Oceana - sun coral question

milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Hi Oceana

I am getting a sun coral today. I want to know 1st off how long should I acclimate it and can I do the temp acclimation and then just add water to the bag over time? Also can I get it used to feedings during the day? If so how long do you think it will take to "train" it so to speak?
I am suppose to feed my tank today, but I have been waiting until I pick it up. So it can eat as well. Or do you suggest me not feeding it today?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by milomlo
Hi Oceana

I am getting a sun coral today. I want to know 1st off how long should I acclimate it and can I do the temp acclimation and then just add water to the bag over time? Also can I get it used to feedings during the day? If so how long do you think it will take to "train" it so to speak?
I am suppose to feed my tank today, but I have been waiting until I pick it up. So it can eat as well. Or do you suggest me not feeding it today?
To be 100% honest I have a horrible acclimation procedure. I float the bags and in they go but the proper way would be a slow drip for around 2 hours. I am from the school that says anything i do to these corals is NOTHING compared to what they went through to get to my tank. Corals are ALOT hardier then many think they are.
As for feeding I would do as follows. Feed your tank as normal. then toss in some cycopeez(sp) soon after you should see the sun open. then feed away. BTW make sure the sun coral does not have sunken polyps. they should look full and fleshy.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Here is a picture of it. I am picking it up from the lady at around noon. This is the picture she sent me of it.
So you are just saying feed as normal and it should come around right? Then when it opens up put the cup on it and feed. :jumping:

I am so excited

I read you said it doesn't matter about lighting and that it can be placed anywhere. So is the sand ok?
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
yes and yes.
BTW although it does not mater where you palce it one of the the nice things about this coral is that since it does not need any lighting its great for decorating the darker places in your tank
gl to ya
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by milomlo
Well here it is. I made a little feeder for it. Hopefully it opens up more.

ouch . that is one ticked off sun coral. good luck but with that much recesion i doubt it will make it. all that skeleton should be orange. the flesh should not just be around the tips and some of the base. if you got that online i would be making a few phone calls. sorry. i'm sure that not what you wanted hear.
see how in this pick the flesh goes all around the base and body. thats how it should look.
all that white on yours is where flesh used to be and has died.
PS: this is not my picture. all my pics are of the coral open so i stole this one from my suncoral thread.
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by milomlo
Well crap. It has new baby heads. Is there something I can do to help it?
feed two times a week or three if your tank can handle the extra bio load.
other then that its wait and see. the babies are a good thing but IMO it looks to be one its way out or coming back from it. hard to tell which.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Well that just sucks!
I wanted this so bad. Maybe I can nurse it back. It is opening up more. How long should I leave that cup on it? I probably should have waited until it opened up before I put the cup on it huh

Crap
 
oceana

oceana

Active Member
Originally Posted by milomlo
this is all that it has opened so far. Been in the cup for about an hour

well thats not a bad sign. atleast its opening did you put cyclopeez in there? or clam juice helps get them out sometimes.
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
I used cyclopeeze mixed with a little of my home made stuff that I feed the rest of the tank with.
I just took the cup off. It was on there about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. So here are 3 pictures of it from 3 different angles. Boy I hope I can help it out. Do you think feeding it everyday is ok? Should I try some Mysis and Cyclopeeze next time?
:mad:



 
amber1983

amber1983

Member
I normally feed mine everyday, so i would say do it, it needs the extra food, espically looking like that. It is opening up good though. Another way to feed it is to take it out of the tank and put it into a bowl with a bunch off food. It will open up for the food, plus it won't mess up your tank. I had to do that to mine to get it opening up good. Here is mine.


Here it is eating
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
Oh very nice!! I was hoping for a small one like that when I got this one. Yours looks very lovely!
I think I will start taking it out and putting it in a bowl to eat. I am so afraid of messing up my water.
How long should I leave it in a bowl with food?
 
amber1983

amber1983

Member
what i do is melt a cube of mysis in a cup and squirt about 1/2 of it in the bowl. I blow it around a little then let the coral sit for about 20 min then blow the mysis around again. It can take a couple days for it to learn that the mysis is actually food, but it should start comming out good.
 
mikeyjer

mikeyjer

Active Member
Originally Posted by Amber1983
what i do is melt a cube of mysis in a cup and squirt about 1/2 of it in the bowl. I blow it around a little then let the coral sit for about 20 min then blow the mysis around again. It can take a couple days for it to learn that the mysis is actually food, but it should start comming out good.
That's one beautiful sun coral, I think I'll give that method a try myself!!! Some customers of mine got me a gift certificate to the LFS so I'm gonna go pick up a Sun Coral next week. Not like I don't have enough corals in my tank......
 
adamc1303

adamc1303

Active Member
Originally Posted by Amber1983
I normally feed mine everyday, so i would say do it, it needs the extra food, espically looking like that. It is opening up good though. Another way to feed it is to take it out of the tank and put it into a bowl with a bunch off food. It will open up for the food, plus it won't mess up your tank. I had to do that to mine to get it opening up good. Here is mine.


Here it is eating


What type of sun coral is that? I want to begin adding coral to my tank would it make a god beginner coral? When people metion spot feeding do you actually have to feed each head on the coral or just drop fod in on top of it?
 
milomlo

milomlo

Active Member
This is NOT a coral that would be recommended to a beginner. They do require spot feeding and yes that means each individual head. It can mess up your water real fast. It doesn't require any special lighting, but you have to feed it special.
 
joshradio

joshradio

Member
most people just don't like the feeding aspect of it, because yes, you've got to feed each individual head... I feed every other day and use a medicine syringe, and pump a bit onto each one, this avoids the overfeeding of the tank, plus my other fish usually get what floats away (I feed them opposite my suns so they take in the leftovers!) I'll lure the suns out with a drop of cyclo-peeze, and now they're mostly out when I get home from work... like a timer... I think they're a very cool add to a tank, and I think beginners can handle 'em... as long as you feed 'em, they're pretty hearty! that's MHO!
....Also make sure you have good calicum levels in your tank... like buttah!
 
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