How/what do you feed your brain coral

[Frenchie]

My brain coral is starting to look a bit rough. He isnt puffing up like he used to and his little tentacles havent come out for months. I'm hoping I can correct this with some target feeding. Any ideas?

[hillbillyreefer]

Mine have done the same thing on occasion. I shut off the pumps and put a couple of mysis on them. If they are hungry they will eat it, if not the food slides off. I assume the animal is pushing it off. I've got one atm that hasn't eaten for over a month, his color has declined a bit but still puffs up nice and fat, no feeder tentacles. I'm not worried about it yet. The other one eats anything, I usually feed it mysis, but lately have moved upto a whole silverside every couple of days. It actually ate 2 whole silversides last night.

Try to keep the hermits and shrimp away from the brain while attempting to feed it. I've got a couple of hermits that see a lunch wagon whenever the brains are being fed.

HTH

[digital-audiophile]

I've feed cyclopeeze through a turkey baster in the past but it never really seemed to do much.

[fkshiu]

Turn off you pumps and feed a mysis or two with a turkey baster after the lights are out. LPS like to feed in the dark in low current. It's useful if you have moonlights. I usually find that a bit of cyclopeeze and/or selcon provokes a feeding reaction with the tentacles coming out.

Remember to feed sparingly and with very small bits of food - nothing larger than mysis. I've read studies where larger amounts of food were simply regurgitated undigested by LPS after several hours.

I use a small plastic salad collander to protect the coral when my shrimp try for an easy meal. A few squirts from the turkey baster usually shoos them away.

[Myka]

I have fed frozen mysis to my open brain with good success. I just waited until lights out when the feeder tentacles came out, and just reached in the tank with a mysis shrimp and stuck it onto the tentacles. Mine would happily eat six mysis shrimp a night, but be careful as you can pollute your tank if you feed them too much. The more they eat the more they poop. It is well established now, and I haven't target fed it in over a year. I have a Favia as well, and have never target fed it.

[Frenchie]

Last night I caught my cleaner shrimp taking food right out of the brains mouth (and he was reaching way in there). I guess I will have to put some tupperware over the brain to let him eat.

The tentacles seem to have totaly disapeared. They used to hide under a little flap, but now even when the flap is pulled back there are no tentacles. Has anyone else ever seen this?

[tang daddy]

try to feed only with the lights off.... If you see your tank when the lights are off then you should see the tentacles my brains are only active with feeder tentacles in the dark. When the lights are on the tentacles dissappear because they are harnessing light for food and growth when the lights are off they send out feeder tentacles to feed. I gave up on shrimp in my display a long time ago because they will snatch food right out of the corals mouth. One thing you may try is to feed the shrimps in your tank with a large enough piece of prawn so they are distracted then at the same time feed your brain coral. Mysis is too small for my brain so now I feed it pieces of prawn it takes it a whole day to eat but I dont have any shrimp or fish in the set up if you feed mysis make sure to feed about 10-15 pieces they should be able to eat it faster if it's smaller.

[TheMikey]

I've trained my Brain to put out its tentacles as soon as I shut off flow. I feed it either frozen food or very small pellets that I feed the rest of my fish. It's looking great after about 3 months! I run a Nano tank, so I've only got one shrimp to deal with. The trick to him is that I have another kind of pellet food, with the pellets as large as a BB for an air rifle. I hand one ot the shrimp and he goes away and starts picking at it. Then I can target feed the Yellow Watchman and the Brain with ease!