what do candycane corals eat and hammer corals?

[romsoccer12]

can they feed themselves or do they need extra food like mysis? My hammer is doing amazing and ive never feed him. I tried once and he just realease everything. My candycane coral doesnt look to well even though i just got it a couple days ago. Ive heard you turn all the pumps off and squirt mysis so it floats into the tentacles but all my frozen foods dont sink =( Do i need to feed it or can it survive on its own?

 

[Meyeronfire!]

Use a turky baster to target feed twice a week. ie sats and weds. Phytoplankton is great if your not running a fuge. You can find it at your lfs. Just suck it up with the turky baster and squirt it gently over their tentacles. Turn your powerheads off as well.

 

[romsoccer12]

i am running a fuge. so should i just use a turkey baster and use mysis? also, should i feed both my candy cane and hammer?

 

[drparker]

I'm not sure about the hammer but Candy Cane will eat the mysis, mine likes squid pieces.

 

[abulgin]

They will NOT eat phytoplankton--i think you meant zooplankton. Candycanes and hammers should be fed meaty seafoods, I.e., mysis, squid, etc.

 

[Meyeronfire!]

A turky baster and mysis will work. What kind of algae are you using in your fuge?

 

[romsoccer12]

http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/images/17100/frogspawn-green.jpg
thats the type of hammer i have. Ive tried giving him mysis but it just roles of his tentacles. Hes getting bigger every week though..

 

[romsoccer12]

i dont have any algae in my fuge yet. getting chaeto soon though

 

[Meyeronfire!]

chaeto is great. The best thing to do is find a fellow reefer that has had chaeto in their fuge for a while that way you get all the little critters with it. This will help feed your corals.

 

[romsoccer12]

exactly what im doing. The owner of my lfs is giving me some of his

 

[Meyeronfire!]

Well there ya go. But for now just do some target feeding.

 

[romsoccer12]

i cant target feed the hammer. whenever i blow mysis into it, it constricts or doesnt eat them.

 

[Eric the half-bee]

I don't target feed mine, they get what they need from feeding the tank. My candycane has tripled in size in <1year.

 

[ibefishy]

I feed both my candycane and my hammer as well as frogspawn small bits of fish, shrimp, and clam about 3 times a week. I am slowly getting them (candycane) to open around 7:00 pm when I feed everyone else. My candycane has gone from 3 heads when I got it to about 14 in about 8 months under pc lights. All are doing great.

 

[romsoccer12]

do you just drop the bits onto it or are they really small and you just shoot them on

 

[ibefishy]

I use some stainless steel tweezers and hold a small piece of food in them and when the candycane or whatever you are feeding grab onto it let it go and thats it. feeding this way is not for everybody as it will take up to an hour to hand feed everything in the tank from zoas and palys to candycanes and hammers. I also hand feed my peppermint shrimp, elephant ear, and lobophyllia. I have seen an incredible change in everything using regular hand feedings. Plus it is really cheap to make your own food from fish(non-oily), shrimp(wild caught), and clams. Living close to the ocean definitely helps with access to fresh seafood.

 

[romsoccer12]

thx everyone for the help. i think im gunu let my hammer do its own thing because its never been feed and its looking great! as for the candy cane, i finally got some mysis hooked on to it but nothing happened. Its just been stuck on it for a couple hours. How do i stimulate its sweeper tentacles to come out?

 

[Agu]

LPS corals tend to get by without being directly fed. If they're hungry they'll put out feeding tentacles and catch what they need.

And they can be pretty aggressive about feeding. Here's a pic of a euphyllia pooping out the remains of a bristleworm it ate.

 

[Mimmicman01]

I never feed my candy cane coral and they're bigger than quarters some even bigger

 

[Mimmicman01]

I never target feed mine and they are huge