Sun Coral?

[Tigerarmy]

is this a sun coral? It doesn't look like any of the pics I've seen.....It's hard and the skeleton does not stick up all that much.....Kind of a bad pic....

[tgoeujon]

its a sun coral. its just in really rough shape. try feeding it if it will eat it may be alright.

[Tigerarmy]

hmmm....I gave it a spray of live phyto but got minimal response, seems one or two heads may be coming out, turned out the lights and am gonna watch for some activity and try and feed.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

[tgoeujon]

mine eat whether the lights are on or off. phyto isnt gonna do it they like meat. mine devour mysis like crazy. just put it on top of the healthyiest looking heads until some open up

[Tigerarmy]

I got no mysis....will cubed brine work?

[tgoeujon]

should be alright to get them eating but theres really nothing to brine.

[kwirky]

feed 'em with a "one two punch". When the lights go out (or at the dusk part if your lights have a dusk/dawn effect) target feed them once with frozen mysis. About 2 hours later go back and the polyps should be open and sticky and do the "real" feeding again with mysis.

They're non-photosynthetic so you'll have to feed them a good food such as frozen mysis.

[Geofrog]

I also feed mine with frozen ocean plankton. Has some different nutients than mysis. Good idea to feed with both food types. If the heads are connected by tissue, then even if only one or two heads extend the tentacles to feed, they should provide enough nutrition to the weaker heads for them to recover over time.

This is one tough coral to keep.

[langdon reefer]

mine eat just about anything i give them mysis, brine, plankton, choped krill even flake and pellets they open up as soon as they smell food hit the water for the fish...lol MAN they can eat alot...lol:wink:

[Tigerarmy]

They like moderate flow and dark areas right? So I should place him in a cave on the bottom of the tank?

[mark]

Don't have but have been looking into them.

paraphasing Borneman, " strong current, need to keep area free fr uneaten food and debris, light doesn't harm them".

Since they need to be fed, suggest placing where you can easily feed.

[phillybean]

I have mine right under my lights. Doesn't seem to bother them. I feed a mix of Brine and Michika's frozen. I melt the food in a shot glass of tank water then with a turkey baster, spray the food over the sun corals. The food blown around where the fish eat it. I wait about half an hour until all the polyps come out and then try to feed each head. There are some that I miss, but they are connected with flesh. I typically feed them every second day.

[Tigerarmy]

Thanks for the tips, the coral seems to be coming around, I can see the polyps and fleshy bits trying to come out

[brizzo]

When I first got my sun coral, it refused to eat being target fed. I found using the top half of a pop bottle to cover it, then insert mysis (after being thawed in sw in a dish) from a pipette then let sit for 5 minutes, then go swirl/create flow inside the bottle, then repeat.. It came back very quickly after 2 weeks of this, every 3-4 days.

Also important, keep tracking of your feeding schedule on a calendar incase you don't already :)

[Doo]

pop bottle works well and if you don't have strong flow, you can use a green strawberry basket to cover them with so the fish can't get at the food...

[MMAX]

I find mine a pain in the *** to feed even with the pop bottle and turkey baster method. Also if you have cleaner shrimp, the little buggers really enjoy stealing food from the coral.

[workn2hard2day]

They are a pain to keep but they are soo nice to look at when they are open. It is nice to have that much color when the lights go down.
Mine open at the same time every night. I do not have to tease them to open, they just now dinner is at 7 so they get ready!
I purchased a Nano cube (thanks Chaloupa) just for them. I has a couple small fish with them but not very many crabs. It also help to turn the flow off, and spot feed every head with a pipette.

[Rippin]

Also if you have cleaner shrimp, the little buggers really enjoy stealing food from the coral.

And this is why I'll never knowingly have shrimps in my tanks again...:mrgreen:
Hermits FTW!