Getting a sun coral to open up

[dchec2100]

So a friend of mine inhereted a sun coral before knowing how to properly take care of one, so I'm taking it off his hands as I do not mind doing the extra work that one of these requires. Anyway, the polyps are closed all of the time. I get the little "mouths" to open up when I dowse the coral with marine snow, but it never fully blooms, so to speak, like some of the pics I've seen on here. Any ideas on how to make it open up fully? Also, I checked with a LFS and they said they two they have only open at night. I don't have any special lighting other than the normal output that the tank came with (it's a FOWLR). Thoughts?

 

[emmitt2]

Doesnt need special lighting but it needs to be fed. Try a few drops of selcon/zoecon in the tank and it should open right up. Then feed it, try something meaty. I use a mix of shrimp, scallops, clam, squidd with frozen cyclopeeze mixed in. After mine eats it is fully open for the rest of the night. It can definitely be trained to open when you want it to based on feeding schedule.

 

[dchec2100]

I've gotten it to open slightly with marine snow being shot down to it using a turkey baster, but the little mouths just open up some, it doesn't completely bloom. Also, I have trouble with the marine snow quickly floating to the surface.

 

[viper_930]

It doesn't open even at night after the lights turn off?

 

[dchec2100]

Originally Posted by ViPeR_930
It doesn't open even at night after the lights turn off?
That is correct. I've only had it for two days though. It's been the same since I've gotten it... Small polyps, about 1/2 inch tall on the rock, about 1/4 inch wide.

 

[viper_930]

Let it get used to the new environment first. A lot of my sun corals take up to a week before they open.

 

[dchec2100]

They pretty much all look like this, except a little smaller. Actually, the ones in this pic are open more than mine.

 

[emmitt2]

Ouch!! You need to feed that sun IMMEDIATELY!!
there should beorange flesh all around the polyps where you can see rock. That sun has some serious recesion. You can definitely revive it though just start feeding every day. To keep the food from floating away get a small plastic bowl(tupperware makes some great small ones) drill a hole in the top and sides. Put the cup over the sun and shoot the food in with a syringe(iuse a joes juice syringe). This way they can eat at peace for hours if need be, after you take the cup off, your crabs and shrimp if any should eat any leftovers.
Try my recipe, go to the grocery and get just an ounce or 2 each of shrimp, scallop, clam, squidd and mussels(about $5). Blend it really fine in a food processor with some selcon or zoecon. I also mix in a few teaspoons of frozrn cyclopeeze. I spread it on a piece of tin foil(thin so you can break or cut it) and then freeze it. Every other day i break off a small chunk and thaw it in a shot glass with some tank water. then feed with the bowl and syringe. Do this every day for a few weeks and ill bet that thing is open fully and looking great!! Then you can cut to every other or every 3 days.
Search my name, there is a thread on 10-1-06 called feeding a sun or something where i posted pics of me feeding mine under my bowl. You can see how well they respond to it from the pics

 

[saltn00b]

i think the sun coral is only reacting to the cyclop in that mix.
that is what they really love, if you are doing the bowl trick, i recommend doing only cyclop, the homemade recipe is great for feeding the tank however. you might want to do that first, so they start to smell the cyclop and begin to open, then bowl them .

 

[emmitt2]

I agree, they may only "react" to the cyclo but they definitely feed on the meat and need meaty food. I dont think just cyclo is enough. I used to feed just that and it didnt look nearly as good.
I forgot to say that mine are trained and usually open every day at feeding time but to get them to open has always been easy for me. Any time i put a few drops of selcon, zoecon, zoe or even chemi-pure, it usually opens pretty full in about 10 minutes. IME, almost any food in the tank will get them to start opening, they dont need to be fully open to feed. In fact, mine never are. Mine only completely open AFter i feed them. Check my pics in the other thread and you'll see what i mean. Try any of those before putting the bowl over the sun and it shoud open in a few minutes, at least enough where it will feed.

 

[michaeltx]

a trick to spot feed them without the other fish stealing the food is a 2 liter bottle with the bottom cut off placed over the coral and the food added to the top of the bottle it will give it time to feed with out the other fish eating everything up.
Mike

 

[dchec2100]

Thanks for all the replies. The pic I posted isn't one of my sun coral, just one I found to give an idea... but it's pretty close.

 

[saltn00b]

your 2L doesnt float away?
i had a problem with the plastic bowl technique, the same idea - with the bowl floating away - maybe some plastic floats and some doesnt....
anyway now that i have gotten mine to start looking better and 75% trained, they start to open up early evening with any food smell in the water, even if its partial, and then they blow up huge when the cyclop is in full effect.
i just feed the tank cyclop and they get what they get because i feel it is closer to real life situations.... if they start to recede any then i will go to the spot feeding bowl again.

 

[emmitt2]

saltnoob, my plastic bowl floats also but i just push it into the sand a little bit and i have a small rock that i put on top to keep it from floating away. The rock also keeps the shrimp, nassarius snails and my starfish from stealing the food. You should see how long the feeding tube or whatever it is on the nassarius snail that it sticks thru the hole to try and steal the food! its pretty amazing!

 

[saltn00b]

my sun coral piece is set up vertically and against the rock so i cant cover it with the bowl's lip buried in the sand...

 

[michaeltx]

I never left it un attended I guess it would float off it I left it there but after the food was in there 99% of the time it started opening up after a drop of food was added then I feed them..
BTW you ouught to check out the black sun coral they are gorgeous.
Mike

 

[emmitt2]

Originally Posted by saltn00b
my sun coral piece is set up vertically and against the rock so i cant cover it with the bowl's lip buried in the sand...
Do you have shrimp? How do you keep them and your fish away? My fire and cleaner go crazy to get at it. They spend the whole times digging in the holes when the cup is on. My convict blenny tries to bite me 2-3 times also while im feeding now also. I gota keep the syringe between my finger and his hole or he will definitely latch on and shake :scared: Luckily he is still small and doesnt have teeth

 

[saltn00b]

i dont use the bowl for that reason, i cant find a good heavy one that wont float away cause it has to be propped up. i do have shrimp and fish and they all eat the cyclop but so do other corals, so i feed the whole tank a good amount of cyclop and it disperses pretty evenly, or 'homogenously'

 

[emmitt2]

I didnt see that you have a 150g. Mines in my 36g so i gotta watch how much food goes in or i'm doing a water change a week, lol. I wanna move it into the 180 but i think it will be to hard to reach for feedings.
Off topic, do you have a sump/fuge on the 150 saltnoob, what size?

 

[saltn00b]

yes i have a sump - that i want to switch out for a fuge ....
not entirely sure of the size as i got it all used and never bothered to calculate it LOL