Candy Cane Coral

[lrs183]

Hello!

So today I bought a candy cane coral with about 5 heads on it for 25 dollars. Looked very healthy and seemed like a good buy so I'm happy.

Anyways, I was under the impression that they were happy with just photosynthetic feeding and maybe something like phytoplankton dosed once or twice a week. But tonight I look in and instead of seeing nice inflated heads I see skeleton and tons of sweepers lining them! It was a neat surprise but I've come to understand they can actually be fed.

Any input? I'd greatly appreciate it

 

[alf03]

I feed mine pellets every so often... Helps with growth but they seem to be on the faster side in growing for LPS even without any feeding... They don't usually have tentacles for me until after feeding for me...

 

[lrs183]

Well it definitely opens up at night after I do lights out. It's really neat to see it to be honest. Pellets huh? How large of a pellet are you feeding them? And what's your take on each individual head being fed?

 

[Maaka]

Each head can be fed a pellet and I feed mine shrimp pellets when I'm in the mood. The pellets are probably around a half a centimeter long. also I sometimes target feed brine or mysis shrimp from a turkey baster.

 

[lrs183]

Hm, so likely the tiny pellets I have for my fish would be too small? Do you try to hit the sweeper with the pellet or what?

 

[Maaka]

Any size pellets will work those are just the ones I choose to use. I just aim for their mouths at the center and the tentacles close over it.

 

[lrs183]

Ok, thank you very much! They are wide open again tonight so I figure I will give it a go.

 

[Maaka]

It is not necessary to feed them but it is fun and very interesting to watch.

 

[lrs183]

Ok! Well, I will give it a shot and if the pellet goes blasting away elsewhere and it turns into a big failure I will likely not try it again as I'm not looking to go causing a nitrate spike trying to feed this thing, haha.

I watched a saddle nem eat yesterday and it was pretty fun to watch. Hopefully this thing has a similar level of stickiness so the pellet doesn't blow away. Thing I should kill the flow?

 

[Maaka]

I never do. Once the tentacles has it it's pretty secure.

I love feeding my brittle star small pieces of shrimp. It gets so fat lol.

 

[lrs183]

My brittles are all so small, lol. I'll give an update here soon!

PS, about that saddle nem, they have a super sticky grip! Don't get one unless you're ok with your fish being at risk, haha. Random but had to say it.

 

[Maaka]

Why did I say brittle I meant serpent star. That's what I get for posting on here when I should be sleeping lol.

And thanks for the heads up on the nem. My GF would kill me if I got something that ate her blenny.

 

[lrs183]

So I used my baster and it worked out perfectly. You were right when saying once they've got a hold of it it's good to go. I think only one pellet got away and that's because it never made contact. Was neat and fun to do. My fiance will want to see it next time I'm sure, she may even be a little disappointed that I fed it right before she's getting home from work, lol.

Yeah, my fresh water tank has enough anger issues in it. I went the peaceful route with this tank and I am happy, haha. Figured I'd tell ya.

 

[Maaka]

Glad it worked out.

Yeah I had a freshwater tank for about 3 months until I gave up (puffer ate all the fins off my other fish). I also went peaceful with a nice reef tank. lol