40gal Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 I was wondering if anyone could explain how exactly to feed your corals. I have never owned any other than mushrooms, and I was told that you don't really have to feed them, that they filter feed. Can you target feed a mushroom? I think if I understand it right that when their mouths are open you can (on any coral) but I have never seen my shrooms with thier mouths open. By the way the shrooms don't seem to be growing at all, although everyone says that you can basicly put these in a blender, dump them in your tank and they will be growing all over the place (not literally, but you get the picture). Link to comment
~_~ Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 Shrooms open there mouths when there is food on them. So just put a small piece of food on the center of them, and they will close up around it and eat it. Link to comment
40gal Posted July 19, 2003 Author Share Posted July 19, 2003 what about other corals? how do you feed them? And can you just feed brine shrimp to mushrooms? I tried that and it sure is hard to get the shrimp to stay on the mushroom without floating off, even with the pumps off. Link to comment
Spencerx Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 what kind of corals are you wondering about? Link to comment
40gal Posted July 19, 2003 Author Share Posted July 19, 2003 I think I edited my post the same time you posted, but to answer your question, I am just wondering in general. The only corals I have now are some green mushrooms, and they are barely making it after a serious hair algae outbreak in my other tank. I have since moved them to my nano. I had about 10-15 mushrooms on the rock that opened to cover the whole rock. Now I have 4 mushrooms left that I would guess are no bigger than a dime each. I plan on getting more corals, and am just trying to learn as much as possible. Thanks for the help! Travis Link to comment
Deimos Posted July 19, 2003 Share Posted July 19, 2003 Corals eat in a bunch of different ways depending a lot on polyp size, etc. All corals will "eat" by absorbing some of the DOM and nitrates in your tank..direct uptake through the tissue. As far as other types of food go...corals generally eat what fits in their mouths AND sets off their chemoreceptors. SPS (IN GENERAL), eat zooplankton (invert larvae, other coral spawn, coral planulae, etc) in the very low micron range, so this food is hard to duplicate unless it is "grown" in your own tank. (You can try to grow more by adding something like DT's..which is phytoplankton [plant plankton]..which the SPS won't directly eat..but which will help to feed the zooplankton) Octocorals (leathers, GSP's, etc) eat a large range of phytoplankton. Corallimorpharians will eat small pieces of meaty foods as well as actively capture larger prey (there's a picture in Borneman's book of a Rhodactis sp. mushroom that is eating a Banggai cardinal that wandered too close). LPS corals will eat fairly decently sized pieces of meaty foods. Hmm..dunno if I covered everything..probably not..but you get the idea... Link to comment
40gal Posted July 24, 2003 Author Share Posted July 24, 2003 So if I understand correctly, all you need to do is add some dt's or a similar product to the tank and it should be enough? I know if you add too much you can cause a mini cycle (or more), but how much is too much? It is just hard to grasp that one capfull (or however much) could actually feed much considering the dilution in the tank. And if you do target feed corals, how long does it normally take for it to "eat" what you are trying to feed? Maybe what I mean is can you pretty much just touch the food to the coral and it will "grab" it, or does it take a while? I am asking in the case of my mushrooms (that's my only coral so far). I have put a brine shrimp on it and it just sits there. It doesn't look too big for it. I know this is probably a stupid question, so bear with me here. Ideally, I wish I could see someone feeding a coral - I think that would make all the difference. Webcam anyone? Thanks! Travis Link to comment
Caius Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 I have no experience with corals yet but from what I have read (since mushrooms will probably be my first purchase) they mostly feed through photsynthesis will filter feeding being their secondary and much more rare way to feed. Have a read through this... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/corallim.htm Link to comment
Deimos Posted July 24, 2003 Share Posted July 24, 2003 I believe 5 mL of DT's contains something on the order of 3 billion cells of phytoplankton....its exceptionally concentrated stuff. Link to comment
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