How do I feed this

[J-dub]

My brain coral is not doing so well. I have had this thing for a while now and relized it's starving to death. So I got it to eat a peice of shrimp and now seems to be doing better. Now when I go to feed him, my damsel swims over there and tries to steal the shrimp from it. So I have to stand there for an hour and a half to keep that damsel away from the brain while it SLOWLY eats. I tried putting my net over the brain but it shrinks up and seems not to eat.

So my questions are: Do I feed him at night when his little tentacles are out?(Now I tried first thing when the light turn on) How offten should I feed it? (I've been feeding once a week.) Should I just get rid of the damsel? But then what if another fish tries the same thing?

Thank guys, I've look up the coarl but I can't seem to find anything on feeding or this type of problem

Here's some older pic although not the best.

 

[prbhasson]

I feed mine about once a week. You can try feeding at night. Mine eats any time I put food in now. At first my damsel would try to take the food but once I gave him a good smack with a net he stays away. Also, you might want to try to move it to the bottom of the tank on the sand bed. They like that better than being perched on rocks...

 

[MCSInc]

I agree with feeding it at least once a week. Maybe feed it something a little easier to grab, digest and pull in - possibly small pellets (not the heavy on the greens variety). Remember that LPS like to eat.

I also have heard that they like to be based in sand not on rock. If you have a problem with putting it on the sand (my problem is a 10" engineer goby) then find a half of a clam shell and fill it with sand and set it in there. That way he can be based on sand no matter where you choose to place him.

Good luck and feed it well.

Candy

 

[jake65]

Try feeding all your fish first letting them get their fill before feeding your corals.

 

[pitlife79]

If you still have a greedy fish even after feeding it first, try cutting a plastic soda bottle in half and putting it over the brain while it eats. This way the fish can't get to the food. Good luck!

Brent

 

[4251cpd]

I agree with all of the suggestions. Open brain corals or Trachyphylllia need to be placed on the sand bed. Even better solution to feeding is at night they send out their feeding tentacles. Your fish should be holed up for the evening so once or twice a week hit the tank with a flash light, if you see them extended spot feed some mysis. With the spot feeding you may want to shut down your pumps. It's a great time to clean out the inlets of your pumps. I've read in three seperate publications anecdotally that potassium iodide helped them immensely. Smaller more frequent water changes should fill this requirement, just to replenish trace elements. Good luck.

 

[tike]

Well...I have experince at this!!! First what type of lighting are you running??/ Where is the placement of the brain??

I have a brain coral that i have had for over a year. It did real well until i moved it out on the open sand a bit...now i was running a 250 watt MH on a 20 gallon suspended about 14" above the water. It didn't like it at all!!! It shriveled up and turned pink on me! Obviously(sp) it was bleaching. I shaded it a bit and it popped right back after 2 months. I never fed it.


HTH
willie

 

[J-dub]

If you still have a greedy fish even after feeding it first, try cutting a plastic soda bottle in half and putting it over the brain while it eats. This way the fish can't get to the food. Good luck!

Brent

Perfect this is exactly what I was looking for. The 'ol soda bottle cut in half trick! I do feed the fish first but the damsel is the only one that keeps trying to steal it's food. This sound great. I have two 400 watt M.H. and two VHO's. The pics were from awhile ago and has since been moved to the sand bed. Although it is out in the open directly under the light. Do you think it's a problem? Should I put it in the shade more? Thanks again guys I don't know what I'd do with out you

 

[Juanfer]

what happens if the brain doesnt take the tentacles out???

 

[Damsel13]

How is the best way to clean out the pump inlets? I think my little seio 6 that came with the cpr bpk skimmer is way clogged.

Any ideas appreciated.
Do I need to get out the toothbrush???

 

[J-dub]

what happens if the brain doesnt take the tentacles out???

I've feed my brain w/o it's tentacles out and it still ate.

 

[NaH2O]

Besides the soda bottle, you can also use one of those baskets strawberries come in. Make sure the pieces you are feeding aren't too large.

 

[J-dub]

Besides the soda bottle, you can also use one of those baskets strawberries come in. Make sure the pieces you are feeding aren't too large.

How big is to large? I have been feeding a piece about the size of my thumb nail once a week.

 

[jezzeaepi]

It would be much better too feed him something half that size twice a week. They dont gain much energy when you feed them large chunks because thay have to use so much energy to digest it. Giving it smaller pieces makes it use less energy to digest, and will leave it with more net energy.

I have a red/green variety which are notoriously hungry, light hating brains. I used to feed him large chunks of shrimp till I read about the issue with them trying to digest large peices of food. I found that even thoguh I was giving him large pieces of food he was going down hill. He started to develop white bleach lines(a milimeter or two thick) in a few spots. Since switching to the smaller food peices, the bleach lines have started to reverse, the feeding tentacles extend much farther, and it seems to plump up moer during the day.

Good luck with your brain and I also second moving him down to the sand.

 

[DonW]

There are quite types of Trachyphylllia. Some are just carnivors, some are just filter feeders and some feed only on bacteria. Have you come up with a positive Id for this one.

Don

 

[J-dub]

There are quite types of Trachyphylllia. Some are just carnivors, some are just filter feeders and some feed only on bacteria. Have you come up with a positive Id for this one.

Don

O.k., I wasn't excatly sure so I had to look it up. The best I can do is Trachyphyllia geoffroyi I'm pretty sure that's what mine is. I moved him into the shade a little and I think he likes it better there.

 

[vegeta]

Alittle help!!

I've had a marine aquarium since May 2006 but I seem to be having a few little probs at d Mo. Firstly,Im finding it hard to keep all my hermit crabs alive.A few jus disappeared,ders nofin to eat em either!!Also,my Yellow tang doesn't seem as interested in food as much.It jus pecks at it seaweed and eats the odd piece of flake food..........

 

[spongebob lover]

I've had a marine aquarium since May 2006 but I seem to be having a few little probs at d Mo. Firstly,Im finding it hard to keep all my hermit crabs alive.A few jus disappeared,ders nofin to eat em either!!Also,my Yellow tang doesn't seem as interested in food as much.It jus pecks at it seaweed and eats the odd piece of flake food..........

welcome to RF dood .

ok let's see ...your crabs are dissapearing and it's not because youre eating them with butter?? hmm are you sure there's nothing in your tank that might be killing your crabs? have you checked at night?

about your yellow tang...when did he stopped being interested in food? is he scratching? when did you introduce him to the tank?
I'm asking you all these quetions because he might have ich or something like that unless you quarantined him.
May be you should start a thread about them so people can help you a little bit more dood .

 

[vegeta]

Odd crab with red eyes!

Thanx sponge Bob!!
Wel in a few of my crabs go missin for weeks den appear normal.A few hav jus pain vanished leavin der shell.D latest crab missin is a dwarf zebra hermit dat used always be about and active.Its been about a month. U see my tank is a Jewel 125,dats around 33ish gallons (i think).It does hav plenty of rocks but coz of its small size I wud hav thought I would see all my mobile inverts often.D tank is 7-8 months old and d zebra hermit was one of my 1st crabs dat was introduced into my tank vai live rock. No turbo snails hav died so far!!!I've seen a small brown crab with red eyes dat seems to be strong enough to move light live rock.....don't kno if it'l kill hermits tho....:doubt:

 

[vegeta]

My Yellow tang doesn't itch much at all,I've had it for 2months. It only started to not show as much interest in food since sat 30th dec 06 so a few days now.It still eats...jus not as much....no enthusiasm....