black sun coral

[happyjack]

these are the most under rated corals there are.they are cheap and the guy at my lfs said that i'd be lucky if i ever saw the polyps.with some cyclopees ,mysis and coral frenzy i've gotten them to open for 8 hours straight 3 days in a row .

 

[ryansweet]

That's awesome! I have been trying to get my LFS to get some black suns in for about two months now. I have a really nice yellow sun colony but would love to find a black one to add!

 

[stunreefer]

Nice Tubastrea miracantha :thumbsup: If you keep feeding it frequently it will do very wel for you, and eventually the tissue should regrow where it has receeded on the base.

That guy from your LFS needs to be taught a thing or two about non-photosynthetic coral... or they should stop bringing them in

 

[Trichome]

I agree with you Stunreefer. Its so sad to see suncoral and other non photosynthetic coral suffering in a dealers tank because they either don't know how to care for them or don't want to take the time. I am a sucker for a coral in need.

 

[Thomas McCallie]

I agree. I have been trying to get some from my LFS but no such luck.

 

[suta4242]

How many polyps does yours have? For the obliquely angled polyps how do you feed?

I made what I now think is a mistake in buying one of these. Its in reasonably good condition but is not opening even when theres food in the water that'd tempt other sun corals.

I say mistake because mine is 8-10" tall and 10 - 12"wide, with a couple of main branches and each of these has a couple of branches. I stopped counting at 143 polyps. Even if I try to drop food into individual polyps, the polyps are all at different angles making it very hard to do so.

I'm really worried as it looks like this coral will die if I can't figure out how to feed it.

 

[happyjack]

you could try taking the coral out of the tank and placing it in a small bucket or dish that it fits into.obviously filled with tank water . then feed the coral what doesn't get eaten stir the water and the coral should be feedable. good luck cause 150 pluss fat polyps must look awesome

here are mine after 2 weeks open almost all day and a turker baster full of coral frenzy and they open up again

 

[stunreefer]

suta4242, I agree with happyjack in that you'll probably have to remove it and "douse" the coral with food... based on it's size I'd so it in a 5 gal bucket with just enough water to cover the top of the colony.

IME Tubastrea miracantha is one of the "peskier" Tubastrea species to get to opne initially, but once they do, they readily feed. Check out the first post on this page about "dousing" these types of corals with food: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1528186&perpage=&pagenumber=2


happyjack - yours are looking fantastic! Keep up the great work :thumbsup:

 

[suta4242]

Well I,m trying to dose the polyps with food in a separate container. Still hasn't opened up!

happyjack or stunreefer, did your open up immediately or did you have to persist with 'dousing' for a week or two before anything happened?

 

[stunreefer]

suta4242, sometimes it would take a while to get them to open... generally I use the method I linked above by placing a small chunk of food in the container prior to moving the coral into it (about 5 mins). This will ensure the "scent" of the food is prevelent in the water before you place the coral in it. Place the coral in the container, and add a bit more food to the water - trying to drop the food down onto polyps (open or not). Let it sit for about 15 minutes, and hopefuly by then the polyps will start to slightly open... all you need is one or two tentacles sticking out of a polyp initially, and place some food on the tentacle. Over time the polpys will fully open and you can feed them more aggressivley.

GL :thumbsup:

 

[happyjack]

you can also try cyclops in the container and use a turkey baster to create flow .the cycolps should stick to closed polyps and coax the to open .this is the best way to make sure all the polyps eat. IMO..i fed mine like this today just as the lights went on and the polyps have been out all day

 

[happyjack]

dont be affraid to over feed them either since you could dump out excess food from the container or use it to target feed other corals.hence make a nice soup for them to eat with small and medium particles

 

[Kimdive]

How come the sun coral doesn't mind being moved out of the tank to feed it, like other corals?

 

[stunreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15215796#post15215796 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kimdive
How come the sun coral doesn't mind being moved out of the tank to feed it, like other corals?

What other corals are you reffering too? Most corals do not HAVE to be spot fed... I would say any Dendrophylliidae can be moved out of the tank to feed it if necessary, including the few photosynthetic varieties of Dendrophylliidae.

With that said I wouldn't say they like it, or even that they do not mind it, however once you douse the container with tons of food they're very happy. Feed them well, let the polyps close a bit (I always shake them to ensure polyps are nicely closed) then place back into the main tank. They generally will open within fifteen minutes or so, where you can feed them again in your main tank :thumbsup:

 

[Kimdive]

I'm referring to Open brains, Scinarena, Candy corals, Cynarina Coral, Fungia, Elegence these are just to mention a few. But I see what you mean about they don't HAVE to be spot feed, we just know that in the closed system they usually die pretty quick without it.

Like you said though, they wouldn't eat if they were not happy with being taken out of the tank.
How long have you kept sun corals for?

 

[stunreefer]

Any of the corals you listed can be taken out of the tank for feedings... you'd just have to wait for them to "swell" again, but I've never found it necessary to do so.

Tubastrea and other NPS genus from the family Dendrophylliidae generally need a high content of food in the water to cause them to open - intially at least, moreso than the "LPS" you mentioned. This is why the "douse in container" method is so efficient.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15221742#post15221742 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kimdive
How long have you kept sun corals for?

A fist size colony of Tubastrea faulkneri was the second or third (don't remember) coral I purchsed once my first reef tank was ready for coral back in March of 2004 :thumbsup:

 

[Kimdive]

well if it's still alive to this day, then it can't be doing it too much harm

 

[stunreefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15224622#post15224622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kimdive
well if it's still alive to this day, then it can't be doing it too much harm

I only remove the coral for feeding like this for a couple weeks... eventually they start to open in the main tank where you can spot feed them there.

Particularly for Tubastrea, they're generally starving by the time they get into our tanks... this method coaxes them to open, where they never would do so initially in a DT. This method gets them feeding and growing again.

The coral I mentioned above encrusted onto a rock very fast where it continued to spread and spawn. Ideally this is what you want to happen, but sometimes at first they need a bit of TLC to make them heakthy and happy again

BTW I noticed you're a dive instructor... :thumbsup: Awesome! I love diving!

 

[Kimdive]

I'm pretty lucky with mine, they opened up 2nd night in my DT Being such a small country, they arrive at the shops very quickly, so most stuff is very healthy.

Yes, diving is awesome, especially when you see all looking so bloody healthy and then you can appreciate this hobby more ;-)

 

[gobygoddess]

Wow those are awesome happyjack!! I would looooove to have some. I just got my first dendro. I love the look of these types of coral. My LFS guy special orders for me and my man and he would probably be able to get me some. I might be in touch for more advice, if/when I get one.