How do you feed your coral?

[Fenix]

I read that lots of corals require food.

I was wondering how often people feed their corals? How is it done?

[Rue]

I use a special feeding pipette to spot feed everyone (turn off the powerheads for a bit) the small food like Cyclopeeze and Coral Frenzy...and I use a turkey baster to feed larger foods such as mysis, brine or pink shrimp bits...

I feed every 2-3 days...

After about 5 minutes I turn the powerheads back on and other filtering critters can still catch the food out of the flow...

[Fenix]

Thanks for the reply. I still don't understand how they actually eat stuff.

[Rue]

Well...for all intents and purposes...similar to how you and I eat. They have a mouth...food goes in the mouth...gets digested in the gastrovascular cavity...

...and...here's where the difference comes in...the waste gets expelled through the mouth...:c3:

[~Erik3.8.07~]

...and...here's where the difference comes in...the waste gets expelled through the mouth...:c3:

we do that too, its called a burp, lol :c8:

[Fenix]

Yeah i just fed them. Can you over feed them? Do I have to feed each zoanthid?

[Rue]

...very funny...

Yes you can overfeed them. Like most animals they are opportunistic - they'll gorge when given the opportunity because in the wild you never know when your next meal will be.

You shouldn't have to feed each head of the zoas...they are photosynthetic and some reefer never feed theirs on purpose and they seem to do fine.

I feed mine...the fact that half of them will gooble up food indicates to me that they need more than what they can catch/make on their own...

[cocoa_pleco]

i use a turkey baster

[Rue]

Yes, but the pipette really is much nicer for the small stuff...

Here's a marine 'turkey baster'...narrower diametre, so less waste when spot feeding larger foods...

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewItem~idProduct~HL1311~tab~5.html

[Rue]

AHA!!! Found it!!! Luv this thing! :malelovies:

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~SearchStr~~action~view~idProduct~KM271 1~idCategory~FIFDFETP~category~Kent_Marine_Nautilu s_Sea_Squirt_Feeding_Prong_Saltwater_Aquarium_Supp lies_Food_Feeding_Equipment_Tongs___Prongs~vendor~ .html

[Fenix]

I bet you can go to your grocery store and buy one for a fraction of the price.

[Rue]

Oh of course! I think mine was $3.99...and it was the deluxe model too! :41:

[Fenix]

Is it okay to feed my Polyp and mushrooms brine shimp? They seem to eat it.

[Rue]

Yup!:thumb:

[jttt3]

Yeah, turkey baster works great, but I had to go to bed bath and beyond for mine as walmart and all the big stores didn't have any plastic ones. $2.79 USD.

Since I still have a lot of reef dust still, I use the turkey baster to squirt jets of water at the Live rock to ploom the reef dust into the water circulation. I do that every other day or so while I still can.

[Tigerbarb]

I can't find the video link, but I saw someone feeding their coral with a baster. They shot thawed frozen food into the coral.
For hard corals, they feed off of plankton at night. If you see them at night, they might have tentacles out.