Sun Coral

[RFD]

I have a small piece of sun coral that isn't doing well. It doesn't seem to eat. i place a tube over the coral and then shoot small brine shrimp into the tube The first time I did it the largest part of the coral opened and ate a shrimp.

When and how do I know that the coral is "awake" or ready to eat? Is there something I can do with the lighting or time? Better question how do I know if it is dead?

Any advise please

 

[BigH55]

Sun corals are non-photosynthetic. You actually can train them to eat at certain times of the day, and they will open at that time. Suncorals dont take very kindly to light and open about an hour after the liights go out. Thats what mine did. Once they start doing that they will grow very well. Keep doing what your doing and pay attention when they are open and feed them.

 

[yote]

+1 BigH
Sun corals are one of the tough ones to keep because of the feeding habits.

 

[biodarwin]

Put them under an overhang or shady area. They do not like a lot of light.

 

[BigH55]

They are tough to figure out, but once you find thier pattern, you'll have a great coral. They are one of my favorites, but they don't really "Fit In" in most reef tanks. I would love to have a tank of Suns and Dendros. You will know when they are dead. The tissue around the polyps will decay from around the sleleton until its only in the cavity where the polyp was. Good thing about these guys is that they react very well to feeding and they dont suddenly die. It takes a couple weeks of not eating for the polyps to retract and die. Also remember that each polyp is a stand alone organism.

 

[mblack]

as above, also it can take a few weeks for it to start feeding properly, try some cyclopeze to tempt it out, that's how I got mine going

oh and get a picture up!

 

[mng777777]

Mine open every day for most of the day, while the lights are on. I just fed them 3 time a day with a small amount of cyclopeze to "chum" the water. it took a long time to get them on my schedule but now they don't wait for food to hit the water, they open regardless.