I bought this sun coral about two weeks ago, it has gotten better at being coaxed out to be fed (it takes forever!!). Although I know that there are MANY different types, I wonder if the polyps on this one will ever be more extended, or if this is what I can expect from the type that I bought!

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4564.jpg

they will eventually look like these ...

http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n75/lReef_lKeeper/suncoral.jpg

it took mine a while to come out too.

I really CAN hope? Yours looked like mine? What are you feeding? Did feedings take FOREVER? A good half hour to 45 min of giving them food from a med dropper every 5-10 min with the pumps off.

it did for a few weeks. i think it was acclimating to the new tank. collecting, sitting, shipping, sitting, shipping and sitting ... has to be pretty stressful on them.

Cool corals you guys. Laura, FYI, I don't know if you are aware but the Sun Coral doesn't need to be up near the lights. They get zero energy from light, non-photosynthetic, and rely totally on being fed. Notice Bobby's is on the bottom. I think they do better away from bright lights. are you still burning the 500W?

Dick

thats why I have to take so much time/care to feed it! I WISH it were photosynthetic!!! Mine is against a rock, just off of the sand, I was worried about debris in the folds, I read some stories...
I run one 250 at a time, i keep both 250's on together for ot 2 hr a day.

He is here!!!
w
a
y
Down!!!


http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4541-1.jpg

Yes, I forgot you are running your lights in that manner. And, thanks for the picture showing it's location. My guess is he will be fine there. One way to target feed a Sun Coral is to cut the bottom off a liter pop bottle, invert it over the coral and drop the food through the top.

Dick

PS: Have you planned on a meeting time/date?

Sun corals are trainable, opening up when they think its feeding time. Mine stays open a lot but I have a crazy schedule and the poor thing is confused about when it is time to eat.

Carmie, this is what I am hoping, I tried feeding earlier last night, and although it took a long time, they came out, I am in the process again now, though I should have started much earlier. I am sure once they look like Bobbys (and maybe yours) feeding wont be quite so difficult with those beautiful, long tentacles!! Carmie,what do yours like to eat? I have given several types of fine frozen blends, frozen rotifers, and tonight I was surprised how well the grater works on frozen krill!! Makes it nice and fine!!
Dick, I have read about that method, and may give it a try, I can put them down in the sand to do that.

when i had mine, they really liked the Mysis and Cycopeeze mixture i was feeding them.

Bobby, I keep looking back at your sun coral photo, they are just beautiful!! You really think mine may be the type to look that good??!! I can only hope... I was wondering if I had the short tentacled variety (if there is one!!)!!

na, they just take time to come out. i have never heard of a short tentacle type, so dont worry there. they will be out in all their glory before you know it.

I target feed mine mysis with a turkey baster and they catch whatever else floats by. You might try routinely soaking their food in garlic. If I need to feed and they aren't open I can put a drop of garlic in the water and they will usually open.

I love your new Sun Coral! When I was first doing research into marine tanks, I serously looked at the sun corals because they don't require intense lighting. I did have to chuckle to myself because you are the perfect "coral mother figure" because you love to feed and baby your tank inhabitants. :D You'll have them raising their lil heads in no time!

Thank you!! Its seriously funny, and maybe a little disturbing how I worry about every perceived ache and pain they may have :blush: I watch them like a hawk! The sun corals have a gatorade bottle over them as we speak thanx Dickand I added a couple of drops of garlic thanx carmie and I gave them a little snack, waiting for them to come out for their meal... Yeah, disturbing :D

I just got done feeding mine too.

:wall::grrr!: @#*!!@#&*#

WELL...
That was then, this is now. Ive been BABYING the sun coral, its been coming along great! As a matter of fact, I was going to post a new photo last night of the progress, but mt battery was dead, wish I had. I moved the coral up some, after lights out, for a while just to give it some increased flow. I came back about half hour later to move it back down, and found it already down, right on top of an aggressive and very bad YUMA @#%%$#@. THANK GOODNESS it wasnt there long, but DID do some damage @#%%$#@$. Yes, Its mouth (yuma) was attached, and I knew there would be SOME damage to that tiny area. What I didnt know, and cant find much info on, is ricordia will sting??!!? Here is the damage@#$%$#@

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4575.jpg



shot of unaffected polyp

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4574.jpg


whole shot


http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4576.jpg



Fuzzy stuff is food. I had just removed the bottle. I was trying desperatly to get them to come out so that I could assess the damage!@#$$#@!

What do you think?

My goodness Laura, such language out of the mouth of a teacher. :rotfl:

Don't worry, I love you anyway. I've done the same thing in the past and spoke the same language.

Funny thing, have you ever typed after and while having a couple of cocktails? It's funny. It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Dick

I love you too, no cocktails yet...now would you please help me with this coral:wall:

Dick, Dick, Dick?

I didnt mean to yell:blush:

okay relax... it's in good shape despite the stinging! Sun corals are more robust than most make them out to be (in fact they're borderlining on invasive species lists in some areas). The reason we find them hard is most theories around aquaria is low nutrient and starvation based.

Soak some mysis in garlic, and if you can find some vitamin C supplement (kent, whatever you have) and add a very very small amount to the food soak. Pay careful attention to the affected areas over the next week or so and make sure no detritus or food stays in those areas long. After feeding (figure 20 minutes or so) make sure and blow the excess off the coral with a turkey baster. The sting will heal easily unless something gets in and decays thus causing a whole new problem.

You may lose a polyp (the severely affected one in the first picture) but given the way you love to feed your tank and watch things I doubt it... it'll be fine in a week or so!

If you really want to see corals bad off hit the www.copepodgeek.com Home (http://www.copepodgeek.com) website and see how the sun corals found at the downtown aquarium were received.... they heal V.e.r.y.... slooo....www...llll.....y but eventually start to show good signs.

Laura, you've got me LMAO!!! Seldom have I left a woman waiting for anything. I wasn't available last night.

THEJRC has covered the problem and I couldn't add much to his contribution. I think your coral will be fine with the TLC you exercise. Like he ^^ said, you may lose the worst head but the rest should remain in good health.

Beautiful coral, by the way. Nice and "meaty", not like most you see in the LFS starving to death.

Dick

he he, I detected a hint of panic and figured I'd reply

Dick made the most excellent point, it's a very healthy coral and will recover fine!

A hint of panic? That was full blown hysteria.

Laura, breath in, hold, exhale slowly, relax. :love!:

FYI ... mushrooms sting worse than most other corals !!

thank you thejrc for the hepl! And thank you Dick for knowing when I am in full blown hysteria!! Yes, breathe slowly! :shout:

I took all advice. There was quite a bit of dried orange mucas-type of "stuff" that I was able to gently blow away with a med dropper. I double fed last night, and am double feeding now as well. The least damaged polyps look ok, the most damaged one finally just came out. It does have a small bad spot. I am guessing that was the part IN the RICs mouth @#$%$#@. The rest really are looking like they are going to be fine, just the one will remain to be seen, but at least it came out somewhat. I REALY< REALLY appreciate you guys. Dick, dont ever leave me like that again!! THEJRC, are you the one who looks good in a dress? If so, I am glad you are in touch with your fem. side!

2 ricordea yuma for sale
cheap!

it was a short skirt too he he....

Careful with the double feeding as well, you want to give the coral time to digest as well as expunge waste. If you notice the coral expunging a large amount of waste cut back but otherwise you should be fine!

Yes Dear, I promise. :love!:

FYI ... mushrooms sting worse than most other corals !!

Wow did I learn the hard way!

sun coral at two weeks

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4564.jpg


sun coral after accident at 4 weeks

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4575.jpg

sun coral tonight after 5 weeks
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4580.jpg

Making progress. This is the farthest it has come out so far, and the 'ouchies' are looking great! It REALLY is taking some time, are we sure that I dont have the short tentacled variety :D

I tried something different tonight, I waited for him to beg foe a little while. I am wondering, why would he want to come out fully if he gets fed at the first sign of being 'awake'? It may all be in my head, but I am going to try that for awhile!!

Coral training tips and tricks! I'd say that is silly except that I think that mine is out so much because it never knows when I am going to feed it.

not silly at all, I've trained mine to come out during the day!

Just a matter of getting something in the water they can sense a half hour or so prior to feeding, coupla squirts of bio plankton (liquid life) works great for me to get everything primed, then half hour later cut pumps and feed!

Laura,

That Sun Coral is looking very good. Must be the Motherly TLC you are giving it.

they are coming along nicely, Laura. it wont be long now !!

thanx Dick, they really bouced back quickly from their incident! I turn it every day so that I am not favoring one side when feeding.


Bobby, I have to say, when anyone comes over I show them the pic of YOUR coral and tell them thats what mine wants to be when it grows up!! I look at yours quite often in disbelief and amazement that mine may one day look like that too:up:

I think I have found a favorite!! Soft corals are pretty, sps are nice, but not very interactive-definatly testy! I really think that I am a LPS kind of gal! Most of the corals that I ooh and ahhh at most are LPS. Macro and LPS make me happy!!!

he he, I've sorta found my niche among the LPS as well but am quickly favoring gorgonians...

Though I love al my tubastrea! Glad yours is healing nicely!!

lol, when yours grows up !! lmao ...

here is a question for you, how much flow is on your colony ?? if you notice in my pic, there is a good amount of flow blowing the tentacles in the water column. it might just take a little more flow to get them to open up all the way.

Ive read that, flow can get them to open up and yes yours are REALLY waving in the breeze!! They are getting moderate right now. last week I put them in a higher flow area to try this, and they fell onto the ricordia :eek:
I need to readjust some things, with my anemone being the size of a satelite dish, I am runninhg out of room! They are really looking plump!

Ive read that, flow can get them to open up and yes yours are REALLY waving in the breeze!! They are getting moderate right now. last week I put them in a higher flow area to try this, and they fell onto the ricordia. I've always kept mine on the bottom but always in a location that gets a lot of 'downdraft' flow to maximize the opportunities to capture any food that might be getting carried in the water column - I also target fed mine every night. The one in the picture below practically stopped closing altogether other than the occasional brief 'water change' behavior (where all the polyps deflate and inflate again with new water).

Sun Coral on Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drthompson/355318391/)

I had to take this tank down when I moved but according to the new owner of the colony it is now nearly the size of a volleyball (as of February, 2008). He's been following the same basic husbandry practices I was:
daily target feeding of vitamin-soaked or enriched food (mysis and selco/selcon)
ample surrounding substrate to expand/grow onto
kept in turbulent high-flow area (ample opportunities for "snacking")
maintaining a consistent calcium level (small daily corrections)
maintaining undetectable nitrate levels (salifert kit, I think)I need to readjust some things, with my anemone being the size of a satelite dish, I am running out of room! They are really looking plump! If you've got a spare tank (20g or so) and enough spare equipment to provide good flow you could always frag your anemone! They don't take long to recover with decent flow and daily partial water changes (thus the small tank!). Within 8-10 weeks you could put the largest frag back in the display tank and sell the rest - it could probably be cut it into 4 or 5 decent-sized specimens. Just a thought. :)

that is going to take my brain a bit of time to adjust to!! I noticed you left a video link on the anemone thread, I will definatly check that out, wow

slow going, but making progress . Here is sun coral after one weekhttp://i278


http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4564.jpg

.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4580.jpg

after one month



http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4580.jpg

now, after almost two months!
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk91/laurabolyard/DSCN4726.jpg

I would say your Sun coral is making great progress. I may have to get me one of those.

Dick

Laura it looks great!

thank you so much! I am still feeding daily, should I keep this up until it opens fully, or should I begin feeding every other day?

i would keep doing what youre doing.

i would keep doing what youre doing.I agree!