Question about Yellow Polyps???

joe25703

New Member
I am just getting started with corals after keeping a fish only tank for some time and after upgrading my lighting and filtration have added my first coral, a rock of yellow polyps, to my tank. I have noticed that hermit crabs as well as my emerald crab are constantly around or on this rock making the polyps close up. Is this something that I need to be worried about? When the crabs are not on the polyps they look fine. Also what do I need to do to assure best conditions for the polyps to spread, waterflow, lighting, food, etc. Thanks for anyone's help in advance.
 

dummy

Member
i got a great idea.get rid of the polyps.they are cockraoches and eventually will grow everywhere.i wish i had never put them in my tank.
 

speg

Active Member
If it was newly added then its very common for your cleanup crew to hang around the rock they came on for a few days. They like to make it clean afterall :)
I believe that the yellow polyps lack zooxanthalle (if I spelled it right) so lighting isnt a issue. They do need feeding though, small meaty chunks of whatever or mysis/brine etc should do the trick. You'll want them in medium flow and since light isnt a issue, high or low with these is fine.
 

azocean709

Member
i have never fed my polyps "MEATY CHUNKS" lol who told you that? i put Kent Chroma Plex Filter feeding Invertebrate diet. My poylps have been fat and hardy for almost 2 yrs. You should not have a problem with the crabs actually eating your polyps..they are picking at other things on that brand new Fiest Rock..lol good luck.
 

speg

Active Member
Well they will filter feed, but giving them meaty foods will make them grow quicker. Havent you tried feeding yours? :p Maybe you should try. I dont suggest doing something unless I have personally tried it. I have fed mine small pieces of silversides and mysis.
So to answer your question... as of who told me that... the answer would be 'I told myself'.
 

teresaq

Active Member
I also feed mine mysis, and live brine once and a while. I target feed them with a syringe, and they love t. so i guess i told my self tooo.
 

stanlalee

Active Member
Originally Posted by Speg
I believe that the yellow polyps lack zooxanthalle (if I spelled it right) so lighting isnt a issue.
they do contain zooxanthellae therefore lighting is an issue but they dont survive solely on that like some other corals and must be fed as well.
 

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by Stanlalee
they do contain zooxanthellae therefore lighting is an issue but they dont survive solely on that like some other corals and must be fed as well.
Well i've read in a book that said they dont... and i've checked a few online sources and it says they do.. so.. who is right? :p stinkin Marine Biologists :(
 

ryansholl

Member
I didn't feed mine for two months and they looked fine... have been giving them mysis since I got a sun coral though, and look much happier lately.
 

chipmaker

Active Member
Missinformation is one of the biggest problems with this hobby.....damed if yuo do and damed if you don't. It almost gets to the point that I want to quit buying any books on the subject no matter who the author is. One book says one thing another says something totally 180 from the first.....so what I do is use a bit of both if possible, and see what way the critters react, and make adjustments from there. I have never ever had good luck with yellow polyps.....within 1 or 2 months my YP's would be nothing but black knobs on the rock and then just dissapear. Then I was given some more, and started to target feed them with pelletized fish food. They have average lighting since they are non photosynthetic, good water flow, and they are now multiplying on the rock and doing fine, so IMHO feed em for best results, as well sa feed you shrooms and polyps. Mine looked fine before but now look great, with just a 1 or 2 times a week feeding of a pellet or two of fish food....
 

danedodger

Member
Take mushrooms as an example. Everything and everyone I've heard from says they aren't particularly picky about their lighting but mine, and I've heard a few others say, seem to do even better with upgraded lighting. My opinion is it's just the difference between surviving and thriving, they'll survive with less but really thrive with more.
 

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by ryansholl
What/how do you feed your mushrooms, chipmaker?
I am not chipmaker.. but I can answer.
Mushrooms will get a lot of their nutrition from your lights. Some mushrooms take stuff out of the water that you'd feed other coral ( like plankton ) and some like meaty / larger foods. For example hairy mushrooms can be fed pieces of seafood. They should start closing up around the food as if its a umbrella closing the wrong way :p
I have a giant mushroom that will close up around anything and everything thats placed inside of him... silversides, cyclop-eeze, shrimp.... even when a fireshrimp jumps on top of him trying to get food that falls near him... he tries to capture it :p
 

ryansholl

Member
Thanks Speg. Did try to set some mysis on my shrooms once, but didn't have any close up. Will give it another shot, especially with the ricordeas. Thanks again.
 

speg

Active Member
Originally Posted by ryansholl
Thanks Speg. Did try to set some mysis on my shrooms once, but didn't have any close up. Will give it another shot, especially with the ricordeas. Thanks again.
Now my thing with mysis is only one of my shrooms have actually tried to eat them. Most of them wont curl around mysis if placed into the middle of them for some reason.. but a small chunk of silverside is appreciated ;)
 

ryansholl

Member
Yeah, I figured I'd try some other foods and see if they take any. Figure I'll try bits of whatever I can buy at the grocery store. I'd really like to have my shrooms growing faster than they are. Not to say that they're not growing fine, I just see the improvement when I feed my polyps and hope I'd see similar results with shrooms. Thanks once more.
 

chipmaker

Active Member
I use plain old pelleted fish feed, and drop the pelets in and around the mushrooms or polyps mouths. Hard to do without a feeding type tool, or if you have fish that are still hungry, but its certainly doable. Other thanusuing DT's oyster eggs, for supplemental feeding for inverts, all I feed mine now is pellets. The fish may get a few, but its very few, as I always feed the fish first to make sure they are satisfied, then I do the inverts. I made a sort of pellet feed dispenser out of a hypodermic syringe that I can place over a shroom etc and dispense a pellet or two directly on or near the mouth. It has a length of approx 12" so I can pretty well feed everyone without getting them too close up in the process or wasteing feed. The dispenser I made is easy to make, no special tools needed and uses a standard hypodermic syringe, a piece of the hard ridgid airline tube (3/16" size) and a piece or two of heat shrink tube.(available from big box stores ike home depot etc)I would rather watch my inverts feed than my fish.its just much more interesting. As mentioned above, yes, most get food from light, but they do so much better when actually fed, and you see them eat, you know they are getting nurishment.
 

palmer

Member
I've never fed any of my polyps or zo's directly and there are doing fine. As far as your yellows go, since it is a new rock, the hermits are most likely just cleaning it up. I put a small piece of yellows in my tank about 8 months ago and they have spread about 5 times the original size and have not seeded any other places in the tank. They are about 12 inches away from 305Watts/medium flow....
 

wax32

Active Member
Some species of Parazoanthus (yellow polyps) have zooxanthellae, some don't. The species generally encountered in the hobby hasn't been offically described by science. The ones that come encrusting a sponge or gorgonian usually won't survive for long if the host dies. Many feed heavily if given the opportunity, yet they often seem to do well without direct feedings...
Paraphrased from Aquarium Corals
, by Eric Borneman
 

wax32

Active Member
Also note, some Protopalythoa (button polyps) are yellow too, and look similar, but are a different coral. They for sure have zooxanthellae but will do better being fed.
 
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