new chille coral! how does his cave look?

[kilofey]

i apologize for the debris from me fiddleing with the tank and my rude clown chowing down on some food.... but does my chille's cave look dark enough? i know they are non-photosynthetic, so i got some phytofeast (as per the lfs guys' advice). is feeding him 1-3x per week sufficient? and should i feed after the lights go off? also, i had a little trouble getting him to hang upside down, so he fell a couple times, will he be okay from that? btw, i didnt expose him to any air at all, but i wasnt watching at the lfs to see if he did, but he did put a little bag inside the bigger bag so he would have less of a chance of being exposed so i suppose he did seem to know what he was doing. i assume he didnt expose it to air, but if he did momentarily, will he be okay?
thats all the questions i have, i did as much research as possible prior to buying him, but new questions always come up after you buy something lol anyway, thanks!

 

[btldreef]

Looks good. Honestly, I barely ever spot feed mine and have put that thing through hell and back and it's fine. It only eats if it's polyps are out, and night is usually better.

 

[kilofey]

Thank you, that definately makes me feel a little better about keeping it. Every time I get a new coral, im always a bit uneasy about it till about a month later. If its still alive after that, I relax im still pretty new to the hobby but ive only lost one coral so far... Fish is a tad different, but im having better luck now that I qt them first.
If u barley ever spot feed, do you skim? I skim my tank, but pretty lightly. In 3 months, ive only filled the cup about half way (then again, i only had 2 clowns in there until recently so there wasnt a whole lot to skim, now theres 4 fish)
How will a coral beauty do with a chille? I know theyre sort of sponges/soft coral... my cb loves her food tho, so I dont think soft corals would be much of an issue

 

[kilofey]

Btw, its been in the tank for about 3 hrs now and almost all of the polyps are out even with the lights on I assume it really likes its new home, as compared to the pvc pipe it was shoved in at the lfs. It couldnt even fully extend itself in the tube and I had been eyeballing it for months

 

[flower]

Hi,
I had a beautiful Chili for years....open the cave on both sides so water can flow thru it, going over and past the coral. Not only will it be happier but it give light to the cave, so you can see the beautiful red with white stars. A small power head pointed toward the cave to force water thru is a good idea too.
Chili coral likes a little indirect light, so an open cave is ideal. They love a strong water current going over them. Make sure the cave is roomy..chili coral swells and shrinks...It's called a chili sponge coral because it swells and shrinks, it isn't a sponge at all.
The coral beauty might nip corals...it's a chance we take with any dwarf angelfish. keep an eye on it to see if you have a coral nipper or not.

 

[siptang]

I have been eyeing this one for a while... I will definitely keep an eye on this thread and follow ypur progress.

 

[kilofey]

Thanks flower. Ive been keeping an eye on the cb, I havent seen him nip anything yet. Hes pretty well behaved, at oeast so far thanks for the cave suggestion, ill try to open it up a bit. I wasnt sure quite how dark it needs to be so I just shut out all light, but its good to know I can open it up a bit. I do have a little ph, ill see if I can situate it where it wont be seen behind a rock or something (hopefully opening the cave will be enough tho). Its definately one of my favorite corals in the tank, other than my elegance which im not too optomistic about. Its doing well but I just found out its an indo and not an aussie. Indos have a low success rate in tanks :-/ but we shall see, for now shes doing well.
Btw, flower, do you think the rubber band I have on the chille will be okay until it attatches itself? And how long should it take to grab onto the rock?

 

[kilofey]

Flower, thanks a ton for the suggestions! I directed some more flow at him and opened the cave a little and his stars came out almost immediately it looks like hes wearing a fur coat now haha

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilofey http:///t/390426/new-chille-coral-how-does-his-cave-look#post_3459179
Flower, thanks a ton for the suggestions! I directed some more flow at him and opened the cave a little and his stars came out almost immediately it looks like hes wearing a fur coat now haha
Great, I loved my chili coral. They really like the cave thats open front and back with water flowing right past them.. I never used a rubberband to attach a chili, they are very heavy corals. I attached mine with crazy glue gel. The chili likes a little light but not directly on them...opening a cave on both ends will not only let water pass across it they way it likes, but will allow you to see it better as well. The chili coral swells and shrinks...mine never attached itself to the rock...it stayed in place from the crazy glue. I attached my second one to the top of the cave hanging down. My first one, that lasted many years was just set into the cave....my sleeper goby buried it in the sand and the sand clogged it up and killed it, so my second one I attached to the top of the cave.
My heater broke and zapped my tank, killing that second chilli coral. I have not replaced it.
I have never had an elegance coral. They look so pretty, I hope your makes it.

 

[siptang]

I want both but low on funds lol. I love being poor..... NOT
This hobby really does drain ya.

 

[kilofey]

I want both but low on funds lol. I love being poor..... NOT
This hobby really does drain ya.
If you do decide to get an elegance, make sure you get an aussie elegance. Those ones look like they have been fragged, an indo elegance has a skeleton that kind of resembles a clam shell. Indos dont do well in tanks and will typically last 6 months to a year tops and then will die for what seems like no reason.... I learned this after buying it of course, now im just so nervous with it I cant fully enjoy it the indos are cheaper too, so if you find a large elegance for around 50-6/ bucks, pass it up. Its prolly an indo. A nice aussie will cost like 120ish. Some of my info might be a tad off so dont quote me exactly, but thats just what ive learned in the last few days.
As for the chille, mine only cost $40 at my lfs and its HUGE! When it expands at night its probably 10" long at its tallest point and maybe 6" accross at its widest point. Theyre so interesting and beautiful. I say go for it if you find one. Skip a few starbucks coffees or trips to the hardware store to buy man toys or w/e youre into and go for it! Im not super experienced yet and it seems pretty happy in my tank. Jus my .02

 

[deton8it]

I have my Chili sitting under an overhang. It only opens half of it's polyps (the side with the most flow) but it has done well there. I think your cave will do just fine as long as there is some flow.
John

 

[kilofey]

Can I expose it to air to glue it to a rock? Id really like to get the rubber band thats holding it on the rock off cause it might be irritating it. I cant tepl if its the rubber band or my brittle star thats pissing it off, but it seems a little irritated cause its not as big as it was the first couple days. Could it just be adjusting? Ive had it a week now, the stars still come out at night and at different times during the day.

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kilofey http:///t/390426/new-chille-coral-how-does-his-cave-look#post_3459700
Can I expose it to air to glue it to a rock? Id really like to get the rubber band thats holding it on the rock off cause it might be irritating it. I cant tepl if its the rubber band or my brittle star thats pissing it off, but it seems a little irritated cause its not as big as it was the first couple days. Could it just be adjusting? Ive had it a week now, the stars still come out at night and at different times during the day.
Chili corals do inflate and shrink and if the polyps are out then it isn't really mad. If it is bloomed, I wouldn't bother just yet.
If you should decide to putz with it...It isn't a sponge, so yes you can lift it out but it will bother it even more if it already is stressed...use crazy glue gel, get your rock and really glob it on and take it underwater and hold the chili in place for about 30 seconds (count 1 and 2 and 3 and 4) make the cave larger if you can and more open to allow water to flow past it...they don't want the water to hit it and bounce back but flow over it. The rubberband is not a good way to attach chili coral, I thought you were already told that...no real harm done, it might scar on that spot. If you leave it with the rubber band it might choke that spot off.
Always remember, the less you handle a coral the better and faster it will adjust. A week is not a long time, some corals won't even bloom for a few weeks.

 

[kilofey]

I only left the rubber band on cause I read on a few other sits that they cant be exposed to air, guess the word sponge freaked some other people out too haha. Anyway, im gonna leave it on there for a few days to let it settle dowwn then fiddle with it to get it attatched to a rock. it seems a tad happier this morning, maybe the brittle star was just annoying it.

 

[kilofey]

Is it normal for it to expand and the polyps to only come out at night? They come out and it begins to expand at about 8pm, about 2 hrs before the lights go out. All the polyps come out at nivht, so I assume its doing well enough, but I wonder if they should be out in the day time too. I added a little ph behind my rock work and pointed it away from the chili so water would be sucked past it instead of blasting on it.
I ended up removing the rubber band the same night I said I was going to wait cause it was just bugging me, now it is superglued to a rock and I clipped off the piece that was being choked off by the rubberband... The little frag is still red so who knows, maybe it will grow it seems to be doing better since I took the rubber band off (go figure)

 

[btldreef]

Completely normal. Mine about triples in size from day to night.
The piece you cut off might live. I've fragged mine a few times by just cutting pieces off.

 

[kilofey]

Does your chili bring its polyps out during the day or only at night?

 

[btldreef]

Mainly at night. If I feed during the day, they'll come out