food for soft coral... what?

[glarior]

I was browsing today at a new store I happened to drive by. Someone told me I have to feed my soft coral? They said I have to give it something called chromamax???? (http://www.bigalsonline.com/StoreCatalog/ctl3684/cp18345/si1383284/cl1/kent_marine_chromamax1oz?&path=c3684-def-USD-16695%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q636f72616c20666f6f64~~nc3684-def-USD-18322%23%232%23%239&query=coral+food&offset=)

I am lost on this one so please :help:

[travie]

It definitely is not required to feed your soft corals. If you have adequate lighting they should be fine.

[glarior]

What is that stuff they were talking about? Whats the point?

[labnjab]

Being your tanks young I wouldn't feed any coral. Its just going to add to algae problems. Like travie said, they get almost everything they need from the light and salt mix. I would also try and maintain calcium at a steady lvlv between 400 and 450 ppm. (not that vital for soft corals, but a good habit to get into when you start keeping stony coral. I don't have a clue about the stuff the recommended

[ILuvMyGoldBarb]

The stuff in question is Chromoplex, and it is a member of the Kent Marine line of reef supplements. Since your tank is young and not stabilized yet, you really should hold off on feeding your filter feeder corals. Once your tank stabilizes then it certainly wouldn't be a bad idea. We seem to have this idea in the hobby that the organisms in our tanks don't need to do things they do naturally in nature. Many soft corals naturally filter feed in the wild so why no feed them in captivity? The aquarium keeper just needs to be on top of things and actively skimming and keeping up with water changes if it is going to be done.

[kaybee]

You don't 'have' to feed most photosynthetic soft corals, but be aware that there are non-photosynthetic types which require regular feeding.

Some soft corals lack or have very under-developed digestive structures and sustain themselves photosynthetically and via direct absorbtion of dissolved ('microscopic') organic matter (uptake through their tissue or 'skin' as opposed to digesting matter in an oral cavity). Xenia, and anthellia fall in this category.

Other soft corals have developed digestive structures or oral cavities and are able to 'filter-feed' on particulate matter and possess limited 'capture capability' of food matter perhaps the size of cyclop-eeze. Leathers, many zoanthids, green star polyps, mushrooms, ricordea, kenya trees, etc fall in this catagory.

There are soft corals which have greater 'capture' capability and are able to feed on larger foodstuff as large as fish pellets, flake food fragments, brine shrimp and even mysis (palythoas, protopalythoas, yellow polyps, some zoanthids, mushrooms, ricordea, etc). The inadvertant capture of what you feed your fish may be sufficient. This is perhaps how most softies obtain their 'food stuff'.

Some soft corals are highly predatory, capable of eating live fish, particularly some of the larger corallimorphs such as Amplexidiscus and certain Rhodactis sp. In one of my books there is a picture of a Rhodactis eating one of its tank mates, a Banggai Cardinalfish it trapped. I have a non-photosynthetic corallimorph (a pseudocorynactis) which is capable of capturing and capturing and eating fish up to 4" in size (I've got it in 'solitary confinement'). I posted a video of this anemone-like mushroom some time ago of it eating frozen silverside fish.

Basically, what you feed (IF you feed) depends on what soft corals you have. In many instances feeding will accelerate growth but in many cases isn't required. Most softies are fast growers anyway.