New Sun Coral

[newnano]

I just picked up a sun coral at my LFS yesterday. Before I place the coral in the tank, I floated the bag in the water for about 30 min. Then I added my tank water to the bag for another 30 min.

 

I did not attempt to feed the coral yesterday. Today, while the tank lights were on, I tried to feed it with some mysis shrimp using a syringe that I attached to a piece of rigid tubing with a short piece of flexible tubing. It looked like the polyps were going to come out but never did. I'm sure my peppermint shrimp and hermits crawing around and over the coral didn't help matters.

 

Is it normal for the polyps to remain retracted for a few days after introducing the coral into the tank even if you're trying to feed it?

 

I attached a picture of the coral.

[reefsrule]

It takes them a while to come out at first. I would remove the coral from the tank and put him in a bowl filled with tank water. Put the mysis over the closed tubes the smell should coax them to come out. Doing this method all my sun corals came out fully after a couple days.

[Cesar]

You know what though removing the SunCoral from the tank and bowl feeding him can cause some stress. I would just leave it alone. When I got mine at first I thought it was dead because it took so long to come out. When it did come out I noticed it and I fed it Brine Shrimp. I now feed it cyclopeeze and brine and they love it. They come out every night, but I only feed them every other day.

[cornstar]

I agree with Cesar, removing the coral for feeding is stressful.

It may take about a week for him to open fully.

[reefsrule]

well I don't feed mine out of the tank, but I find it useful for the first few days. Just place it in the bowl in the tank so it doesn't touch the air, holding it by the bottom of the skeleton, and place it back the same way, that shouldn't produce to much stress imo.

[mike88camaro]

Ok what I did with mine to get it to come out is turn off all my power heads. Drop in a few drops of phyto and wait for it to come out. phyto made mine come out on the second day.

[bbb1080]

mine came out 2 hours after i took it outta the bag, its a nice big green sun.

[scott6480]

so you mean i should be feeding my sun coral more than just kent marine zooplex?

[Cesar]

Oh yes. They really like that Brine Shrimp stuff. I feed mine every other day. They will love you for it.

[Changisbad]

I feed mine frozen formula one....they love it!

[lil_clownfish13]

If you want to try and coax it out in the tank, take the top of a 2L pop bottle and cut it off the rest of the bottle....

so that u have a curved dome, and neck of bottle left,

 

I have 2 big hermits that steal food, and 2 clowns, and a blenny that will not let my sun coral eat-- ever, so if you put this contraption over ur coral, then squirt in some of the shrimp-- give it about 10-15 min, and it should start to come out--

1) this contraption keeps the sneak-theives out

2) it keeps the scent of the food by the polyps for longer

 

I feed my suncoral 3x a week on brine&mysis soaked in coral accel and vitachem...they love it!

 

Good luck!!!

[revrwjeane]

mine took a week to come out, now they are out, healthy, and I feed them every other day. They are definately a great addition to my reef.

[Paula]

Yup, the pop bottle thing works great - I attached a plastic tube to the top of the bottle extending it above the water line using silicon so that the brine shrimp stay in when I fan up the food - turkey baster again! I feed mine every 2nd day.

[imafishboy]

try coaxing it during the day. that's wht i did so now my sun is open when lights are on..and off too. cuz i'm awesome like that. i also, for some stupid reason, have em in the brightest spot of my tank (32w 50/50, 13w act)i'll prolly move em soon. i feed mine with breaks of 2-3 days between the weeks, or whenever i feel like it. sun coral is very easy to keep. at least, IME.