Should I feed my Corals

[Capsle]

Hey reefers,

So I currently have a Torch, wall hammer, Gonipora and Zoas.

I haven't been feeding them directly and they seem to be doing well.

I've been doing a lot of reading on Coral in general lately and a lot of articles say to spot feed them, especially the Goni.

What are your thoughts on it and do you feed yours? If so what should they be fed?

As always, thanks in advance.

 

[Brieninsac]

You definitely need to feed the Goniopora. How long have you had it?

 

[Capsle]

You definitely need to feed the Goniopora. How long have you had it?

I've had it for 2 days now. The LFS said reef roids, is that a good suggestion? I feel my tank twice a day mysis and brime shrimp, and 1-2 a week with LFS nano food.

What exactly is reef roids?

 

[j_mazzy]

I would guess reef roids may be too small for your goni. I use it to feed sps

 

[Sk8r]

REEF NUTRITION (refrigerated) has a nice Oyster puree that even the fish like to snag bits of.

Also, I've had luck with ground up dried jumbo krill, put in a coffee grinder: fish AND corals seem to like it and hammer grew like mad.

 

[jstack]

I've had it for 2 days now. The LFS said reef roids, is that a good suggestion? I feel my tank twice a day mysis and brime shrimp, and 1-2 a week with LFS nano food.

What exactly is reef roids?

LFS nano is a great you already have some good stuff. skip the reef roids till the tank settles it's very easy to o/d a new tank with that stuff.

 

[homer1475]

I've never directly fed my my goni and it grows like crazy, going on 2 years now and its easily tripled in size.

I will admit that I do feed my NPS corals(of course they need food), and I would assume that when I broadcast feed my acans that some of it gets to the goni.

I feed a mixture of LRS reef frenzy, PE mysis, reef chilli, and oyster feast all mixed together.

 

[hkgar]

I never fed any of my softies. They seem to to just fine with decent lighting. Now, I have SPS and some LPS and feed them once in awhile, because it seems like I should. They like fish poop. I don't think they care as long is they have the NO3 and PO4 plus Alk and Ca to grow. And, once again the most important part - light.

 

[Maivortex]

Feed it selco

 

[Str8linespeed]

Im still very new to this hobby, but I just started feeding my Goni. I've had it for 3 months now and it was dying. I didnt know until posting here that it was one that I should try feeding. It seems to like it so far and I hope I can bring it back.

 

[CStrickland]

Gonis are hard to id with certainty. There is a theory that they have a bad rep in the hobby because there are more variations than people realize, each with diff needs. But it probs won't hurt and the torch and the hammer will like a snack a couple times a week too. I find it easier to keep tank nutrients under control using target feeding and not adding a lot of small food to the tank water.

If you're looking for a weekend project, a fun and cheap one is making a batch of 'blender mush.' That's my main fish/coral/tank food. You just go buy a bunch of frozen sea food from an Asian market, or wholesale club like BJs and chop it up in a blender to bite sized bits. There are good recipes online to use as a baseline for what is good (clams, squid, white fish) and what isn't (oily fish like mackerel and blue fish make a mess). Then you freeze it flat in ziplock bags and break off chunks.

I feed the fish 3-4 times a day, nps every other day, and lps 2x a week or so. I've got a good rhythm going where I break off a chunk at night and thaw it out, feed the coral that thick-messy mixture, and rinse the leftovers off to feed the fish the next day. That way I don't add too much of the really tiny stuff and juice that tends to foul the water. And of course with this heavy feeding the fish are pooping plenty of coral food into the water all day long.

As you're getting the hang of feeding pay attention to how the coral reacts. If you look close you can see the diff between them being mad that you are squirting them, and grabbing food. You want the later. Just sort of let it fall out of the baster onto their faces. You'll know you have the right routine and food when they get excited for it