutrients in some meaningful way? If so, we're talking about a circulatory system that corals simply don't possess.
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