jdsabin1 Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 I wanted to post a picture of the tank with the new sun coral in as that piece just blows up my tank with color, even when the polyps aren't out. I also snapped some pics of my electric blue today hopping a ride on the 'snail elevator' for a while, and a picture of a few of my tulip anenomes. That picture didn't turn out as well as I had hoped as these little guys are really cool with their green tentacles and their light pink tips. The sun coral when I turned out the lights opened up and I wouldn't have believed the show had I not seen it with my own eyes. Basically like a fireworks show when you hit the grand finale. Just unreal. My lfs fed it this morning so I will probably feed it tomorrow morning or perhaps wait until Monday (I haven't decided yet). What I've read a three day a week schedule seems to be the norm. Any advice on that appreciated. I have frozen mysis, frozen brine and zooplankton to feed the sun coral. Thanks all! Link to comment
FlyGTI Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 Jeff, I never got to see that thing all fired open while I was in the store, but man, those are gorgeous. I have a feeling that Kara will want me to pick up a little rock of those. Stunning, just stunning. Link to comment
The Unit Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 di thgey open up fine for u? even during the day if u put food in the water?....i cant get mine to open. i got the 2 days ago and just cant seem to get them open Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 15, 2003 Author Share Posted June 15, 2003 Mine opened up right after the lights went out and were still opened this morning. I haven't tried to wean them to open during the day yet. I think I will feed them tonight and then gradually work on getting them to feed during the day. Anyway, yeah, mine opened right up with no problems. Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 You guy's and your sun corals.....i just about rescued a small sun coral a while back but chickened out,i think after seening all the nice ones lately i'm ready and going to pick one up! BTW are black sun corals that much harder to keep? Link to comment
The Unit Posted June 15, 2003 Share Posted June 15, 2003 hmmm...sould i be worried? or do u think the shipping wasa little rough and they are just taking their time... Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 16, 2003 Author Share Posted June 16, 2003 Unit - What's the word on yours? Have they opened yet? Have you tried to coax them out with some juice from the food you've been trying to give them? Have you done that at night? Let us know! Link to comment
deacon hemp Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 hey guys i did it i jumped right on the sun coral bandwagon yesterday, i got 2 sun corals that my frag place had been keeping trying to recover them.I got a black and a yellow in o.k. shape for 5 bucks each!big too.The yellow opened up 3 minutes after putting it in my tank!i may not keep the black as it was kind of part of the deal! Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 16, 2003 Author Share Posted June 16, 2003 Sweet! Piiiicccctttuuurrreeeesss! Link to comment
jawarden Posted June 16, 2003 Share Posted June 16, 2003 I found mine on Friday, and fell in love with the color - had to have it. I've been feeding DTs, but other than the first day it hasn't opened much. I'll try feeding tonight after the lights are out and see what happens. I'll post pictures if I can get the polyps to come out. Mine is on the bottom like yours - would moving it higher in the water column make any difference? Nice tank, btw. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 16, 2003 Author Share Posted June 16, 2003 ja - You're going to have to feed it more than DT's. DT's is phytoplankton which is something the sun coral won't eat. They will eat zooplankton however so that would be fine. I would supplement the zooplankton with frozen brine or mysis shrimp though to vary their diet and feed 3-4 times a week. Moving it around shouldn't make any difference as these animals are not photosynthetic. Decent flow is a nice to have but not directly blowing on them either. Make sure you feed each polyp also! HTH! Link to comment
jawarden Posted June 17, 2003 Share Posted June 17, 2003 ja - You're going to have to feed it more than DT's. DT's is phytoplankton which is something the sun coral won't eat. They will eat zooplankton however so that would be fine. I love my lfs. Me: "So, I'm just getting started with corals, I like this one right here, the sun coral." Lfs guy: "They rock, Boss." Me: "I just got some DT's for my zoos - will the Sun Coral eat that?" Lfs guy: "yea, I think so, but lemme check." Few minutes go by, then "Yea, DT's." Thanks for the head's up on the food Jeff; I'll get some tomorrow. Make sure you feed each polyp also! HTH! X) What the... Feed every polyp? With what? Aah nevermind. I'll be in the beginner's section if anyone needs me..... Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 17, 2003 Author Share Posted June 17, 2003 It's not as hard as it sounds. Basically the sun coral that most people put in their reef tanks are not 'bound by the colony'. In other words, each polyp sustains itself so you need to try and feed each polyp. Now with that said, get a plastic pipette, suck up zooplankton or brine shrimp after it has thawed, make sure your powerheads close by aren't on (so the food doesn't get blown away as it leaves the pipette) and baste the colony with the food. Basically each polyp will get it's fair share more than likely. Don't overfeed as it will dirty your tank, and in nano's the sun coral doesn't need to be fed any more than 3-4 times a week max. The zooplankton normally comes in a bottle and once you open it make sure you refrigerate it! Also, don't let saltwater from your tank dirty up the stuff or it will spoil FAST! One bottle normally has a shelf life of 3-4 weeks after it's been opened (but keep it refrigerated!). You probably won't use it all in that time span also. You'll know when the stuff is bad though as it STINKS! If you want to really get fancy you can thaw out the brine shrimp or mysis shrimp in a vitamin supplement for fish. I soak mine in 'Vita Chem' for saltwater animals. The folks over at Reef Central claim it helps maintain coloration and who am I to argue with that logic . Let us know how it goes. Some people don't want the hassle of feeding regularly like that but the sun coral rewards the reef keeper with one of the coolest shows around IMO and it's worth the trouble! Link to comment
jawarden Posted June 17, 2003 Share Posted June 17, 2003 suck up zooplankton or brine shrimp after it has thawed, ... and baste the colony with the food. Hot damn, I think this is going to work! I had some brine shrinp in the freezer for my fowlr so I tried feeding the sun coral at 11pm with the lights dimmed. They actually peeked out for a while! They didn't come all the way out and lie down as your picture shows, but they did trumpet up, so I suppose that's a decent sign that they're hungry and interested. cooool. Let us know how it goes. Some people don't want the hassle of feeding regularly like that but the sun coral rewards the reef keeper with one of the coolest shows around IMO and it's worth the trouble! I'll try again with zooplankton in a day or two and see if I can get them to come all the way out. Fingers crossed. Thanks! Link to comment
jawarden Posted June 20, 2003 Share Posted June 20, 2003 Went to the lfs and got some zooplankton as suggested, and tried the basting method again last night. This time they cam out about 75% instead of just trumpeting a little, so again, I'm encouraged! Thought I'd share a pic. Link to comment
jdsabin1 Posted June 20, 2003 Author Share Posted June 20, 2003 They look perfectly healthy! Nice! Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.