Sun Coral (tubastrea) behavior

[artschwartz]

I've been trying to feed my sun coral brine shrimp at night. I turn off the power head and use a turkey baster. But whenever they sense the shrimp the polyps get smaller and withdraw.

 

Should I only feed them when the tentacles are out? If so, how do I get the tentacles to come out?

 

Help! I'm concerned that I am either overfeeding or underfeeding them.

[reefsrule]

Shy polyps will shrink if they are blasted with too much water pressure I usually seperate my corals from the aquarium when feeding so I don't pollute the main tank. I don't think you can over feed these corals. Feed if the tentacles come out and if they don't ever come out you need to try to coax them by gently blowing food into the closed tubes.

[Sushi]

if polyps are hidden, try placing a small amount of food in the tank. i've found that if they catch the scent of food in the water the corals are more inclined to pop out. (this goes for day or night)... but they are usually out at night.

 

feedings should be done twice a week, or if you prefer, u can even feed 3x a week.

[JustPhish]

you can try squirting some clam juice as well to coax the polyps out.

[IntegraAZ]

Try shrimp pellets so you are not squirting them and just had feed each polyp. I was doing the same thing before brine shrimp and they would just recceed. I placed a shrimp pellet on each polyp and they ate just fine.

[jdav]

correct me if I'm wrong, but if sun corals have a bunch of mouths and 1 "stomach" then why do you have to feed every mouth?