Sun Coral

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I know they like dim lighting but will they do well in my tank with a 55w compaq flourescent with a 50/50???#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[jerryc]

Yes Thea will just remember you will have to feed them Thea don't have the ability to get most of their food from the water and or light like most coral do

[perpetual98]

I don't think that they're photosynthetic at all and need to be fed directly. I've read that they need a lot of direct feeding to survive. You need to feed them every other day or so. Not a good beginners coral.

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#yea i know, they need indevidual polyp feeding but what should i feed them?? And is it true that they only come out at night??? If so, do i have to feed them at night??#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Also, how high in the tank should they be set and how much water movement???#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

what height is not an issue, they are not photosynthetic so they can be pretty much put anywhere in the tank. but you want to make sure they are in a spot where you can get tot them to feed them. you will want to feed them every other day. I had one in the past and fed it mysis, brine,cyclopeeze, I traded it because you really have to take very good care in the feeding of these corals. I would only suggest getting one of these if you have the time to invest into properly caring for one of these. :D

[jerryc]

Thea are Riley not a hard coral to keep its just you have to be dedicated to
taken care of them you cant forget about them for a few days the way you can other corals. If you leave for a few days and let someone else watch them you can lose them Farlee fast

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I am deffiinitly ready to put in the hours to take care of this coral but i am still wondering if they ONLY open at night and if i have to feed them THEN.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

you can acclimate them to open in the day time but this takes some serious work. It took me over a month to get mine to open in the day time. I got up 45 minutes before the lights would kick on in my tank and then would go a llittle longer each day until they would open in the day time.

[dakar]

Angel has found an easy way to get them to open up mid afternoon but squirting them with a little brine shimp juice, they'll start opening, then she feedsthe rest of the critters, by the time she gets back to that side of the tank they are fully open and ready to eat! They will adapt to whatever feeding regieme you come up with.

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#So you feed your sun coral brine?? Ok i will try to teach it to come out around supper time.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I am taking a 3 hour trip to get them on the 30th of October!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

well when you get him make sure to take pics and post them!!!! I would like to make that a forum rule..... when you get something new you have to share it with the rest of us!!! :D

[perpetual98]

An even better rule would be that whenever you get something new, you have to frag it and send part to me. :)

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#That sounds like a good rule to me! I want to know weather or not i should put them ina cave or just in the open? And beleive me, that camera will be SMOKEN when i get the sun coral!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Also, what would be the IDEAL food for them?#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

you can feed them adult brine shrimp, pieces of fish, mysis. You will also want to put themin a pretty strong current that is what they prefer. I would not put them in full light but mild shade if you put them in full sun they run the risk of getting over ran by algae. But if they are kept in good conditions they will reproduce asexually. The guy I gave mine to it reproduced in the tank. you could see little yellow polyps all over the tank. it was kind of neat. He fed it 4 times a week.

[tigersax7]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#I recently got my sun coral and feed it brine or mysis about every other dayits quite happy. On thing not mentioned it that you will need a feeding tube..a pipet or a turkey baister work well...I found that adapting a piece of old air line to the turkey baister works well to give you greater control. Any way hear is a cheeze ball pic of my SC...my good camera is not here right now so I took it with my phone. Enjoy#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#tigersax7#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#IMG style="WIDTH: 143px; HEIGHT: 118px" height=140 src="http://www.captivereefing.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=604" width=158#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[tigersax7]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#ok...I hope you all can see that...if not let me know...#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#i can not see the pic? thanks for the help, what time do you feed yours??#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[dakar]

Nope. you can't hotlink to images in the gallery....(I really need to find a way around this) you'll have to either attach the image to the post, or just post the link to it..

http://www.captivereefing.com/album_showpage.php?pic_id=604

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#wow, im really excited to take the 3 hour drive to get my sun corals after seeing everyone elses! they are awsome looking#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[tigersax7]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Thanks darker...well I tried...Any how I feed Mine at around 7:00 pm so it usualy starts to exstend around 6:00...but it typicaly wont be fully exstended untill about 8:00pm but I have found that the cups dont have top be fully exstended to feed them...if they have a few tenticles out they will grab food if it is there.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#tigersax7#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#so they DONT have to be totaly open to feed???#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[tigersax7]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#nope they havent in my exsperance (sp)... the picture I posted is of mine fully extended, but I have seen them grab food with only having a few tenticles out...I know this because some times I squize the feeding tube to hard and the resulting jet of brine infested water causes them to close but the fee remaining tenticles grab the shrimp none the less.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#tigersa7#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#So. I should put them in a cave with lots of current? Sounds good to me! Also, can you frag off chuncks of them??#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

if you put them in a cave just make sure you are able to get in there and feed him.

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Ya. I basicly have a sirynge with airline tubing on the end. Will that do??#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Will cyclop ees work??? I got my hands on some of that and everything in my tank LOVES it. Its expensive though.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[graphixx]

yeah cyclopeeze will work you will want to mix in some mysis and brine in there also to give him some variety.

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#ok, sounds good. will they eat live brine?#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[tigersax7]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#they will if they can catch them...but inorder for it to be efective (sp) you'll most likely need to had a lot best og with feeding frozen so you can spot feed.#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#tigersax7#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Ya. i plan on feeding cyklopees and mysis. this should be good i think?#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[Reef_Angel]

My Sun Coral are reproducing on the rock like zoas do. I need to frag it because the polyps are getting so tight they really can't show their full glory. I really love mine. When I got it almost a year ago, it had one pink polyp on it, but it was very unhealthy. It's trying to make an appearance again, so I'm hoping!! I do hand feed as Dakar stated (brine shrimp, cyclopeeze (make sure to check your skimmer after feeding cyclopeeze though, it tends to foam up quite a bit from them), and oyster eggs (only as a treat once in awhile due to the price). Since the sun coral do require a certain amount of light, and also so you can enjoy them and have them in the open, l suggest that you put them close to your base rocks in a shadowey area. This proves to be perfect for mine as they are well behaved and know their routine. When I hand feed them, I do spray some of the juice from whatever I'm feeding so they sense that food is there. You'll see them start to open immedietly once they are used to this treatment. I take some time and feed a few other coral with the baster and then come back in 5 minute or so to see if they are ready. Generally they are. I use a baster for all my hand feeding. Once you get the hang of controlling the amount of food you release, you'll be amazed at how easy it is. Once they've finish their first mouthful, I repeat feeding the polyps again. They take them willingly and eat them. I only baster feed my coral once a week with all he pollutants of jjuice that may cause an algae bloom. I also supplement the tank with DT's though, and all of the corals absorb that nutrition during the week. I will mix their dinner in a deeper bowl and set the open and ready polyps right in the bowl and go on with my other feedings. You wouldn't believe how big they get when i's dark. I love to go look at them, and since I added the oysters to their diet, when they polyp out to their fullest, they are close to 2" tall and their beautiful heads are 1/2" across their flowery top. Oysters are fed by baster to each coral, but due to the price of oysters here in WI, I do feed most of the coral by using the bowl soak method when doing an oyster egg feed. Their faces were so fat and their mouths were puckered full of food. They looked beautiful after their dinner, but to be sure the got enough, I dip their heads into the bowl full of oysters and let them suck up all they want. I call these very happy sun corals, but always forget to take their pics 'cause it's dark out by that time and the camera just doesn't do them justice! I wrote about my other method of feeding them that's very effective from what I see when they are done. This in a prior thread the other evenng. My candycanes, my frogspawns, my meat polyp that is sickly since it got lost in the tank quite a while ago and had to fend for itself. I'm glad to say that he's coming back around. He ate 2 silverside fish last week. My sebae anemone either gets the brine shrimp (the baster is chocked full to the top with brine shrimp), or I feed her I literally put my closed hand full of fish and dive into her middle and release a fist full of silversides. She closes around my fist in order to not let one of the silversides get away from her. She' as big a a large dinner plate...I can't believe she was ever 3-4" across when we got her. The fish in the tank obviously know the danger there.\so there's no hosting going on in there. I think the only fish she wouldn't be able to eat in one bit is my 8" Sailfin Tang. She'd have to sting Sally Sailfin to knock her down. We notice that the fish go near her when she eats thinking they might steal some of her food, but when they get to close you see the flinch back as if they got a terrible electric shock. They stay back after that!. I have a feeeling this post is jumbled all over the place. I'm real tired and took my medication to end me day, so that's what I need to do. Good luck with your feeding!

[zoo-a-holic]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl#Wow, what a perfect post! Now all i need to do is wait 25 days till i can go and get them. Im so excited to see their bright orange heads come out in my tank!#ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#