spot feeding candy canes

[hops523]

Yesterday I got a small candy cane coral with 3 heads. I just fed them some mysis shrimp. After it caught onto their tentacles they closed up, but how long does it take them to actually eat it? Because I want to move them now, because I dont like the spot they are in, but I dont want to disturb them while they are eating the shrimp.

Oh and how often should I spot feed these guys if I want them to grow and spread?And how much? I only fed them one mysis shrimp per head.

 

[dragonette]

I cant really answer how long it takes them to eat but I squirt some mysis at my candys everyday. Sometimes they grab it sometimes they dont. They seem pretty happy.
I think if they are extending tentacles, they are wanting a meal

If you want to play it extra safe wait till tomorrow to move them but I dont think its a big deal. once they grab the mysis they arent going to let go!

Jess

 

[GPhiAce]

TO be honest if you are feeding the system, or fish in it, you really don't have to spot feed the candy canes. It is a good thing that you try, and do that, but it is not essential. They also extend their tentacles at night, so if you feed them, do it at night. Once they grab on, and close up-- that's it. Decent flow, feed the system, and good light. They are fairly good low maintance lps. I belavete general rule of thumb is to feed lps 2-3 times per week if you do. After they settle into the tank, they begin to grow at a decent pace, depending on the parameters. Like I said, they are pretty good and hardy lps. I have 4 varieties in my tank now and all have over 20 heads. Good luck

 

[GPhiAce]

Forgot to say that you can also just add the food to the system at night and turn off your skimmer for an hour or 2. That is all that I do now for feeding them. That will feed a large variety of animals in your tank. Good luck

 

[hops523]

Alright thanks. I actually dont have any fish right now, only a cleaner shrimp that I feed. So thats why I'm spot feeding, and I read that if you spot feed it will make them grow faster. I fed them this morning, or I tried to, and I guess once they realized the food was there they extended their tentacles, and ate it. I would have tried to feed them last night, but I didnt see their tentacles come out(probably because I just added them).

 

[DNickell]

I got Candy Canes about a year ago. I've never fed them directly and my tank has been through some major changes since (PCs to Halides, bryopsis and cyno outbreaks, large fish dying behind rock where it couldn't be removed, etc.).

The Candy Cane has nearly doubled in size and is about the best looking coral in my tank. They must be pretty tough.

 

[GPhiAce]

If you spot feed them, then they may grow faster-- makes since. I just don't have the patience to spot feed them when I know they are eatting if I just add food to the tank. Are you using the fine mysis?? or big chunks?? The fine mysis, just put a little in at night, and let them feed. IME if the tentacles are extended in the day, then they will grow fairly quick. My Acans and one of my candy cane colonies bth extend in the day, and they grow just as fast as some of my zoas.

 

[ibnozn]

I've spot fed certain polyps that may have been injured or are just not thriving for some reason. Others that I don't feed grow just fine. I like to give the polyp just one piece of mysis at a time with tweezers, let them deal with the one piece and feed the polyp later if I see the polyps extended again. If I blow too much mysis into one polyp then they seem to just let go of everything a short time later. One piece at a time and I can watch the mysis disappear into the polyp. You can also blow cyclopeeze onto them.

Keep an eye on your cleaner shrimp. I had one that would go and dig the shrimp right out of the polyp. Distracting him worked for a while but eventually it was either him or the caulastrea so he had to go.

 

[Amoore311]

My Candycanes are the biggest pain in the a$$ to feed. So much so that I don't bother any more.

They are growing fine with just the T5 lighting, and w/e food they pull from the water column on their own.


My lobo, cynarina, acan, and brains all open ready to feast extremely fast and suck the food in quickly as well. The candies are incredibly slow and it's a real pain to spot feed them, so I don't.

 

[HankB]

(Noob warning - our tank is about 3 weeks old.(*) )

We have a small green trumpet as one of our first corals. I have been feeding those along with frogspawn and palys with frozen mysis and adult brine shrimp. I spot feed because the tank is lightly stocked at present and we have a lot more bare rock than coral. I know I don't have to feed, but I do because I'm hoping for best growth and feeding the tank in preparation for stocking fish.

I turn the pump off and allow things to settle then gently place individual shrimp in the various corals. The palys and frogspawn respond instantly to this but the trumpets are a bit more subtle. I had been feeding the trumpets after lights out when their feeders came out, but that was awkward because I had to feed the others just before dark when they were already starting to wind down for the day. Today I tried feeding the trumpets mid-day, dropping a mysis on each head. Within a few minutes their feeders appeared and shortly thereafter the shrimp disappeared. So it seems they wil eat during the day when food is dropped right on them. Later when there are fish to steal the food, it may be more effective to feed them after dark.

I have Cyclop-eeze and Coral Frenzy on order to fill out their diet.

Anyway... I'm interested to hear what others are doing so I thought I'd share my experience too, what little of it there is.

(*) We bought a package that included live rock, live sand and water from our dealer's tanks. We never detected any nitrites or ammonia during daily testing and at the end of two weeks our nitrates were at 20 and holding steady. We had a week old diatom bloom and were starting to grow hair algae. We also have what looks like a healthy population of 'pods. A couple of purple mushrooms and 2 snails that hitched in on our rock seem to be doing well, with one mushroom over double his original diameter. At that point we stocked with our CUC and a few corals. At a little more than a week later, it is too soon to spot growth amongst the rest, but they seem to be doing well and nitrates have now dropped to 10 ppm. We also seem to have a resurgence of diatoms (or could be cyano) so I will start rinsing the food to avoid excessive nutrients, though to some extent that is part of my plan to ready the biological filter for the addition of fish, probably a week or two away.

thanks,
hank

edit: Why do I spot the typos *after* I post