Favia advise needed

[Pool_shark]

I picked up my first frag of favia as an impulse (good idea, I know) and I must admit that I do not know how to care for it. Right now it's in my frag rack high in my tank under halide lighting, but I think it's starting to turn brown around the edges. It's been in this spot in the tank for 2-3 weeks now, and is just now starting to look like it's not getting something that it needs. I would say the water flow in this location is medium, and my water parms are good except nitrates might be a little elevated right now.

Can someone give me some general advise on feeding, flow, and lighting to care for a favia? You can see it pictured at the back right in the photo below.
Thanks.

 

[LokiPbc]

Maybe too much lighting? I have always kept mine pretty low. You can try feeding it. Be careful, I had small frag with sweepers that were 6" long, stinging everything it could get too. Check on it a night time.

 

[chrisfont23]

I keep one high, one mid and one low in my 90g. They are under six ecoxotic panorama pro LEDs. The one up high is crazy glued to a rock that I will never get off. It does not grow at all. I rarely see a sweeper tentacle too. The one in the middle portion of the tank has taken off nicely. It has consistent sweepers and spreads. The low one also grows nicely and has the best coloration IMO.

I have found that with favias or other open brain / maze types, the growth rate is very slow when compared to other things in my tank. Although a cool coral and very colorful, when compared to my other LPS (Ricordea, Duncans, Acans) they are not worth the effort.

 

[Pool_shark]

Thanks for the comments so far. I haven't seen any sweepers on mine yet at all. I think I'll move him lower in the tank. In terms of nutritional needs, are favia primarily photosynthetic to the point that additional target feeding is not needed? If not, what foods should be target fed? I don't see how it could take in any solid foods, as I see no real 'mouth.' Should I target feed him some mysis 'juice' rather than the solids? I really have no idea here . . .

 

[chrisfont23]

Check out oyster feast - I mix with cyclopeeze and some water. I then hit them with the turkey baster.

 

[Pool_shark]

I do have some phyto feast on hand. Are they into phyto, or just meaty foods?

 

[chrisfont23]

Most meaty fish foods like krill, mysis, and brine shrimp will work. The pieces of food for the Favia corals will need to be small enough for the coral polyp to pull in. Having small pieces of food will also allow the coral polyp to pull the food in fast enough that hopefully something like a cleaner shrimp or interested fish will not steal it.

 

[greech]

That particualr favia (commonly called "Dragon Soul") does not like high light. If you are running halides, I would not leave it where it is for too long. It might be able to be acclimated to that location over time, but for now, it should be low in the tank.

 

[kurt_n]

Thanks for the comments so far. I haven't seen any sweepers on mine yet at all. I think I'll move him lower in the tank. In terms of nutritional needs, are favia primarily photosynthetic to the point that additional target feeding is not needed? If not, what foods should be target fed? I don't see how it could take in any solid foods, as I see no real 'mouth.' Should I target feed him some mysis 'juice' rather than the solids? I really have no idea here . . .

Mouth is in the middle of each polyp. It'll be obvious when you feed. I've found Two Little Fishies ZoPlan works good, as well as finely chopped meaty foods like mysis, scallops, etc. Like many LPS, they'll normally get what they need from the water column and light - but they won't complain if you want to feed them! You'll see faster growth that way.

Agree with others... it doesn't want to be high in the tank under those halides.

 

[chrisfont23]

That particualr favia (commonly called "Dragon Soul") does not like high light. If you are running halides, I would not leave it where it is for too long. It might be able to be acclimated to that location over time, but for now, it should be low in the tank.

Greech... any idea what type of favia this is?