Dendro Coral Help

[PFisher]

I acquired a Dendrophyllia frag (Sun Polyp cousin) four days ago and it has not opened up at all yet. I got a Duncan and a Candy Cane at the same time and they are both doing well but the Dendro has just stayed sucked in. Occasionally the polyps will look like they are starting to come out a bit but then they go right back to where they were. Target feeding with mysis and brine shrimp does not seem to entice it out.

This is a 200 gallon tank with another 60 gallons in the sump. For lighting I have 2x250W 10k halides and 4x54W Actinic T5. Water parameters look good and I did a couple of water changes yesterday just in case there was some parameter a bit off.

I have it placed under an overhang where it gets a decent amount of light, but no direct halide lighting. Medium turbulent water flow from a controlled Koralia 4 power head.

Any suggestions on getting this guy to come out to eat would be appreciated.

[kien]

These corals completely lack the symbiotic zooxanthellae required for photosynthesis so they do not need any light whatsoever. In fact, they might not even want any light at all. I've had a dendro for nearly a year now and it sits completely under an overhang, no light reaches him at all. he is quite happy and open all the time, night and day. If I recall correctly it did take him a few weeks to get used to the tank though. He was closed for a good 2 weeks I believe. Give him some time maybe and try moving him into a lower lit area. Also, even though his polyps are closed up he can still feed. You have to spot feed them at least two or three times a week. Get a turkey baster in there or tongs and place some food into/near his mouth. He can still eat it with his tentacles retracted.

[Coleus]

Originally Posted by kien

These corals completely lack the symbiotic zooxanthellae required for photosynthesis so they do not need any light whatsoever. In fact, they might not even want any light at all. I've had a dendro for nearly a year now and it sits completely under an overhang, no light reaches him at all. he is quite happy and open all the time, night and day. If I recall correctly it did take him a few weeks to get used to the tank though. He was closed for a good 2 weeks I believe. Give him some time maybe and try moving him into a lower lit area. Also, even though his polyps are closed up he can still feed. You have to spot feed them at least two or three times a week. Get a turkey baster in there or tongs and place some food into/near his mouth. He can still eat it with his tentacles retracted.

Kien, what is your trick to prevent cleaner shrimps from grabbing foods from these corals. Use a cup? or do you actually feed the shrimps before hand. I feed my shrimps before feeding corals but never seems enough for them

[Snaz]

My Dendro opens and closes all day but if I neglect it then it will prefer to open only in the dark. Check soon after lights out and before lights on to see if you can catch it open and when you do find it open feed it small pieces of meaty food.

This coral requires lots of attention as it needs to be hand fed every 2-3 days. If your critters are stealing the food then you need to chase them away or use a strawberry basket type solution. When healthy my dendro envelops the food in about 30 seconds so there is not much problem of the critters stealing the food, I feed mine mysis and enriched frozen brine shrimp.

[PFisher]

It puts my mind at ease to know that your coral took a couple of weeks to adjust. I will keep basting with mysis and brine and keep up with the water changes.

I will also check during the night to see if it opens then.

Thanks.

[kien]

I used to use the basket trick but that got annoying and unsightly.. Then what I did was feed the dendro and pretty much sat there with the turkey baster and shot water at the shrimps when they tried to steal food. This worked okay but still annoying. Finally what I do now is I use the two sided aspect of my tank to my advantage and I feed the shrimp on one side of my tank by plopping in a piece of shrimp. They bolt to it like a fly to fly paper and pretty much ignore anything else going on in the tank. I can then feed the dendro on the other side of my tank without worry. However, sometimes I will switch it up and use one of the later two methods (either just scare away the shrimp and wait for the dendro to close up), or feed shrimp some large meaty thing to distract them. I have like 6 shrimp so I know how challenging it is! To make matters worse I have more than just the Dendro to spot feed. I have a few LPS that I spot feed. Oh, and if I do the bait trick with the shrimp then I usually take whatever they haven't finished eating by the time I'm done feeding my dendro and I shove it into one of my anemones. That way it is not sitting in the tank for too long and festering. Although, that's not too much of an issue between the 6 shrimp and a crap load of hermit crabs the piece of bait goes pretty quick.

[phyto4life]

I got the same problem I just bought a dandro yesterday and he was out and now he is inside I got him on the gravel under 8xt5 ho on a standard 90G is this fine for lighting because I would rather him out in the open?

same problem with the 3 shrimp's too I'm taking one of them out today to make it easier when feeding and adding him to a 25G

I feel like smacking them with the turkey baster but will take your advice and blow some water towards them

[lorenz0]

I had mine open all the time. Fed them every second day, each head. I also kept mine is a very lite area of the tank, so imo lighting really wasn't a huge concern for me. Try shooting some mysis juice across the heads and see how it reacts to it. If you see the tenticals come out, mysis. also if you have pest fish and its to much of a pain to keep them away, i feed the fish on the other side of the tank to keep them occupied while i fed the dendro's. Or you can try the pop bottle method

[PFisher]

I got up really early this morning and found 1 polyp open. I fed that one and it has stayed partially out so far today. Thank you for all of your advise and for putting my mind at ease. I always hate to see something suffer.