sun coral

[lilduud]

i know they are high maintenance and i know they are carnivorous and non-photosynthetic but i really like the things... anyone who has them/has had them...
what is your experience with them and how often do you feed? also what position and flow did you have for them.. any advice helps thanks.

 

[Bifferwine]

I have black ones and I have yellow ones. They need to be fed by hand every other day or so. A turkey baster does the job. Also, you have to feed each individual polyp. Unfed polyps won't survive.

They do best in the shade, because they normally won't open up in the light. So in the shade they open more, you get to see them more, and you get more opportunities to feed them.

Flow isn't very important to them -- they seem to do well in light or moderate flow.

They may be high maintenance as far as feeding goes, but in spite of that, they are really hardy, easy to keep corals, and they grow really fast. I started with 2 polyps of yellow sun corals, and within 4 months or so, I now have close to 20.

 

[yote]

+1 Biff

 

[lilduud]

cool that encouraging black ones?!?!? i didnt know those existed haha but il look into them.. any experience with blakc tube coral? i like that stuff too!

 

[Bifferwine]

They are sometimes called black tube corals (their scientific name is Tubastraea). So I think we are talking about the same thing here.

Here is a picture of black sun corals (not mine, just a pic taken from the web, but mine are the same kind -- branching -- and look the same as these):

 

[lilduud]

oh hmm then the ones ive seen must be in reallllyy bad shape.. they look like black tubes of pvc.... they werent open at all light that... except they were vibrant. they had green runnng through them as well.

 

[Bifferwine]

When they are closed up, they look like those tubes that you described. This is what they look like closed:

 

[lilduud]

oh hmmyea they totally had that shape like exactly but they had more green covering the base.... they musta been sun coral... i think im going to pick some up at my lfs... the ones i saw were a WYSIWYG online dealer so ill see if there are some open ones at pet kingdom :)

 

[Bifferwine]

They will normally be closed at the LFS. Once you bring them home, they will open up.

 

[lilduud]

ok good to note thanks :)

 

[motorcyclereefer]

How are you with the black ones Biff? I have a yellow and a black one. And the black one hardly ever opens but so far he is still alive.

 

[Bifferwine]

It took about a week for my black ones to start opening up at feeding time. Now they are on the same schedule as the yellows, and since they are in a pretty dark area of the tank, they are also usually open during the day. They are happy to eat, and I'm hoping they'll start fattening up, since the polyps are pretty small in size.

 

[motorcyclereefer]

Must be nice. I have had my yellow for two years and he only comes out during the night. I must just be lazy.

 

[Bifferwine]

How often do you feed it? And do you feed it at the same time? You have to get them on a schedule!

 

[lilduud]

whats ur feeding schedule biff?

 

[Bifferwine]

I target feed all my corals every other day, at around 10 pm. The fish eat whatever leftovers the corals don't catch.

 

[motorcyclereefer]

That's my problem I don't have a set schedule.

 

[twps]

I do not feed mine directly on a regular basis. I bought mine from a local fragger who doesn't target feed. I just feed my tank they open up and feed and look good. Target feeding definitely opens them up nicely. I haven't experienced any die off, but no growth either.

 

[x19]

Digging this slightly stale thread up. I picked up an 8 head frag today for $20. I assume I keep feeding them until they close up? Like say a polyp wants multiple pieces of shrimp?

 

[yote]

I've never kept a sun coral.But just give each polyp a little and call it good until the next feeding.