Feeding a Blueberry Gorgonian?

[liquidglass]

I have been target feeding this awesome looking coral with DT's and cyclopies.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks in advance,<a href="http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/liquidglassstudio/New%20Reef%20Tank/?action=view&current=IMG_5725.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/liquidglassstudio/New%20Reef%20Tank/IMG_5725.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

[reefkeeper2]

I do not know a great deal about feeding these corals, but I do know that you must keep the iodine in your tank at NSW levels for them to thrive. This also applies to the photosynthetic gorgonians as well. I have seen them decline in my tank when I stopped additions, and return to health when I resumed.

[Kreeger1]

I'd say no to DT's forsure and maybe to cyclopeeze's
But really if your trying along those lines theres 2 better products out there, Reed's shellfish diet and nutrmar uva.
I personally think High flow and 24 hour feeding is the only way it will live. Not really sure what it eats either. I've tried alot of things, When i moved mine to the new tank it didn't make the move and was lost within 3 days. I had thought it was doing good prior to the move but comparing pictures I took of it I think it was slowly starving. IMO thats the hardest to keep gorg I've seen for sale.
Erik

[Hormigaquatica]

Ive gotten a pretty good/consistent response using Rotifers. As Kreeger1 mentioned, high flow is a big factor IME.

[Stottlemire]

Beautiful Blueberry

Reeds Rotifeast is geat for this, also cyclopies I have seen one feed on both.

Chuck

[dtaylor123]

This is a stunning coral! No one has figured out how to make it grow and thrive in a closed system. More than likely it will starve to death. Feeding it 24/7 may be successful, using Reeds is probably a good idea, there are other Sea Fan foods you can try as well, Fauna Marin sells one. Some people think that coral mucus brings it the food it needs, you can try and get your other corals to slime and let the mucus float to the coral, I realize that's a stretch. I wish you luck and I hope you will be successful.

Dan

[liquidglass]

Thanks for the info everyone, Will see what happens.

[theimpulsive1]

tough ones. very beautiful though

[fnvarner]

i keep them in a ref under a 10,000k bulb and they do great

[Kreeger1]

for how long, there probably the hardest thing to keep alive that is offered for sale imo

[Kolognekoral]

I know a few people keeping this gorgonia for well over a year. I would have to call that successful. They are feeding a variety of foods, such as artemia naupli, cycloeeze, rotifers, frozen plankton, powdered foods from Ultra Marin and Timo, plus pappone-type fish mash.

Proper current is absolutely important, but too strong is, also, not good. I think one needs to play around a bit and see what current(s) give the best feeding response.

Here is a recipe I've used with success from my friend Stephan P.
4 parts spirulina flakes
3 parts cylop eeze
3 parts Ultra Clam
6 parts Ultra Min F
1 part spirulina powder

these dry ingredients are mixed with Ultra Pac and water to create a thin, slimey fluid that is fed to the animals.

Another approach is with Timo food 1 and 3, which are mixed with water and vitamins of choice, allowed to stand for a half hour or so and then fed. I mix an additional portion of Ultra Clam, Ultra Sea Fan and cyclop eeze and some coral snow. This is fed every evening under blue light or darkness.

I find letting the mixed food sit for a while to stew a good method. Possibly a bit of bacteria starts to bloom or the ingredients simply become more palatable. Response seems a bit stronger, but this could be imagination!

[Kreeger1]

Over a year I would also call that a success, In the 20 years I've been keeping corals I found this one the hardest.

I've tried to feed alot of things, but nothing like the mix you've made up.

I'd really love to see a video of it in the wild. Try to duplicate what I'm seeing

Erik

[Kreeger1]

THis was mine
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/kreeger1/blueberryfull11-8.jpg

[JSM]

Where does one find all of these micro foods you all keep mentioning?

Janna

[Kolognekoral]

Janna, the stuff from UltraMarine is in the USA. Google the net to find a store or mailorder firm. I don't know if the Timo products are available or not. The foods from Reed Marine are from the San Francisco Bay area and come-up on google.

[JSM]

Thanks Jamie.

Janna

[Gary Majchrzak]

Jamie V.- thank you for your post regarding Acalycigorgia

Up to this point I've heard of no long term success with this species. I'd be interested in hearing if someone breaks down the two years in captivity barrier, so please update us :)

[Kolognekoral]

Gary, I may pick one up myself next week and proof the pudding, as it were. With gorgonians in general, we are really just starting to scratch the surface. We need to forget some of what we have learned with stone corals and consider why animals such as the gorgonians and azooxanthellate soft corals have conquered their niche. As we see them together with the stone corals, they must not create a direct competition, rather expand the limits of the environment. In other works, what the zooxanthellates do with zooplankton and symbiotic algae must be coverd via a non-competitive feeding strategy. Katharina Fabricius' evidence that many soft corals are actually planktavores opens a whole new window. Clearly, many members of the NPC are not relying on their stinging cells to capture and hold their prey. Being able to identify this quality in an animal may simplify its feeding regiemen.

One aquarist that has been holding this Acalycigorgia for over one year related the following tank parameters:

PO4 - off the scale, it is so high! This is still questionable, as he keeps Acroporas in the tank as well. It may be a constant flux of phosphates through feeding that keep the reading so high.

NO3 - 20-50mgl

Current 5-7cm pS, over this rate it does not feed well!

Miracle Mud filter with weak skimmer.

Stands in shadow with only indirect light.

The animal is fed mornings and evenings 4-5 times with a mix of cyclopeeze, lobster eggs, UltraClam, UltraMin F, UltraMin S, being changed in mixture to give a varied diet. Various vitamins and aminos are used on occaision. The two main ingredients are cyclopeeze and UltraClam (both of which I use, along with the new Ultra Sea Fan, plus Timo foods). He feeds 1ml of the mix in 20ml of water and injects it into the current before the animal, in small amounts.

He has had growth, as well as polyp bailout in the year and the animal has not degenerated. He will be reaching the 2 year mark this Spring! Something he mentions is that, if the animal does not open its polyps after a few days, it is very hard to get it back into form. This may be the main reason we have so few successes. The animals are half starved when we get them and cannot recover.

When I hear more, I'll report back.

[Gary Majchrzak]

I will be waiting to hear more over time. Please post directly to this thread so I don't miss your reply.

[fnvarner]

add in oyster eggs

[Kreeger1]

Thats really good news to hear Kolognekoral!


I'd love to see a picture of his tank if you could get one.
Erik

[Kolognekoral]

Erik,

the tank is nothing too unusual, more a typical reef with a few gorgonians, corals and fish. I will attempt to get an update and foto, but haven't heard anything back, yet.

[Kolognekoral]

From another aquarist, who was refering to a comment made in a related report, the presence of burrowing gobies seems to be of immense benefit for maintaining filter feeders. The assumption is that their constant digging activity sets a great deal of fine food material free. Now, this may sound similar to the 'stirring the sand' theory, but the fish are doing this constantly and this difference may be key. Constant, small feedings.

[Kreeger1]

Interesting!

[GSMguy]

I had mine super super happy with live baby brine shrimp 2x daily, and frozen cyclopeze and DTS phyto. then i went on a 3 week vacation and when i came home it had declined greatly..
here it is when i had it really happy.
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q45/GSMguy/blueberry.jpg

[k.tran]

nice, wow amazing i dont see how you can keep up with them, do you use the auto feeds? or stay at home all day just to feed them? lol :)

[PSam]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12015356#post12015356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kolognekoral

Here is a recipe I've used with success from my friend Stephan P.
4 parts spirulina flakes
3 parts cylop eeze
3 parts Ultra Clam
6 parts Ultra Min F
1 part spirulina powder

these dry ingredients are mixed with Ultra Pac and water to create a thin, slimey fluid that is fed to the animals.



In your experience, how long will this mixture keep? I'm going to try something along these lines, adding in Sea Fan + MinS. Looking to make something that can keep for 2 or 3 days if possible.

[Kolognekoral]

I see no reason not to expect it to keep a few days. Of course, refrigeration after it is mixed with water will keep it longer, but the mix is dry until then. I believe bacteria is possibly beneficial and not a real problem, unless it clogs something! What are you hoping to do?

[PSam]

I wanted to make a simple food that could be dosed / available for the coral 24/7 with my LM3 for the time being, without having to refill everyday. Your 'recipe' posted seems like it would keep for a few days without any problem (mixed in water for dosing). I also have a whole array of FM foods, etc, so was also looking in to something else for daily feeding, but not available 24/7. Since you're in Cologne, maybe you can / wouldn't mind helping... ? :)

I was trying to decipher Jens' slides, numbers 45 to 48, in this link (http://www.korallenriff.de/Sindelfingen2005/Kallmeyer_2005.pdf). From what I get, and please correct anything I've mis-interpreted, there is a "day feed" and a night feed - the day feeding consists of the nighttime food (which we make below), but with addition of your normal fish feeding + fresh hatched artemia.

The night / coral food = Ultra Clam, Min F & S, ultralife, some vitamins? (multisanostol? some iron vitamin?), cyclops, Dt's oyster egg, 100 micron krill mash of sorts and ultra booster.

Mix it all up, let it sit in the fridge overnight.

In the meantime, mix up some UltraPac with Water, MinS, and again this vitamin (multisanostol).

This mix is to be added to the first mixture (clam, min f+s, etc), and all quickly frozen.

Did I get the gist of it?

[Kolognekoral]

Yup, you are pretty good at decoding! I would add to it, that the day food contains essentially whatever one would like to provide for the fish. Jens is using artemia, krill, etc. What I particularly like about his method is the frozen dosing. He is letting a tube of the frozen mixture slowly melt and be pulled into the tank to give a slow feed over a few hours. I could see creating a feeding tube system with a circulation pump (or added in-line) that can be re-loaded 2-4 times per day with a frozen mixture. In theory, one could adapt this further to include non-frozen foods. The real trick would be to create a vacation feeding system which would allow one to load for a full week or more. I hate relying on friends to take care of things when I'm away. Something stupid ALWAYS happens.

[PSam]

I really like the cube idea as well - drop in a cube on the way to the office, drop one in after work, another before bed. Even if on vacation it does make it simpler for care taker (read: Bro-in-law that re-filled top off container with saltwater) to drop the appropriate amount in with out 'too much' worry on my part...

... at least until someone creates the '7 day non-photosynthetic vacation tabs', like the ones shaped like shells or treasure chests for freshwater...

[Kolognekoral]

A quick up-date, as I just received the book Soft Corals and Sea Fans. The genus Acalycigorgia, to which the blueberry gorgonia is typically classified, is a synonym for Acanthogorgia. Unfortunately, the book does not delve down to the species level. An interesting note on this genus; many of the current named species are extremely similar in sclerite structure, which may mean they are all variants of a single super-species. As so little work is being done in this area, we may never hear the end of the story!

[redmangrove]

What are your thought on the book so far?

[Kolognekoral]

As I have found no other book that covers these animals, it is the best available, but really scratches the surface. Written in laymans terms with good diagrams and fotos of the genera, it certainly gives one an excellent basic reference. It does not cover Atlantic species or the eastern Pacific, only central-west Pacific, Indic to the Red Sea.

As there are habitat references, one does get an idea what kind of conditions suite the various genera. Also, the beginning chapters discuss the various characteristics that define genera, which I found very interesting.

What most aquarists will miss is 'how to' references, as this is not a cultural publication for the hobbyist, more intended as a reference to allocate genus and lay-down a foundation of understanding. I would recommend it to the serious aquarist, but not the casual hobbyist, unless they are simply fascinated by marine science. I think most of us on this forum would certainly benefit from it! After all, we hunger for information.