How much to feed dendro?

mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I bought some dendro (aka suncoral) about a month ago and I was wondering how much people feed theirs. I am worried that I don't feed mine enough so I give each polyp around 20 mysis shrimp every 2 days. They seem to eat ever how much I give them but I am wondering if I can cut it down to a much smaller number. Thanks.
 
viper_930

viper_930

Active Member
The full grown polyps should be able to eat about 1/4" every day but if you notice they're throwing up their food after the lights turn out then make the portions smaller.
BTW, sun corals are Tubastrea sp.. Dendros are different.
Just wondering, how many polyps did you get? I got a single polyp last week. Big colonies for cheap are hard to find.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
I got 10 heads but trade in 5 heads for 3 other frags. It was only the second time the fish store had ever gotten any so I guess they don't come along very often.
 
steveweast

steveweast

Member
Actually, he is correct saying "dendro". Dendrophylldae.....don't confuse with dendronephthea....does include the genus tubastrea. But here is where the hobby trade takes over......common "sun corals" aka tubastrea.....run around $45 per fist sized colony. BUT....there is also a very.very large polyped sun coral that the trade is calling dendro. These are VERY hard to get since they mostly come from Japan and are only imported when smuggled or mistakenly imported. They are common in nature....but rare in the states. The polyps are 2 3- times bigger than a normal tubastrea polyp and have very different coloration and growth pattern. The polyps usually fetch in $75 per polyp range. If you have a 10 polyp colony of a TRUE dendro....it's worth over $800. Here's my puny 6 polyp colony.....each polyp is about the size of a quarter or larger. The true "dendros" are also known to stay extended day and night.....unlike tubastreas.
 
steveweast

steveweast

Member
Well....those are true dendros.....although some of those polyps are just babies. I hope he got great frags in the trade....I don't think that I would have traded....dendros are hard to get and won't get easier in the future. It probably will be the next HOT coral.
 
mrdc

mrdc

Active Member
Thanks for the info. I got maybe $100 worth of frags and all the polyps I traded were small. What happened was the rock broke and I just decided to trade. The guy said if his frag grows faster than mine, he would give me some back. I agreed to do the same thing for him. Anyway, I paid $100 for all the polyps and was told that was a very hot deal. Anyway, the polyps do stay out most of the time and man can they eat a lot. I wish they would become the next HOT coral along with acan lords in order to drive the price down some.
 
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