Coral feeding

[hapki88]

Want to get everyone's impression on what to feed coral. Do you use a commercial product or a homemade recipe? What is your feeding schedule and how do you address water spike issues?

Thanks.

[chris88]

It depends on the coral. Some lps can eat large shrimp and others mysis or brine. Sps and some zoanthids need much smaller prey. While some corals only eat dissolved nutrients. What do you have in your tank?

[hapki88]

Right now, only live rock and live sand plus a small group of housekeepers. I'm nearing the end of a two week cycle and about to introduce a BTA and a zoanthid. Just want to be prepared.

[Eb0la11]

How many zoas need to be target fed? I havent once target fed mine and they have been in my tank 6 months

[bvlester]

Right now, only live rock and live sand plus a small group of housekeepers. I'm nearing the end of a two week cycle and about to introduce a BTA and a zoanthid. Just want to be prepared.

BTA will not survive well with a tank that is not established they need very good conditions that are stable. try some mushrooms, zoas maybe some GSP and you could try yellow polips as they are very hardy they will be ok. you need good light for them.

Bill

[chris88]

Its true anemones can be a bit picky in new tanks. Zoanthids do not have to be feed, in fact most corals do not have to be spot feed but it does increase thier health and growth rates. I have a hard time feeding zoas but palys feed very easy. Feeding in my opinion is for certain lps like brains, duncans, candycanes, etc and sps can have increased growth and color from feeding as well. Its hard to find that balance of feeding enought o help the animals and not to much to make the water quality bad.

I feed sps corals : coral frenzy, rotifers, cyclops
I feed lps corals: mysis, brine, pellets
I feed plays: pellets, mysis, and brine

I feed a lot when a colony is just starting out or if it doesnt look full, and i slow down the feeding when the colony fattens up and looks plump.

[kien]

I feed my fish and corals a homemade fish mush. Just blend up a seafood medley (that you can buy from your grocery store), add some PE mysis and infuse with garlic an voila!

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af144/muzanji/IMG_6667.jpg?t=1270511661

[ElGuappo]

I Feed my fish and my corals get To eat their poo. I keep sps
and some softies. I do use zeo but no intentional coral feeding.
IME water quality is far more important. I initially had prblems
keeping sps but As the tank became more stable the better the sps
grew. Just my 2 pennies

when I started doseing for calcium and DKH that's when I noticed the
noticed the best growth.

[chris88]

your right a well established tank and stable parameters are a must for sps. Corals are one of thefew animals in the world that dedicate the majority of thier body tissue to feeding. Hence the polpy which is a giant mouth. They need to be feed, but most eat what is dissolved in the water column or to small for us to see like most plankton and bacteria.

[Zoaelite]

If you want some good reading on how corals feed:
http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-5/how-corals-feed

Lots of interesting stuff there.