Feeding one mouth = others?

[BWSR]

Hey there. Did some searching on coral feeding and got some great into, but I couldn't find an answer specific to the concept that because a coral splits into other mouths or creates new polyps in its own colony, does it also then share food/nutrients?

What I'm asking is, if I feed only one of the mouth's or polyps, will it distribute the food to the rest of the colony? Or should I try harder to feed newly spawned mouths? Thanks all!

 

[kegogut]

No,each individual mouth/polyp is an individual animal. Most corals will do fine with a broadcast feeding and dont need to be fed directly though.

 

[BWSR]

No,each individual mouth/polyp is an individual animal. Most corals will do fine with a broadcast feeding and dont need to be fed directly though.

So you're saying a powder like reef roids with pumps on will feed everything? I kind of don't like that idea because there's going to be so much wasted food adding to the nitrate/phosphate levels, no? If I had filter feeders like a fan or something, I'd have to, but there must be better ways

 

[Webmanny]

So you're saying a powder like reef roids with pumps on will feed everything? I kind of don't like that idea because there's going to be so much wasted food adding to the nitrate/phosphate levels, no? If I had filter feeders like a fan or something, I'd have to, but there must be better ways

You are right. It all depends on how much time you have in your hands. For me, I target feed once a week or so. My process is below. Please note that I do this the day before I do a water change and filter sock cleaning. This way, all the waste that was not consumed by the corals, is removed from the tank the very next day.

I don't know if this is what is best, but it has worked for me so far.

• Turn off pumps, filter and power heads
• Make a mixture of tank water and Coral Frenzy(My corals love this food)
• Target feed as close to each mouth as possible
• Leave everything off for 20 minutes or so
• Turn everything back on

 

[Art13]

What type of lps are we talking about here, certain ones due share nutrients from my understanding, acans, chalice, favia, any with a shared skin I guess you would call it, from what I've been told in the past, while others like Duncan's, frogspawn and such would not share that I'm aware of. Please correct me if im wrong here but I had asked this question in the past, specifically about acans and that is where I got this info.

 

[BWSR]

What type of lps are we talking about here, certain ones due share nutrients from my understanding, acans, chalice, favia, any with a shared skin I guess you would call it, from what I've been told in the past, while others like Duncan's, frogspawn and such would not share that I'm aware of. Please correct me if im wrong here but I had asked this question in the past, specifically about acans and that is where I got this info.

I am interested in acans, chalice, and favites, yes; anything with a shared skin, including zoanthids and GSPs.

 

[scooter31707]

Yes if you have time on your hands feed each individual head. For example, my case I feed each head mysis and the baby heads reef chili or marine snow. Just make sure all your pumps and powerheads are off, you don't want too much food in the tank in one setting.

 

[Tweaked]

Most stony corals share the food captured via tunnels within the skeleton. Not all mouths need to be feed for the colony to benefit. Yes individual animals, but they make up a colony connected by tunnels. This is why a fresh cut coral takes time to get back into the swing of things.

 

[BWSR]

Most stony corals share the food captured via tunnels within the skeleton. Not all mouths need to be feed for the colony to benefit. Yes individual animals, but they make up a colony connected by tunnels. This is why a fresh cut coral takes time to get back into the swing of things.

So I think this is the most accurate.
Did some more research:
http://coraldigest.org/index.php?title=Scleractinians

"Polyps in colonial corals are connected by a coensarc, an extension of the polyps body walls that creates a common gastrovascular system that allows the polyps to share food, water and wastes; so successful feeding by individual polyps benefits the colony as a whole."

Which comes from:
http://www.agrra.org/background/coralback1.html

"Anatomy of corals

A coral may consist of a single polyp or a colony of thousands of polyps that are linked by a common gastrovascular system through which they share food, water, and wastes with surrounding polyps."

 

[Tweaked]

exactly, common knowledge I thought