Someone please - spot feeding

Reef2Land · 02/27/2019, 04:54 PM

Maybe I'm missing something. Most people here have been keeping corals 25+ years. Lately we've been doing a lot of timelapse photography when it comes to spot feeding and it seems 99.9% of corals freak out and close up before they even consider allowing spot feeding. Unless the thing has a big enough mouth where someone can just sit a silver side on it, like a cynarina, it appears completely worthless. Anyone else have better experiences or use a different method?

New frag

Dsekula · 02/27/2019, 05:21 PM

Yes, the coral I spot feed are euphyellia and acans. Never had an issue like your experiencing but the food I used is mashed down to the size of a brine shrimp or smaller not the size of a silverside. Even my nems don't get anything larger than a pencil eraser (the one that's attached). Idk if that was just to describe size or your litterally feeding silversides, but if the later that may be the issue. If corals don't want food tho they could just not be hungry their not like fish where most will eat when ever food is offered.

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Reef Bass · 02/27/2019, 07:12 PM

My lps (Favia, Acanthastrea, Micromussa, Euphyllia, Lobophyllia, Pentagona, Caulastrea) readily grab and consume spot fed food. Have had lots of feeding success shelling PE Mysis and chopping them up. Also thawed frozen brine shrimp, probably the largest size food item. I feed freeze dried zooplankton soaked in Selcon to my sps. My Caulastrea open up wide for that too. I feed lps with a turkey baster, sucking up some chopped food slurry and letting it drizzle out over the corals.

Clean up crew shrimp can be a real pain - often stealing food from coral tentacles. I've also watched peppermint shrimp plunder the gut sacs of recently fed corals. They stick their claws in through the mouth and pull out food.

I enjoy seeing corals plump up, expand and extend feeding tentacles in response to food in the water column.

mav3rick478 · 02/28/2019, 08:48 PM

Try Reef Roids paste for corals with small mouths like favites and chalices and you'll see them vacuum up the paste with their mucus. Eventually they will learn to eat bigger foods like brine shrimp or mysis. It also sometimes helps to put a pinch of Reef Roids in the water first to get a feeding response before doing the spot feeding.

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Reef2Land · 03/11/2019, 06:55 PM

This thing is browning out like crazy. This whole phase the industry is going through where some people are keeping corals like this under almost pure actinic with dim lights to color them up is frustrating.

02/27/2019, 07:12 PM	#3
Reef Bass colors and textures Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Petaluma CA Posts: 6,301	My lps (Favia, Acanthastrea, Micromussa, Euphyllia, Lobophyllia, Pentagona, Caulastrea) readily grab and consume spot fed food. Have had lots of feeding success shelling PE Mysis and chopping them up. Also thawed frozen brine shrimp, probably the largest size food item. I feed freeze dried zooplankton soaked in Selcon to my sps. My Caulastrea open up wide for that too. I feed lps with a turkey baster, sucking up some chopped food slurry and letting it drizzle out over the corals. Clean up crew shrimp can be a real pain - often stealing food from coral tentacles. I've also watched peppermint shrimp plunder the gut sacs of recently fed corals. They stick their claws in through the mouth and pull out food. I enjoy seeing corals plump up, expand and extend feeding tentacles in response to food in the water column. __________________ The human desires for instant gratification and immediate problem resolution cannot be satisfied with this hobby. Former president and co-president of the Wine Country Reefers. Current Tank Info: 60 gallons of Scleractinia and Zoanthidae lit w/ LEDs

02/27/2019, 05:21 PM	#2
Dsekula Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sterling Posts: 271	Yes, the coral I spot feed are euphyellia and acans. Never had an issue like your experiencing but the food I used is mashed down to the size of a brine shrimp or smaller not the size of a silverside. Even my nems don't get anything larger than a pencil eraser (the one that's attached). Idk if that was just to describe size or your litterally feeding silversides, but if the later that may be the issue. If corals don't want food tho they could just not be hungry their not like fish where most will eat when ever food is offered. Sent from my E6810 using Tapatalk

02/28/2019, 08:48 PM	#4
mav3rick478 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2015 Location: California Posts: 888	Try Reef Roids paste for corals with small mouths like favites and chalices and you'll see them vacuum up the paste with their mucus. Eventually they will learn to eat bigger foods like brine shrimp or mysis. It also sometimes helps to put a pinch of Reef Roids in the water first to get a feeding response before doing the spot feeding. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

03/11/2019, 06:55 PM	#5
Reef2Land Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2018 Posts: 51	This thing is browning out like crazy. This whole phase the industry is going through where some people are keeping corals like this under almost pure actinic with dim lights to color them up is frustrating.