Discussion of the Week ~ coral feeding~

[tankgirl]

Mike, what corals is the blender mush meant for, in your tank? Also, I guess the mush is also fish food, right?

 

[mojoreef]

TG the mush is meant for any corals that may want it, kinda like the detritus in the water, its available for them. I have a couple of things tha I shoot a little phyto on (gorgs). Its kinda like the one food that fits all. With coral that may feed its all about particle size rather then what it actually is. Example if a coral eats zooplankton and an equal size particle of shrimp meat is captured they will take it.

Mike

 

[tankgirl]

Thanks, Mike! What about xenia? If we go by the High vs Low light rule, it shouldn't need feeding, but I suspect it does?
I have a suggestion for another topic OTW; which corals like high current and which like low current and how much!

 

[Alice]

There have been studies done on Xenia feeding and it seems they aren't too particular about the type of food they ingest, zooplankton and phytoplankton were both found. "Plankton" refers to the size of the food, not what species of food, so again, it seems to boil down to size selection. I wouldn't worry about target feeding xenia or any of the branching softies, except for non-photosynthetics like gorgonians.

Have you ever looked at the "feathers" on a large feather duster? I know it's not a coral but food selection is also based on size. A particle of food hits the cilia, they grab onto and then it travels down the center track of the "feather." If the food is too large, it gets bounced out, kinda like a marble on a track that is too small.

Alice

 

[mojoreef]

A way to really look at types of food and size is like this. Corals and such dont see food as we do. They see it for its chemical make up, as in amino acids, carbs protiens. Not something like "hey look at the meat on that zooplankton"lol. If you say love steak and it is what you need to survive and I throw a nice steak in front of you you will eat it. But if I put the whole cow down on the table, even though you need it you are not going to eat it, especially if you cant hold on to it.

Many folks talk about the need for planktonic foods (larvae, phyto, zoo and so on) it is not because they are enriched with what the coral needs (they do have what the coral needs) but it is because of the particle size. alot of the above mentioned foods are not always the best choice as they contain things beyond what the coral needs and are dificient in alot of the things a coral and such do need. Example would be if you had an anenome and you needed to feed it, YOu are not going to bath it in zoo/larval plankton, you are going to feed it a peice of shrimp. Same can apply for corals that need food. small particle shrimp meat (blender mush) will provide the same nutrition (if not alot more) for a coral then would zooplankton.
SO the concept behind blender mush is that it is a mixture of highly protienious/ammino acid and carbohydrates type foods that is blender to make a variety of particle sizes that will feed all that require it from Fish on the top of the scale to corals on the bottom.

make sence????

Mike

 

[tankgirl]

Thank you, Alice & Mike!!
So, plankton refers to the size! I imagine it's small enough to stay suspended in the tankwater? What does zo, phyto, etc. refer to?

Alice, yeah - I've watched that in feather dusters!! Cool huh?

Hah, Mike, I like your steak vs. whole cow analogy!!!

 

[mojoreef]

LOL TG the cow thing always works, heheh,
Plankton are pretty much the size (thats the easy explanation) zoo = animal and phyto = plant/algae

Mike

 

[tankgirl]

Thank you, Mike!!! So, among corals who eats zo and who eats phyto?

 

[Arkman]

I dont feed and everything is ok?

I dont really feed mytank at all - but its much smaller than mojo's and I dont filter agressivly either, so maybe they "get what they need"? The only animals I've lost for lack of food are some big featherdusters...and a mandarin

shrooms, colt, capnella, yellow shrooms, montipora and pocilpora --- all growing...

I'm sure they could be doing "better" - but I'm out of room anyway.

Anyone else not feeding and "underfiltering" with long term sucess? I've been up with this setup about 1 year now.

 

[Macbeth417]

You not feeding had nothing to do with your mandrins death (maybe more stress from underfiltering) just that a small system under a year old didn't have enough pods to support the mandrin (assume it was pshch and not spotted) and it probaby shouldn't have been put in the tank.

I personally would not use a underfiltering approach to compensate for filter feeders specific needs, but I can understand you wanting to slow growth in a crowded tank.

-Erik

 

[blackwatch]

I am still new to this and see so many versions of feeding that i get confused, right now i use "roids" and "kent phytomax" twice a week and am going to up it to 3 times , but my chalice and pagoda like neither fresh food or the roids so the ? is do you have a better sugestion for them and PS> i am disabled so sometimes my spelling will get really wacked so early apology 1

 

[spieszak]

Many people don't feed their corals at all, so don't worry too much.
Make sure as you up any feedings you keep an eye on nutrient levels, because once they get too high and algae starts growing, getting rid of it is rough

 

[blackwatch]

Thanks i figure with water changes and GFO i can deal with that , right now i am still going through the whole new tank thing anyways as tank has just hit 2 month period give or take and i am having decent success as of now [ nothing died yet LOL] but the mix of soft and hard corals is tough and the different foods for each since i target feed only and not very much at a time , like i said new to this all !

 

[Scooterman]

Just starting out trying to feed corals probably isn't a good idea, your going to end up polluting your tank unnecessarily and risking a crash. Keep your water clean, do the water changes, let the tank age and don't rush it, time is your best friend.

 

[blackwatch]

Scooty, won't let me in, i don't have enough posts in yet to read message

 

[blackwatch]

help

i was sold the wrong food and did a night feeding on my pagoda and my hollywood stunner, now both are showing signs of bleaching in the spots where i used the food . I wanted frz mysis and brine ground up but i was sold gold pods instead , going back to roids and phytomax but can they be saved ???????

 

[spieszak]

Its highly unlikely the wrong food is causing your issues.
what are you parameters? Alk, Cal, Mg, Nitrate, phoshate

 

[blackwatch]

parameters are great and so is everyone else in the tank, it only happened where the food sat overnite and no where else , the "goldpods' seemed very gooey even when diluted and only fed those 2 so ? is will they heal themselves !!!!

 

[Scooterman]

don't feed them anymore, if you have a power head keep it on them, might help. What test on the water are you doing? list them all please. Also if your still having issues, bring your water and have your local fish store test it for you as a back up.

I'm scooty so what issues are you having on the forum?

 

[spieszak]

Leaving food lay on them for more than 20-30 minutes if they aren't actively consuming it isn't a good idea. If parameters are within range, and lighting is ok, and the actual cause is the feeding, then they will be fine.

"parameters are great" - if I were coming to visit you from say Greece, where I knew nothing about US/your weather, and asked you what the weather was like, and you answered 'great', I would still have no idea what to pack. If you answer folks trying to help you that way, they get frustrated quickly.