Spot feeding tips/advice...

[azaghalsei]

Hey everyone! I've been doing some spot feeding for only a week now in our new 90g reef and am finding it very time consuming and difficult at times...
Let me start by indicating who I spot feed:
1) Gold/Yellow Polyps
2) Some Zoos
3) Sebae Anemone
4) Serpent/Brittle Stars (at times)
So during this process I have some challenges aside from the usual arm cramming/water dripping...
1) My cleaner shrimp love nothing more than the easy meal of swiping grub from the polyps as they slowly ingest their supplementary meals... I find I have to hang around with the baster and blast them with jets of water every minute or two..
2) I like to feed the stars every few days directly to keep their voracity at a minimum.. My brittle star seems to know what's up and comes out to the front of the rockwork during feeding, but my serpent stars seem to like to continue to hide and attempt to steal his food rather than come out for their own. I've thought of "wedging" some food about the rockwork for them to locate, but am concerned this will be swiped by nass snails and cleaner shrimp before they find it!
3) My sebae is host to a comical white anemone crab who seems so hungry he's able to snatch up every little chunk of food that sticks to the anemone.. even when I've relocated the anemone (for it's own good) the crab find his way back in less than 30 minutes... should I worry about this? Is supplemental feeding of the sebae all it's cracked up to be? Is the crab ACTUALLY getting all the food or is the anemone surely getting small pieces I do not see?
4) Lastly, I have found that at feeding time I must disable my HOT protein skimmer so that it doesn't suck in food and go nuts - I actually need to leave it off for ~30 minutes until all the fuss settles down.. then I usually have to spend 10 minutes getting the flow just right again from it. Any tips on this mess? We have no sump for now because our children are very inquisitive (read: destructive) and we fear OJ and crayons in the sump!
Thanks to any that can share some knowledge and advice!

Ian

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by azaghalsei
Let me start by indicating who I spot feed:
1) Gold/Yellow Polyps
2) Some Zoos
3) Sebae Anemone
4) Serpent/Brittle Stars (at times)
Ian

I think your worrying too much about spot feeding. do it less. if you have a green brittle its a good IDea to make sure he gets food so he doesnt go predatory on your fish any other brittles will find food on their own, the anemone is the only thing I would be determined to spot feed. but everything else listed will survive on photo synthesis and whatever particles happen to get to them when you feed your tank in a normal manner. relax a little and enjoy your tank.

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by azaghalsei
3) My sebae is host to a comical white anemone crab who seems so hungry he's able to snatch up every little chunk of food that sticks to the anemone.. even when I've relocated the anemone (for it's own good) the crab find his way back in less than 30 minutes... should I worry about this? Is supplemental feeding of the sebae all it's cracked up to be? Is the crab ACTUALLY getting all the food or is the anemone surely getting small pieces I do not see?
Ian
the anemone is probably getting some but try feeding a piece too big for the crab to swipe. (you may have to keep your cleaner from stealing it though)

 

[azaghalsei]

The though has crossed my mind on just letting it go, haha..
Thanks,
Ian

 

[azreefgirl]

Actually, I've learned that yellow polyps DO need to be spot fed. When I first got them I fed them mysis shrimp frequently because it was fun to watch them eat (hey, I'm easily entertained, and it was one of my first corals so I was in complete and total awe of the whole process), then I only fed them sporatically and they started to turn brown and die off. Then I started using an eyedropper to squirt Liquid Life Marine Plankton w/Cyclopeez at them a few times a week and they have been doing so much better. They're yellow and happy again, and they're growing! (Did that sound like a commercial, or what?!)

 

[reefkprz]

Originally Posted by AZReefGirl
Actually, I've learned that yellow polyps DO need to be spot fed.
I have to dissagree with you there. if you put any food in your water including flake etcetera and it touches one of those it eats it. I almost never dorectly spot feed mine. I just let them grab what they can. it works just fine. Need and can benifit from, are slightly different. If they NEED spot feeding mine would all be dead. and yet I have had them since my first tank. I have spot fed them occasionaly just for fun. true they will usually spread faster with spot feeding but in most tanks they will get enough food just through what makes it to them that the fish miss, and poop out, or whatever pods they munch.

 

[gwh57]

Originally Posted by reefkprZ
I have to dissagree with you there. if you put any food in your water including flake etcetera and it touches one of those it eats it. I almost never dorectly spot feed mine. I just let them grab what they can. it works just fine. Need and can benifit from, are slightly different. If they NEED spot feeding mine would all be dead. and yet I have had them since my first tank. I have spot fed them occasionaly just for fun. true they will usually spread faster with spot feeding but in most tanks they will get enough food just through what makes it to them that the fish miss, and poop out, or whatever pods they munch.
I agree.

My yellow polyps get whatever they can find. I do spot feed my sun coral but nothing else. I haven't feed my anemony in over a year. He gets his from his clown.

 

[azreefgirl]

Maybe I just don't have enough going on in my biocube to sustain them without help?

I feed mysis shrimp and a frozen reef plankton blend, but no flake food. My fish don't leave food behind for anyone not able to actively search thru the water column for food and fend for themselves!

And because I only have 1 little goby and 2 baby false percs, maybe they don't manufacture enough poop to keep the polyps well-fed?!

 

[reefkprz]

thats probably the anwser AZ I feed TONS of food to my tank (overfeeding YUP guilty) when I feed I can see everything munching away thats one of the reasons I dont bother to spot feed. I feed flake, homemade, particulate foods, algae sheets. some days my tank can get fed (different things everytime) up to 6 or 7 times usually about 5 times a day on average. I dont reccomend ANYONE feed their tank this much unless they know their system can handle it. I'm trying (quite unsuccessfully I might add) to get my clowns to lay eggs so our local university can widen their breeding stock.

 

[azaghalsei]

Originally Posted by AZReefGirl
Actually, I've learned that yellow polyps DO need to be spot fed. When I first got them I fed them mysis shrimp frequently because it was fun to watch them eat (hey, I'm easily entertained, and it was one of my first corals so I was in complete and total awe of the whole process), then I only fed them sporatically and they started to turn brown and die off. Then I started using an eyedropper to squirt Liquid Life Marine Plankton w/Cyclopeez at them a few times a week and they have been doing so much better. They're yellow and happy again, and they're growing! (Did that sound like a commercial, or what?!)
Gawd!!

I hope that our yellow polyps get so yellow!
We used to have some beautiful, "popping" (as my wife says), yellow polyps in our nano reef that got munched/harassed to death by some ravenous peppermint shrimp, and the three yellow polyp rocks I picked up are more of a dark golden colour.
Truly awesome, thanks for sharing the pic!

Ian
P.S. I know they'd probably be just fine, but the underdog lover in me can't bear to watch the cleaners hijack the grub that they "naturally" snag during feeding time! Plus I feel bad for the polyps that aren't positioned so well to snag the floating grub.. Sappy of me, I know.

So I try to ensure every grub muncher in our little reef gets the royal treatment!

 

[dina12]

I do not "spot" feed my corals - but I do feed cyclopeeze(sp), marine snow and oyster eggs to my tank. Just thaw it out in some tank water and dump it in. My fish also get overfed - 3-5 times a day rotating about 7 different foods. Here are my yellow polyps.....

 

[azaghalsei]

Originally Posted by dina12
I do not "spot" feed my corals - but I do feed cyclopeeze(sp), marine snow and oyster eggs to my tank. Just thaw it out in some tank water and dump it in. My fish also get overfed - 3-5 times a day rotating about 7 different foods. Here are my yellow polyps.....
Stunning. It makes me SO impatient to see such beautiful pictures!
Thanks for sharing!
Ian