Sun coral feeding?

[Ninja120]

What do you guys feed sun corals, and how do you guys make them eat?

[dreamaloud]

Mysis Shrimp. Larger than some other frozen foods and easy for the coral to grab onto and shove in its face. I don't have to make it eat, it makes ME feed it. It's quite demanding as soon as I shut the light off. My pom pom crab has moved in underneath the sun to grab the fallen shrimp.

[Ninja120]

my suncoral has developed what looks like yellow flakes on the outside of it. Is that good or bad? I just covered my suncoral and spray some plankton and mixed seafood with turkey baster. I am trying to find a better way to feed it.

[dreamaloud]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8286969#post8286969 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Ninja120
my suncoral has developed what looks like yellow flakes on the outside of it. Is that good or bad?

No idea, mine has a few too and I know it's well fed. Anyone know? They might be baby polyps but they seem too far out of the center to me.

[Chelsey]

I have oranges and blacks and here's their feeding regimen:
-about 30 minutes before I feed them I put a little bit of frozen cyclopeeze in the tank...I feed with the lights on
-every day they either get squid or mysis, I alternate.
-I feed each polyp with a pipette
-about 1-2 a month they get tiny hunks of silverside

I've had great success with this regimen...hope it works for you :)

[Ninja120]

would it be ok to pull the suncorals out of the tank and put them in another bowl with aquarium water then squirt some DT plankton in there? If so can you ever put too much?

[Ninja120]

how do you pippette it to them? Do you stick in their mouth of jus squirt right above them? I been using a turkey baster and doing over the colony hoping they grab what they can. Also do you give them chunks? or finely grinded pieces?

[seattlerob]

I feed mysis & meater frozen foods (rod's, formula one) using a turkey baster, about 20-30 minutes after the lights go off. I generally feed the other corals 1st, which seems to stimulate the sun coral polyps. By the time I feed them, their polyps are fully open. When I aim the turkey baster at the polyps, they grab onto the food & start eating. The polyps close up for 5-10 minutes before they open up again. They are noticably fatter after this :)

[Ninja120]

I cant seem to get mine to eat? it doesnt seem like it wants to open up. I can see some of the skeleton and i dont want it to worsen. Any ideas on what to do?

[jessp]

i think that taking them out and placing in another container at feeding is fine. good way to stimulate feeding, this is what i did. worked well for me. now they open much faster when food stimuli is added to main tank. just my opinion

[Ninja120]

I tried taking it out of the tank and feeding it but for some reason it didnt open up. Any ideas? I just checked them it has been about 2 hours since lights out and they arent extended and arent really feeding? Do they stay close awhile before they start opening up in a new tank?

[ReefBuilderNJ]

i usually add marine snow or cyclops in the tank and then the polyps extend and i feed brine and mysis

[Ninja120]

how long does it usually take for their polyps to extend?

[D-Style]

Ninja,

Try to entice it to open with liquid that has thawed from the frozen food.

Once it opens up. Just feed one of the polyps. After that. wait about 20 minutes and most of them should be open. Then you can feed all of them much easier.

If you ever walk by and see that on of the polyps has some tentacles out, feeding it will cause most of them to pop out.

Hope that helps!

[Ninja120]

I will try to entice, do you guys use selcon or anything of that sort?

[Ninja120]

Also do you guys feed at a constant schedule like everyday at a certain time? If so that might be my problem.

[seattlerob]

I feed usually about 20-30 minutes after lights out.

[Ninja120]

well I just thawed out some mix seafood with the tank water. Used a turkey baster and sprayed a small mix to try to entice it. Came back 20 minutes later and they didnt really open. So used the turkey baster again this time sucking up the big chunks then sprayed it on top of the sun polyp so that chunks would sit near and on their mouth. Waited a little more and still nothing I thought maybe cause the food was settled and they dont taste it so I spray the food with turkey baster so they would float around and hopefully get a taste of it and still nothing. Anymore ideas? Should I force feed?

[Ninja120]

Any other ideas? Please help I want to make these corals healthy again

[lux_06]

when feeding in a bowl outside of the tank i would make sure u dont expose the coral to air or handle it in a way that makes it think it needs to remain closed to be safe. also make sure that water in the bowl doesnt cool down too much cos i know if i leave a litre or so of tank water out for 5 minutes its cold allready.

ninja, i would check all of your params and place the coral in a more shaded position if its not allready. and then i would try feeding it half an hour after lights out, turn all the tank pumps off also so that when u spray the food onto the sun coral it hangs around. if its still not feeding then something else in your tank is bothering it or u bought a bad specimen... how long have u had it and has it ever fed???

adam

[Ninja120]

I have had it a week now. So far no it has not fed. It is in a cave in my tank so no light is hitting it. I turn off the pumps to feed usualy 30min - 1 hr after lights out. I used tank water and soaked it in the mixed seafood and spray the juice at it so I can try and entice. Waited about 20 minutes no response so i tried using the turkey baster and getting some food in it. Then I spray the food so it lands on top of the suncoral and let it sit there. Still response even when the food is sitting right on its mouth.

[AndyB4784]

they need to be in heavy flow also you should not put the "juice" from the frozen food into the tank, try to thaw the food dump the juice and refill with tank water. try moving it around to an area with better flow and see if it dosn't open up. lighting dosn't matter as this coral dosn't have zooanthelle the only concern with high lighting is algae growth in between the polyps. this was one of my first corals and i have seen good growth from feeding it mysis using a turkey baster and a feeding hat.

[Ninja120]

Ok sorry for the late responses. Thank you for all you help but I dont think it will make it. Maybe I got a bad speciman I hope that is the case it make me feel a little better. I am going to keep trying but more than 1/2 the skeleton is exposed and the mouths are not opening still. I just moved it to a place with higher flow, I did a big water change to see if that helps and still nothing. Been trying to still entice it but no luck. If the sun polyps all die will it harm the tank? Causes any spikes or toxins released?