Feeding Acans and Micros

[coralfever]

I am curious as to what other peolple do. Can you over feed acans and micros? How often do people target fed them and what type of food do you usually give them?
Thanks

 

[Hypertek99]

A lot of people feed them mysis shrimps. They will eat just about anything you give it. I don't think you can overfeed them??? If you want them to grow faster then feed it more often. If not then like 2-3 times a week. Heck I don't even feed some of mine and they still grow.

 

[ct_vol]

You don't have to feed them, but it will encourage growth if you do feed them... I highly doubt you can over feed them... Usually if they don't want the food, they either won't accept it, or they'll spit it back out later when the lights are out...

 

[army67romeo]

how are you guys feeding them? i just trun off my tank and feed the fish and hope they get theres

 

[army67romeo]

 

[Serioussnaps]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10275409#post10275409 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by army67romeo
how are you guys feeding them? i just trun off my tank and feed the fish and hope they get theres

Turn off flow and use a turkey baster, syringe or something.

 

[Hypertek99]

I hand feed mine. Just put a piece or 2 of mysis shrimp in their tentacles when it's out. It will grab it and gobble it up.

 

[ct_vol]

I use 8" tweezers... They're awesome!!!!!!

 

[Tyke]

I use 10" stainless steel tweezers I got from Foster & Smith for like 10 bucks. They work great. I've read a few times that if you overfeed acans, they lose color but it hasn't happened to me. I usually feed mysis or Cyclopeez once or twice a week. In my tank there seems to be an adjustment period for new frags or colonies that takes anywhere from a couple weeks to a couple months where they show little or no growth and then all of a sudden they really take off.

 

[All Delight]

Yah, some of mine have taken a couple of months to settle in then suddenly I'm getting like 3 or 4 polyps a month. But geez, some have been in there for a year and I've gotten maybe 2 polyps.

 

[vessxpress1]

I use Eheim tongs to feed mine. Don't even get my hands wet. They're big and clumsy but they do work. I just used them yesterday to target feed with frozen plankton. The plankton are just a little larger than my frozen mysis (although I use both) and are really easy to target feed with. The key is to leave as much of the shrimp out away from the tongs while pinching just enough of it to hold it, so you don't bump the coral with them.

I fed my candycanes and then the acan lords. I'm really surprised at how well the lords accept food. The tentacles are really sticky and they are very aggressive when ripping food in. Some of the larger ones eat fast.

 

[vessxpress1]

I'm thinking about getting a 2 ft stainless steel rod of some sort and somehow attaching a fine needle to the end. I think that setup would work much better and easier.

 

[vvolfe1]

Well, I feed my Acans and Mircos 4-5 times a week. They will eat anything but I feed them Mysis with alittle cyclops. The cyclops seems to get the feeder tentacles out so they'll take the mysis. I have not noticed my Acans Growth increase to much. The Micro on the other hand has doubled in size in the last month.

I've just used a cheap turkey baster with a piece of clear hard tubing in the end for added length. I really doubt you can over feed them.

 

[skyhigh]

I feed mine every other day ,And they seem to love it. For the food i just took a bunch of great foods ,And mix them all into one.

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Turkey baster, $3.

 

[sinister52]

how are u using the tongs to feed. how is it holding the food it seam to always fall apart if i try that to use. so i use a baster

 

[Hypertek99]

Yeah the tongs that i have don't hold the mysis shrimp very good as the end of the tong is too big. So i just hand feed mine now. Those of you that use Basters does the food float away or do the Acans catch them pretty good??

 

[vvolfe1]

Using a turkey baster works very well. You can control the amount of fluid and mysis you put in it. In turn you can then control the amount you send out to each polyp. I put a 1/8" clear hard tube on the end of my baster and can easily tell how much is coming out. My Acans and Micros probably have around a 90% capture rate on mysis this way.
Almost all my other LPS I feed this way too. Favias do not do as well but I've been to impatient to wait for their feeder tenticles to come out.