Just Got A Sun Coral.....

[cm11599ps]

I just received a sun coral in the mail 2 days ago and from what I could tell, it never opened. I even checked after lights out a few times.

About 6pm today I noticed a head or two opening up the SLIGHTEST bit. I got out some RO tubing and squirted some Reef Chili into the tube, right by it. Next thing I knew the heads that slightly opened ate the food. About 5 heads overall and all in the same area. A minute or two later those guys opened up even bigger then before.

I continued squirting all around the coral and some heads on the other side opened up a bit but nothing crazy. It's been about 3 hours and the heads that were the first to open are STILL open.

Here's the best shot I could take.


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/yourbasicdj/a3ba1a04.jpg

[EllieSuz]

That's a good sign. It isn't unusual for them to remain closed while they get accustomed to new conditions. If you feed it at the same time each day, eventually it will open in anticipation of food (they seem to have an internal clock). I think your coral looks just fine. You can make a really cool feeding tube with a syringe like the ones you buy to give medicine to babies and a length of rigid air tube. Connect the syringe to the airtube with a length of soft tube and put some soft tube on the other end too, so it's softer when you stick in into a polyp. These can be made in any length you like. Here's a picture to illustrate:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk179/EllieSuz/2011-01-28131521.jpg

And here's a picture of my Sun:

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk179/EllieSuz/2010-12-14172054.jpg

[cm11599ps]

Looks great and thanks for commenting. I actually have a long feeder coming in the mail as we speak and my RO tubing was just a temporary fix. lol

I've read stories of them not opening up for people for weeks so I"m glad mine only took 2 days.

[Caesra]

From what I can see in the pic, that one is pretty healthy and should respond for you nicely.

Most of my suns are ****ed off at me right now because they got moved to a different tank. Yellows and orange are happy, quite forgiving..the black and green are mad mad mad.

Sorry...rant. =)

[e46slc]

That sun coral looks great. Give it some time for all the heads to open. If you haven't done it yet, make yourself a feeding bottle head from a 2 liter bottle. It'll keep the snails and crab away from the sun coral when you're feeding it.

[cm11599ps]

Thanks again guys. I just got my seaquirt feeder and just filled it up with some Reef Chili. The sun coral wasn't open at all so I decided to squirt it. It opened up even more then before and more heads opened. There's probably less then 5 heads that won't open and they are on the very top of it.


Here's a shot of when I first got it to open 2 days ago. It's the same pic I posted above.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/yourbasicdj/a3ba1a04.jpg


And here's a shot from a few minutes ago.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/yourbasicdj/dd2f86c1.jpg


So far, so good!

[rayn]

That sun looks good. Make sure you get a shot when all the heads are out and fully open.

[singold]

Nice coral. I have one as well. You can train them to open during the day by feeding them around the same time. Very hardy and forgiving coral, in my experience. I wouldn't go for over a week or so between spot feedings, however. Otherwise, they can close up permanently and hard to get back to health.

[cm11599ps]

Mine's been opening up more and more everyday.

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/yourbasicdj/ff284cab.jpg

[Dan49]

do you keep them in shaded areas of your tank?

[cm11599ps]

do you keep them in shaded areas of your tank?

It's neither in full light or full shade. In the below full tank shot you can see him in the middle front with that flat ruck kind of covering him a bit.


http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e191/yourbasicdj/f9417640.jpg

[Caesra]

I generally keep them in shadeed areas, they are more likely to be open during the day.