Barry's BC-29 (New Black Sun Coral)

[teenyreef]

Awesome tank! The sun corals are beautiful

[specore]

Beautiful tank...great job

[BJV]

Hi All,

Just a little update. I added a new clam.

Barry

[Mirya]

It would be neat if you could get some Hidden Cup Corals (Phyllangia americana) to round out your NPS display. They are the Atlantic version, as it were, of Sun Polyps. Unfortunately, as stoney corals they are not legal to collect, however if you order maricultured Gulf live rock they are a frequent hitchhiker. Here's a picture of some that I have, showing how they fluoresce:

[Beer]

Those hidden cup corals are amazing!

 

Awesome job with those tubestrea. It looks like you have done well finding healthy specimens, or are bringing them around quite rapidly. Are you doing anything other than target feeding? Do you dose the water column or add planktonic foods? What are your nutrient levels?

 

None of the stores around here seem to have any idea on how to take care of them, or the specimens they get are beyond the point of being saved. I've tried a few times, even got black sun coral once, but the longest I've been able to get them to hold on is two months. Multiple feedings every day, if they will even feed, hasn't been able to help them pull through.

Most of the time when I see them, the tissue has receded so bad that the only tissue left is at the top of the cups and there are only a couple tentacles left and they are receded so far they are in the skeletal opening for the gastric cavity. No chance of feeding them. It's too much of an energy output for them to even attempt to feed. It makes me so upset when I see this. They are still asking crazy prices for them too.

 

If I can remember where I found the black ones several months back (I tend to hit several shops in a day), I may see if they still have some. They openly admitted that they weren't doing well because they hadn't been target feeding them for a couple weeks. They at least knew how to care for them, but their nonchalant attitude about it not being a big deal that they were starving them out did tick me off. Their issue though was that their customers didn't want to buy them because of the care requirements (they were informing their clients, so good on them, but they let them decline from a lack of care). They had a tank of frags that weren't selling, so they were basically giving them away. After talking with them a bit and showing interest, they offered more frags than I had room for if I bought more than $40 in frags (other types of corals). They held on for a couple of months, but I couldn't get them to take food and they eventually perished.

 

 

I'm thinking of setting up a larger tank (display is an entire 7.4 gallons, dwarfs my current setup). If I do this, I am considering keeping my current tank running and trying again with some black sun corals if I can find them. I was thinking that since this will be just a few sun coral frags, I won't need to light it other than for viewing and feeding, so I could keep the nutrient levels a little higher. The last ones held on for a while and seemed almost as if they were starting to turn around when I wasn't as consistent with water changes and nutrient levels were slightly elevated. I was also dosing aminos, not sure if this helped. I am also going to build a system to grow a few strains of phyto and pods, so hopefully I'll be able to allow them to feed and stay extended the majority of the day.

 

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that this would help starved out corals, or are they pretty much done once the tissue recess up the polyp tube and the tentacles retract into the skeleton?

[Tamberav]

It would be neat if you could get some Hidden Cup Corals (Phyllangia americana) to round out your NPS display. They are the Atlantic version, as it were, of Sun Polyps. Unfortunately, as stoney corals they are not legal to collect, however if you order maricultured Gulf live rock they are a frequent hitchhiker. Here's a picture of some that I have, showing how they fluoresce:

 

 

I have some of these in my tank from gulf live rock. They are not photosynthetic, correct?

[Mirya]

I have some of these in my tank from gulf live rock. They are not photosynthetic, correct?

 

Correct, NPS/azoox. They seem much easier to keep than Tubastraea/Dendros/Balanos though. Even with very irregular target feeding (and I don't even bother hitting every head when I do toss some food their way) they've been popping new heads left and right. That is pretty consistent from what I've read others say. Mine have also never needed to be "trained" to be open during the day. Mine are open all day and night. If you look at the far right of my picture there is some other smaller cup coral with brown tentacles. Those also hitchhiked in on my Gulf live rock and have also been doing great. Not sure of their scientific name though.

[teenyreef]

Those are beautiful! They remind me of the curlicue anemone I got on my live rock from KPA, but mine doesn't fluoresce like these do

[BJV]

Hi All,

Here is a update on my Sun Corals.

When I was checking my tank this morning, I found

a new baby black sun coral. I bought the back sun coral late

June 2015. To say the least I was very surprised to find

this new sun coral. Check out the photo below, the new sun

is in the center of the pic.

Barry

[Mirya]

Wow, a baby black sun! Impressive. This tank makes me want to get more NPS corals.

[YaBoyLaj]

Always wanted to start a pico nps tank! been following this thread for a while, definitely makes me want it more!

[BulkRate]

Never been particularly partial to sun corals, but your display is absolutely amazing! Very nice collection, and congrats on them spawning.

[BJV]

Never been particularly partial to sun corals, but your display is absolutely amazing! Very nice collection, and congrats on them spawning.

Thanks BulkRate.

Barry

[jazzman7838]

 

Hi All,

Here is a update on my Sun Corals.

When I was checking my tank this morning, I found

a new baby black sun coral. I bought the back sun coral late

June 2015. To say the least I was very surprised to find

this new sun coral. Check out the photo below, the new sun

is in the center of the pic.

Barry

 

 

 

Hey Barry, this is a really incredible achievement. Spawning and settlement of orange Tubastrea is pretty common in captivity (as I'm sure you've noticed) but for black/T. micrantha it is extremely rare. I know of two public aquariums that have had it happen in corals that just arrived after shipping and so the most likely cause was stress. I have had it happen a couple times in a colony I've had for 8 years. I have had hundreds (if not thousands) of baby orange Tubastrea settle but a grand total of 3 black Tubastrea settle, that i've been able to find. To have it happen for a non-stressed coral is apparently very difficult.

 

Have you ever witnessed it spawning?

 

--Matt Wandell--

[BJV]

 

 

Hey Barry, this is a really incredible achievement. Spawning and settlement of orange Tubastrea is pretty common in captivity (as I'm sure you've noticed) but for black/T. micrantha it is extremely rare. I know of two public aquariums that have had it happen in corals that just arrived after shipping and so the most likely cause was stress. I have had it happen a couple times in a colony I've had for 8 years. I have had hundreds (if not thousands) of baby orange Tubastrea settle but a grand total of 3 black Tubastrea settle, that i've been able to find. To have it happen for a non-stressed coral is apparently very difficult.

 

Have you ever witnessed it spawning?

 

--Matt Wandell--

Matt I have not witnessed the spawning. But since I found the one in the photo, I have spotted several others.

I will try to get a couple of photos up soon of the others.

Thanks,

Barry

[BJV]

Hi All,

Just a little update. Here's a photo of my

new green nepthea leather. It's only been in my tank

a couple of days. Thanks to unique corals .com

Barry

[BJV]

Hi All,

I found a couple more baby black sun corals this week. This is the only one

I could photograph. The others I can't get any kind of good photo. So far I have found

three.

Barry

 

[HarryPotter]

Hi All,

I found a couple more baby black sun corals this week. This is the only one

I could photograph. The others I can't get any kind of good photo. So far I have found

three.

Barry

Baby Black2small.jpg

 

 

 

Thats awesome

[teenyreef]

Hi All,

I found a couple more baby black sun corals this week. This is the only one

I could photograph. The others I can't get any kind of good photo. So far I have found

three.

Barry

Baby Black2small.jpg

 

That is so cool! Any ideas as to why they're able to reproduce in your tank?

[BJV]

That is so cool! Any ideas as to why they're able to reproduce in your tank?

No idea at all, luck I guess I do also have several babies from my orange and yellow sun corals

also.

Barry

[BJV]

Hi All,

Just added this Aussie Neon Green Toadstool Leather a week so ago.

Barry

[BJV]

Hi All,

Here is an update on my Black Sun Coral. All I can say

is it's grown by leaps and bounds. It's 8" from one end to the other, and

babies all over my tank.

Barry

[Mirya]

You inspired me to give black sun coral a try. I picked up a healthy looking piece from a LFS a few weeks ago. I'm slowly getting it used to opening when the lights are on. I hope some day it can be as magnificent as yours!

[BJV]

Mirya all I can say is FEED, FEED and FEED. I feed all my sun coral every other day, with mysis shrimp and brine shrimp with

selcon added.

Barry

[Mirya]

Thanks Barry! I've been feeding LRS soaked in Selcon every other day. I've had a fat head Dendro and a Balano for a long time and they did well, so I figured I'd try to step it up to the black suns. I hadn't been all that impressed with sun corals until I saw you black ones though!