Look what EATS!

[jazzsam]

WOW, I never knew what I could feed and to what until today! I have had a wide variety of LPS for a while now and never fed any of them and they have done fine. Today I was feeding my anenome and decided to test a few things out. With a combo of Silver Sides, Clam, and squid I moved some things around.

My Bubble coral took a large chunk of Squid.
My plate took 1/2 a silver side. (that was fun to watch)
My open brain took an ENTIRE silver side. (Totally unexpected)
My elegance took two large chunks of squid that floated to him. I was not even planning on testing that one!
The scolymia took a silver side.

The only LPS that did not seem interested but have been growing like crazy are my frogspawn and torch. Not sure what to feed those guys but they have been doing great without any help.

 

[blange3]

The only LPS that did not seem interested but have been growing like crazy are my frogspawn and torch. Not sure what to feed those guys but they have been doing great without any help.

These guys like smaller stuff like mysis and small chunks of krill. My hammers eat more than the frogspawn. They can do well without target feeding, but they thrive when you do feed them.

 

[jazzsam]

These guys like smaller stuff like mysis and small chunks of krill. My hammers eat more than the frogspawn. They can do well without target feeding, but they thrive when you do feed them.

Bill, I have to thank you because it was you who brought up the idea of silver sides while I was at AqOb. I would never have even know to try them if you didn't bring it up. THANKS!

 

[Subliminal]

My frogspawn will eat silversides. Although, I do have to get a really little piece...usually i squish it between my fingers till some meat pops out, and they love it.

 

[blange3]

These guys like smaller stuff like mysis and small chunks of krill. My hammers eat more than the frogspawn. They can do well without target feeding, but they thrive when you do feed them.

Bill, I have to thank you because it was you who brought up the idea of silver sides while I was at AqOb. I would never have even know to try them if you didn't bring it up. THANKS!

My bubble, cyanaria, scoly and plate thank you for reminding me about my own advice!

They are happily dining, and I'm happily drinking a toast to them!

 

[Brian]

I haven't done this in awhile either. My LPS are also thanking you!

 

[pgordemer]

My Bubble coral took a large chunk of Squid.
My plate took 1/2 a silver side. (that was fun to watch)
My open brain took an ENTIRE silver side. (Totally unexpected)
My elegance took two large chunks of squid that floated to him. I was not even planning on testing that one!
The scolymia took a silver side.

This may seem like a silly question, but as a FOWLR to Reef convert, how do you physically feed the corals. Blow it at them, place it on their bodies, turkey baster... really I can't picture the physical technique, other then turning off the pumps so it doesn't blow away.

 

[jazzsam]

My Bubble coral took a large chunk of Squid.
My plate took 1/2 a silver side. (that was fun to watch)
My open brain took an ENTIRE silver side. (Totally unexpected)
My elegance took two large chunks of squid that floated to him. I was not even planning on testing that one!
The scolymia took a silver side.

This may seem like a silly question, but as a FOWLR to Reef convert, how do you physically feed the corals. Blow it at them, place it on their bodies, turkey baster... really I can't picture the physical technique, other then turning off the pumps so it doesn't blow away.

With the LPS that I fed today all I did was set it on them and it stuck to them and they pulled it into their mouth on their own. It was tons of fun to watch. With the goni and things that have small mouths I use a turkey baster for that and protect them from the fish trying to steal the food.

 

[Phyl]

It does work best if you turn the pumps off. I don't do that nearly as often as I used to.

 

[blange3]

My Bubble coral took a large chunk of Squid.
My plate took 1/2 a silver side. (that was fun to watch)
My open brain took an ENTIRE silver side. (Totally unexpected)
My elegance took two large chunks of squid that floated to him. I was not even planning on testing that one!
The scolymia took a silver side.

This may seem like a silly question, but as a FOWLR to Reef convert, how do you physically feed the corals. Blow it at them, place it on their bodies, turkey baster... really I can't picture the physical technique, other then turning off the pumps so it doesn't blow away.

First I feed the fish to give the corals the idea that food is coming. I soak everything in garlic and selcon, so as that gets in the water I can see feeders start to extend.

Then I kill the pumps. Turkey baster is used to give a small squirt to the candy canes, blastos and euphylias. By then the big mouth guys like the bubble, plate and cyanarias are ready and I place the bigger foods right on the their tentacles.

If I really feel energetic, I place some small chunks of krill near the mouths of the hammers and frogspawns. I use the ACJr's feed cycle to shut down the pumps. The cycle lasts about 45 minutes.

 

[mladencovic]

It does work best if you turn the pumps off. I don't do that nearly as often as I used to.

I have figured a way how to target feed LPS without turning off the pump and food being stolen from their mouth. I use formula one pellets that I soak in the water slightly (so that they loose much of buoyancy) and then I load them in the clear plastic pipe whose inner diemeter is only ~1/8" . It is relatively long (longer then the height of my tank) and on the top I have attached a small plastic pipette. Then I suck in food pellets in the pipe, bring the lower end of the pipe 1/16" from the mouth of the coral and let the pellets slowly sink through the pipe directly to the corals mouth. I don't squirt it (like you would with turkey blaster) because I have noticed that small corals retract when exposed to strong flow from blasters). The size of the food (pellet) ensures that the food will be swallowed fast and no fish, hermit, seastar or shrimp will steal it. Also by placing the pipe so close to the mouth, I really have a good "aim" and I don't need to turn off the pumps.

This way I feed trumpet/candy cane, acan, chalice and pineaple corals much more successfully then with any previous method or food (and trust me I have tried and experimented with many different possibilities).

p.s. I found pipes in Petsmart for couple of $

 

[blange3]

It does work best if you turn the pumps off. I don't do that nearly as often as I used to.

I have figured a way how to target feed LPS without turning off the pump and food being stolen from their mouth. I use formula one pellets that I soak in the water slightly (so that they loose much of buoyancy) and then I load them in the clear plastic pipe whose inner diemeter is only ~1/8" . It is relatively long (longer then the height of my tank) and on the top I have attached a small plastic pipette. Then I suck in food pellets in the pipe, bring the lower end of the pipe 1/16" from the mouth of the coral and let the pellets slowly sink through the pipe directly to the corals mouth. I don't squirt it (like you would with turkey blaster) because I have noticed that small corals retract when exposed to strong flow from blasters). The size of the food (pellet) ensures that the food will be swallowed fast and no fish, hermit, seastar or shrimp will steal it. Also by placing the pipe so close to the mouth, I really have a good "aim" and I don't need to turn off the pumps.

This way I feed trumpet/candy cane, acan, chalice and pineaple corals much more successfully then with any previous method or food (and trust me I have tried and experimented with many different possibilities).

p.s. I found pipes in Petsmart for couple of $

Great idea mladenkovic! I'll have to give this a try. It's frustrating trying to blow floating foad back to the little guys that didn't grap it fast enough!

Another feeding trick, when defrosting frozen food, soak in saltwater. If you soak it in fresh it floats, and usually floats right away from those hungry little mouths! ;D