will a green open brain eat some silversides?

[byrself]

i'm just wondering, cause i was advised i could feed my brain meaty foods, and i have a whole pack of frozen silversides left over from the anemone i had for a week. anyone who knows please tell me. thanks.

 

[old hermit]

i have just bought a green open brain myself. i have some silversides i was going to feed him tonight. just wait i guess 1 hr after lights out and some tenticles come out around the edge. hold some thawed silversides by them and he will take them from you. let me know how it goes. hth

 

[byrself]

cool! i will, but i don't think i can wait that long. i got a side thawing out in some water right now!

 

[old hermit]

did you have any luck feeding your brain? i tried but it didnt seem to work. i didnt see any tentacles comming out of it so maybe it needs some time to establish.

 

[byrself]

oh yeah, i meant to repost and forgot i did try it, but when i stuck it to the brain my gd clownfish stole it! my clown ate a silverside! i'm gonna try it again in the morning. i need to turn my powerheads off too. i don't understand how it's gonna eat it though. it doesn't really have a mouth does it? not big enough for a whole silverside anyway. i was thinking of cutting it into smaller pieces or something. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[old hermit]

sorry but im just as clueless as well on feeding them. i am going by lfs telling me how to feed them. my cleaner shrimp ran over and ate them off of the brain <img src="graemlins//freak.gif" border="0" alt="[freak]" /> it is really puffy now but i didnt see it eat, maybe it got a lille bit of it i dont know.

 

[byrself]

i had hoped to hear from nm reef on this, but i guess he's taking a break or something. <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[h2o]

my green brain does eat both silverside and krill. fish stealing food from brain often occurrs. so i usually feed fish and cleaners before i tuck silverside into the brain. My current problem with my green brain is that my "uncatchable" 10" bristle in right under my brain and i am hesitating to remove the brain to catch the bristle or not.
just to share.

 

[nm reef]

HUH...someone said my name!!!! Yup...I do feed several brains silversides....assorted other meaty foods too. What I do is wait until shortly after lights out....sometimes even with actinics still on....then I turn off the circulation. I use a turkey baster to place food near the center of the coral(normally I add some DT's and zoe to the food)......if the coral feels like a snack it will grasp it and slowly consume it...they do have a mouth near the center and don't always show feeder tentacles......below is a pic taken of my smaller open brain the morning after a feast!

 

[byrself]

thanks nm, i was starting to wonder if i was the butt of someones joke (my own i guess, in this case!) i didn't get a chance to try it this morning cause i had to come to work. i gotta figure out how i'm gonna keep the clown away from it long enough for it to eat it. that is cool though, i didn't know brains could eat food like that. i knew i liked them for some reason. thanks all for the pointers. i really apprec'

 

[nm reef]

Before I direct feed my corals I normally place some food in the currents a few secs prior to direct feeding...distracts the fish long enough for the corals to get a treat. Plus if you place the food directly on the coral and hold it in place for a few secs they'll latch on .....and the fish won't be such thievies!

 

[old hermit]

hey nm can you over feed them? will it help them grow if you feed them every day?

 

[jond]

I feed my green closed brain silversides and scallops cut into peices. It will feed when the lights are on with no problem.

 

[q]

I watch the body of the brain. If it is good and bulged I will skip a feeding. I try to keep it at the nice and plump stage. When under feed mine is sunk into it's skeliton more than usual.

 

[byrself]

i got two silversides sitting on the brain right as i type! it's been moving one of them to one spot and i saw it open up and is trying to "swallow" the side as it looks. this is got to be the newest coolest thing i've ever seen! it stuck right to it and the only prob i've seen is keeping my other fish away from it long enough.

 

[byrself]

well, it managed to swallow one of the silversides. the other one my goby snatched away from it. it is definitely swollen up some. at least in the area that it ate the side. the tentacles are still out on one side, do you think it's still hungry? i used a dropper with some microvert and tried to squirt some over all the tentacles. how often would it eat? it's not as swollen all over as i would like. think it could still be hungry?

 

[nm reef]

Kewl stuff huh!! I try to feed mine at least once a week.....like mentioned above it sometimes appears skinny(very hnugry)...sometimes plump(full belly)....at times it will grab food as soon as its offered and at other times it just doesn't seem interested.
Yes you can over feed them....they simply reject whats offered...and yes it does seem to excellerate growth.
After a good hearty meal they tend to enlarge and look lots more plump.......