the sunny contradiction

[crystalz]

I've recently aquired a sun coral. beautiful colour... but. seems it won't open until the lights in my tank are out no matter where i move it. I was just wondering if anyone else who owns or has owned this type of coral has any care tips. I've been told that each polyp must be fed individually. I have a hard time believing that in the wild food just hops into this coral and waits for it to eat it but maybe thats the case. Any tips or knowledge would be great.

[Der_Iron_Chef]

These corals are typically found upside down at the mouths of caves or crevices, etc. Yeah, every polyp needs feeding to survive! It's a bit of a trick to get it done sometimes, depending on their placement.

You can also train them to open earlier. If you're diligent and feed them at the same time every day, sooner or later, they'll just open automatically at that time, expecting to be fed. Sounds kind of far-fetched, but it definitely worked for mine.

[untamed]

I think that the natural behaviour is to open/feed at night. Yes, you do have to feed each polyp.

They will open in response to food. Feed the fish, then return 1/2 hour later and the polyps should be open. Then you can target feed the coral using a turkey baster or something like that.

If you do that at a consistent time every day, you'll find that they start to anticipate and open early.

[EmilyB]

Did you research the coral ? It eats at night. After a bit, with good feedings it will come out in the day as you train it.

good luck.

[crystalz]

no research. for approx 30 polyps it was 20 bucks so i thought I'd give them a try. For the most part I tend to stick to softies and mushrooms but ever since i picked up this mh fixture I've been tempted to get some more vibrant colours in the tank. Are these supposed to be fed on a daily basis?.. I wonder how hard they are to frag. With 30 I'm sure someone would be interested in half of them.

[woodcarver]

Maybe search Aquariumgirl (Andrea ) posts . I recall she had a lot experience with sun corals .
She is also on the Greater Victoria Aquarist Society site .
.....................Dave

[GrimReefer]

if there's tissue between the polyps, why wouldn't they be able to share nutrients? i feed my sun corals 2-3 times a week, and simply blast brine shrimp towards them and let the fish mop up the rest. i make no effort to make sure each polyp is fed. they 'learn' what time of the day you feed them, and will open up accordingly. it's easiest to use your timed lights as a cue. gently blow brine shrimp juice over the coral when your lights go off and it should begin opening in a few nights. possibly longer, but be persistent.

[tang daddy]

Just my 2 dollars but when I had a suncoral in my 24g nano it was impossible to feed it without polluting the tank because it had no skimming also the amount of water. What I used to do was to get a yogurt cont put the coral in it with 3/4 salt water in it drop a piece of mysis and come back in 10 mins the mysis had dissolved and all polyps were open then I would use a turkey baster and swoosh the container every 5 mins until the food was gone this was excellent and I was feeding 2 cubes every week and they were fine noticed that they opened whenevr the sand sifting goby would stir sand and the little particles flew every in the tank aswell but from my experience with these they dont need to eat on a everyday basis I was feeding mine once a week but lots everyone of the polyps were fat after I was done.

[seashells]

I have suns that have spawned? for want of a better word. You can mix cyclopes with tank water& squirt it at them. the will start opening. if you do that in the morning you can train them to open during the day.

[andsoitgoes]

no research. for approx 30 polyps it was 20 bucks so i thought I'd give them a try. For the most part I tend to stick to softies and mushrooms but ever since i picked up this mh fixture I've been tempted to get some more vibrant colours in the tank. Are these supposed to be fed on a daily basis?.. I wonder how hard they are to frag. With 30 I'm sure someone would be interested in half of them.

Thing with Sun Corals is they're the antithesis of lighting needs. As others have said, they are usually found upside down in caves.

Here's some reference for this:

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

http://www.flippersandfins.net/CoralOrangeSun.htm

It's not the hardest coral to care for, but isn't for people that don't want to take care and effort to ensure it survives.

Especially with reef, and I say this having been bitten MANY times before, research before you buy! You never know if you're buying a tank killer (Oh, look at that GORGEOUS sea apple!) or risk killing your other fish buying a stinging coral, etc.

Again, I'm one to talk, but I've BEEN there and have run into these problems. I take my time and do my research if I have any hesitation. Yes I miss out on a lot of corals, but I don't risk my tank, which is a much better "deal" IMO!!

[crystalz]

I was sure the sun coral wasn't a threat to my tank. More than anything just wanted to clarify on feeding. polluting the tank with excess food shouldn't be an issue(77gal with 30gal sump, mixed reef tank, lots of inverts, dragon goby, two percs, coral beauty, various softies, LPS a few SPS etc... ) but I like to spend my time time looking at my tank. A little more work is no big deal(in the grand scheme of things) but now I have a good idea on how to care for this coral properly. Thanks for the advice and info.