How often should I fed my LPS?

[OceanLyons]

I have frogspawn, hammers, and blasto merletti. How often should I be feeding them? Is it possible to overfeed?

 

[musty baby]

you don't need to feed them if you have sufficient light, and no it is not possible to overfeed but it IS possible for you to overload your tank with food and end up with a big green hairy mess.

 

[Chaotic Reefer4u]

good advice...

good advice...

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8622608#post8622608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
you don't need to feed them if you have sufficient light, and no it is not possible to overfeed but it IS possible for you to overload your tank with food and end up with a big green hairy mess.

what he said...

 

[Jose Antonio]

i do one time a month

 

[Hormigaquatica]

In the wild they feed almost constantly- small amounts of food always flowing over them, and they will grab what they can. If you do small feedings daily, that would be best for them. As mentioned, they dont Have to be fed, but you will get much better growth and overall health if you do offer food- photosynthesis provides enough nutrients to keep the animal alive normally, but not enough to provide "excess" nutrients to use for growth and reproduction- just basic survival.
Keep an eye on your water if you start feeding regularly- bump up water changes and make sure you have a good skimmer because all those nutrients in the water can affect tank params and algae growth

 

[duec22]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709307#post8709307 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Hormigaquatica
In the wild they feed almost constantly- small amounts of food always flowing over them, and they will grab what they can. If you do small feedings daily, that would be best for them. As mentioned, they dont Have to be fed, but you will get much better growth and overall health if you do offer food- photosynthesis provides enough nutrients to keep the animal alive normally, but not enough to provide "excess" nutrients to use for growth and reproduction- just basic survival.
Keep an eye on your water if you start feeding regularly- bump up water changes and make sure you have a good skimmer because all those nutrients in the water can affect tank params and algae growth

-what he said...These animals developed feeding mechanisms for a reason....I've actually found that some LPS, esspecially some of the chalice type corals, look more colorfull and do far better under low light with direct feeding than they do under high light with no feedings...although you may not be able to get the FS and hammers to feed directly...those are two LPS that I've never been able to obtain a feeding response from, but I've heard a number of accounts of people having success directly feeding them.

 

[musty baby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709397#post8709397 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by duec22
These animals developed feeding mechanisms for a reason....

Actually they developed symbiotic associations with zooxanthellae for a reason. Zooxanthellae cannot develop associations with animals that don't already have feeding mechanisms, for those animals would already be dead

 

[duec22]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709520#post8709520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
Actually they developed symbiotic associations with zooxanthellae for a reason. Zooxanthellae cannot develop associations with animals that don't already have feeding mechanisms, for those animals would already be dead

To be honest I don't know enough about coral evolution to dispute or accept that claim...although it has gone the other way...ie. venus fly trap..although this is a plant and not an animal....but coral aren't your typical animal either...so I'm really not sure which came first the chicken or the egg...I would just utilize all the corals abilites to keep them healthy and growing, no matter which came first..

 

[Hormigaquatica]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709520#post8709520 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ryansholl
Zooxanthellae cannot develop associations with animals that don't already have feeding mechanisms, for those animals would already be dead

lol... never really thought about that, but good point

 

[musty baby]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8709703#post8709703 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by duec22
To be honest I don't know enough about coral evolution to dispute or accept that claim...although it has gone the other way...ie. venus fly trap..

You're thinking way too hard about it duec22-

Coral with feeding mechanism + zooxanthellae = symbiosis

Coral with no feeding mechanism = dead coral

Dead coral + zooxanthellae = dead coral


It actually worked the exact same way with the venus fly trap, the plant had to be photosynthesizing prior to developing the fly-catching ability, or it just would have been a dead plant

 

[GSMguy]

ok what do you all feed your frogspaws mine is healthy has added 5heads in as many months i have it 7inches from 130watt powercompact what should i feed it ive tried cyclops with mysis just cyclops squid krill chopped silverside nothing gets it so stick anything in its mouth my friend has a hammer that ets live brine and you can see the feeding resoponse my hammer never does this any ideas

 

[musty baby]

Punctuation is our friend.

My first thought is why feed? A feeding response with euphyllia isn't the norm, and they grow like weeds on just light.

No ideas for you, GSMguy. I have a 1/4" frogspawn that I got from my girlfriend, she's had hers go from 3 to what would have been 30 heads in a couple years, if it weren't for the dremel. I blast mine with cyclopeeze but it's just for fun, I don't know if it actually takes any even if I have seen some of it stick.

 

[porky]

I agree, IME most LPS do better when NOT spot fed and will get most of the energy they need to grow from enough light.

 

[musty baby]

I agree that most will do just fine without spot feedings, but I definitely disagree with most LPS doing better. If a coral will take food, both common sense and my experience say it will do much better with feedings so long as you're not feeding so much as to foul the water.

 

[BridgetP]

I have owned 2 seperate Frogspawns that loved to eat mysis, krill and cyclopeeze it would catch these foods like fly pape,r and open up its huge mouth hole for it. They were both directly under halides and grew like crazy. I got rid of them because they got so big.