Sun coral (Tubastraea faulkneri)
- Thread starter Bojangles
- Start date
Those open up at night. When they open they'll need to be target fed some mysis or cyclopeeze. Best method seems to be a clean soda bottle with the top cut off. Put it over the coral and squirt the food into the bottle.
They can be coaxed into opening during the day if you offer food just before the lights come on and then gradually adjust so that feeding time is when the lights come on.
They can be coaxed into opening during the day if you offer food just before the lights come on and then gradually adjust so that feeding time is when the lights come on.
You can train these to open when you want them to by adding food into the water, and "teaching" the coral to open to get fed. Use the juice from frozen foods, preferably something "smelly" like squid. I've had great results with DTs oyster eggs, they really seem to excite the corals to feed.
Take a large diameter syringe, turkey baster or "ear bulb" cleaning tool sold at the drug store. Gently squirt the juice and kind of let it drift over and past the colony. It takes a few minutes to a half hour (in the the beginning) for the coral to open up. If it does, feed it. If it doesn't, try again the next day at whatever time you want the coral to open. Doesn't take very long at all before they recognize feeding time.
Let us know how its going.
Take a large diameter syringe, turkey baster or "ear bulb" cleaning tool sold at the drug store. Gently squirt the juice and kind of let it drift over and past the colony. It takes a few minutes to a half hour (in the the beginning) for the coral to open up. If it does, feed it. If it doesn't, try again the next day at whatever time you want the coral to open. Doesn't take very long at all before they recognize feeding time.
Let us know how its going.
Took almost 2 weeks but I finally found them opened up when I got home 10pm tonight. I target fed bioplankton (cyclopeze) with a sirrenge. He seemed to take it in but I think I'm going to try and find something else to feed.
Anything I can just release into the water during the day and let them feed at night? My schedule is up and down so often that I'm not sure when I'll get off in the pm.
Thanks
Anything I can just release into the water during the day and let them feed at night? My schedule is up and down so often that I'm not sure when I'll get off in the pm.
Thanks
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If the coral is small enough, cut the top off a clean 2 liter pop bottle and use it with the syringe as a 'feeding bell'-stick the syringe into the top opening of the cur off bottle. That keeps the food from blowing all over, and you can suck any uneaten stuff back up into the syringe when you are done.
You can't really just leave the food in the water unfortunately, as it tends to simply get consumed by the other tank inhabitants or removed by skimmers/other filtration before the sun polyps can get at it.
In the wild, from what I understand, they feed on the waves of plankton that rise toward the surface once the sun has set. The volume and consistency of this flow are near impossible to replicate in a normal reef aquarium without serious pollution issues. Hence the target feeding.
The sort of flow we have in a our aquariums (rather random and fast) also makes it difficult for them to feed. If I'm right, I think in the wild the currents they feed from would be far vaster (and more powerful in that sense), but also linear and slower (??).
Happy to be contradicted on any of the above....
In the wild, from what I understand, they feed on the waves of plankton that rise toward the surface once the sun has set. The volume and consistency of this flow are near impossible to replicate in a normal reef aquarium without serious pollution issues. Hence the target feeding.
The sort of flow we have in a our aquariums (rather random and fast) also makes it difficult for them to feed. If I'm right, I think in the wild the currents they feed from would be far vaster (and more powerful in that sense), but also linear and slower (??).
Happy to be contradicted on any of the above....
The way I've been doing it is easier but also pollutes the tank more.
I've been making a water/bio plankton mix and using an insulin syrenge to target feed. I think I may need to move it higher in the tank though because its hard to see where I'm squirting when its 25" down.
I've been making a water/bio plankton mix and using an insulin syrenge to target feed. I think I may need to move it higher in the tank though because its hard to see where I'm squirting when its 25" down.
burntom":1lccip8y said:
:lol: years of paramedic work many years ago. You should see me use a 16 gauge needle to start an IV while bouncing in the back of an ambulance going 55 down a dirt road. Seriously though, I use the big bore irrigation syringes which works verywell. The biggest problem is making sure the fish and other critters are fed first as they have learned to steal from the coral. Cleaner shrimp are great for that.
burntom":2k4h2vds said:You could also use a turkey baster Bojangles. These are somewhat easier (and cheaper I'd imagine) to come across than syringes. Some of them are also pretty long, making it rather easier to reach the coral.
Lawdawg,
You're quite a woman, you know that?
wow....thanks burntom!
Your local veterinarian would have those syringes if you are interested.
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