Questions about Dendrophyllia (Dendros)

[JerseyWendy]

I was finally able to track down some nice Dendros and ordered 2 of them. They'll be here tomorrow, and I've found information regarding their husbandry rather slim.

I do know they require spot-feeding in order to survive, and when it comes to placement I've run into different opinions. Some say you can place them anywhere, while others recommend you place them on/towards the bottom of the tank, under low light, medium flow (which is where I was planning on placing them).

Are these guys aggressive? When fully acclimated, do the polyps open during the day as well? If we have any Dendro keepers, please share your experience with these pretty guys.

Thanks so much.

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Wendy

 

[Carlo]

I've always had good success with them over the years. The high/low flow depends on the particular coral IMHO and where it came from. You can usually determine this on a case by case basis (worst case). Lowere light levels have always been what I used.

While spot feeding is good here's another thing you can try/do on occasion.

The secret to my success with them is the way I fed them IMHO. Instead of spot feeding these types of corals I'd remove them from the tank and move them into an outside feeding tank (IE 1g/2.5g tank/container) filled with tank water that I'd float in the tank (no temp changes). I'd then heavily feed this tank/container so they get all the nutrients they need. I'd then return them to the main tank after a couple of hours.

Doing this allowed me to properly feed them or any other type of coral without concern for adding excess nutrients to the tank itself! Besides just food this is also a great way to "feed" aminos and other vitamins without worry about it breaking down in the tank itself. You also tend to end up using a lot less food this way compared to feeding the whole tank!

Obviously the smaller the coral the easier it is to do this with. Probably the best advise I could give is to have a 5/10g tank on hand (QT) you could use for external feeding if the coral starts to decline. You can/should move it to this tank to nurse it back to good health. Since lighting doesn't matter much this type of setup is cheap.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thanks for all the info, Carlos.

Well, my Dendrophyllia arrived this morning, and I nearly had a heart attack when I realized just how cold the water was they were in. The packing was superb, and there was a heat pack, but I guess the box was left outside during the night.

This was the temperature of their water:

This is how they looked when I first placed them in the tank:

Half an hour later:

...and then I offered them food and my jaw dropped when they both accepted large pieces of krill.

I'm really REALLY happy with them. Yay!

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Wendy

 

[GregW]

I feed mine with a turkey baster after the lights have gone out. I let a cube of frozen mysis melt in a cup of water, sucks some up into the baster, then gently shoot it towards them.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Ditto, Greg, that's exactly how I did it, except all my lights were on, lol. But they didn't seem to mind a bit.

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Wendy