Feeding a brain coral - The first feeding of my brain coral

B

Brack

[Feeding corals has been a real interesting concept to me; perplexing to a beginner no doubt, especially when it came to my brain coral. What had me scratching my head here was that there are no real tentacles to stick food too and not a whole lot of information on “how” exactly to feed them, and what you might expect to see.

After about a week of having it, it started to recess more, and more. Then I started noticing white bony areas around its sides. I did a lot of research, and started to realize quickly that my brain was in dire need of nourishment and was starving to death (So much for DT’s Phytoplankton).

It seems that "blowing" things at it with a baster was not strategic enough placement. :glare: So I tried using stiff air tubing, and again ended up just poking at it, stressing it out even more. After 4 or 5 failed attempts over the course of a few evenings, I found a method that it responded well too.

First, I shut down all lights, turned off the power heads, and turned down the filter so there was just enough flow in the tank to keep the water in motion, but not to blow any food off the brain. Next I got a pair of tweezers, chopped up some fresh raw shrimp into fine shreds, and gently placed a piece of shrimp on a few of its mouths by using the tweezers. This seemed to work well, as I could be very specific about exactly where the food came to rest.

When I returned about 15 minutes later, the brain’s little mouth was 4x(about 1cm) its original size, was raised up, and stretched out over the shrimp morsel. Interesting, as you wouldn’t think its mouth would get that big. It reminded me much of watching a snake dislocate its jaw to swallow large prey. Nature is crafty! I also took note of little pointy tentacles that also seemed to rise up, and help hold the shrimp in place. After about an hour or so, all of the shrimp chunks were gone, minus one a crab snatched out of its mouth.

Well, I went to bed feeling good that everyone was fed, and hopefully it would return to better health. By noon the next day, I returned home from lunch to see a very fat, happy looking little fella. It had doubled in size from the largest I had ever seen, color was vivid with no white areas I could see, and was jiggling loosely in the current.

All is good, and I learned how to feed a coral! How many people in the world get to do something like that in the comfort of their living room? Just amazing! :cool grin:]



Edited By Brack on 1096576111
 
[Very nice! Even after a few years of doing it I still think watching LPS eat is one of my favorite things to do!]
 
[I will have to agree that the new things that you learn early on in this hobby (obsession) are so wild. I'm still in the very begining stage so thanx for the insight.]
 
Brack wrote:


[I have a red brain that may not hold on much longer. I also have had trouble feeding it as I never see any tentacles. It used to be very big and beautiful . Much of its color is now gone. I think I have started doing recently is to use a tupperware bowl with holes in it. I weighted it down with rocks and put a hole in the top of the bowl. I put the bowl over the brain so the other fish dont' get to it and so it doesn't float away. I use some frozen formula II and frozen squid thawed out soaked in garlic. I break it down into smaller pieces and deliver it with my turkey baster. My turkey baster doesn't reach the brain so I'm not sure how much he actually gets. It seems to be doing better since I've been doing that but it still looks pretty pitiful.

You say that you use tweezers. Are there some long plastic tweezers that you can buy? My tank is deep enough that I have difficulty reaching it. My arms aren't long enough.

I'm glad you've had good success with yours.

Show us some pics of your brain. I would love to see it.

Cindy]
 
[It is doing better, but I'm not out of the woods yet I feel, but I'm hoping for the best. I just placed it on a flat section of my LR last night before feeding (Which is a no no). It was on my substrate which is crushed coral, and that seemed to irritate it a lot since there are many sharp shells. At lest the section of LR is smooth with no sharp edges.

I think in order to ensure long term success I need to move to a sand substrate, but that is another post, and I'm sure at this state, a real headache. Another though of mine is to make a little sand pallet, just for the brain on the CC.

You say that you use tweezers. Are there some long plastic tweezers that you can buy? My tank is deep enough that I have difficulty reaching it. My arms aren't long enough. said:
I have a rather small pair that are stainless steal, plus my tank isn't all that deep (18" from water to substrate). If you, or anyone else, finds a good pair of long, yet small, tongs or something. Let us know. That would be very helpful indeed.

I like the idea of the bowl. That seems like it would work in your circumstances. For me it was easier to reduce the tank flow. I made sure and feed everything else first too, so they wouldn't get to interested in the brains food.

I've got a lot of my good information from here;

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/trachyphyllidfaqs.htm

They recommend feeding at least 3+ times a week meaty foods (Shrimp, clams, squid, fish, etc). According to that FAQ the Brain coral is one of the hungriest corals you can get. They recommend the meaty foods minced into 1/4" chunks. They also said you could entice the feeding tentacles with some clam juice. I've never really seen them, so I can't say.

Here is a pic from a few days ago. Looking pretty skinny and bad. This was the first time I started noticing a real decline. I'll get a pic from today and post later. The red circle shows the little "mouth" thing that I feed the shrimp too.]
Click to expand...
 
[Here is a picture I took last night as the brain coral was consuming the shrimp. If you look closely you can see the little bumpy ridges around the mouth.]
 
[This is a picture 12 hours later (lunch time today). It was very plump looking, much more relaxed looking than it has ever been. Also a pic of a hammer coral in the upper left.

Nothing really speacial, but my first 2 corals. Special to me. :D]
 
[It is cool to watch them eat. I got a red cynarina this weekend and was able to get it to eat using a turkey baster. So with that and your post I was inspired to try an feed my brain again. I had tried before using a 2 liter bottle with the bottom cutout but had no way to anchor it so it did not work well.

This time I place the bottle of the brain and squirted in some brine and mysis shrimp and let them settle on the brain. I then place the end of the turkey baster in the top of the bottle and let the bulb float. It kept the bottle in place! With no currents or fish to bother it all the mouths on the brain sucked in some food. So cool. My brain usually puffs up at night. It will be cool to see if it does it during the day now like yours.

Cheers!]
 
Brack wrote:


[Brack, Great pics! I think your brain and hammer are beautiful. I'm glad you are having such success with feeding yours now.

I have some black tongs that I think is called the grabber that the previous owner had. One of the handles recently broke off and I have one on order from Drs Foster and smith. If the tentacles were out it would work real good, but for me its kind of clumsy to use with the brain, but you might like it.

Here's a link to my brain from when I first bought my tank. Mine was an existing tank so I had an instant reef set up.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph...._photos

The brain looks worse now than the last pic. Its smaller and less color. Since I've been feeding it and supplementing with garlic it seems to be getting a little more color back but is pretty scrawnie looking.

wizard, I got my container to stay down by using twist ties and tying rubble to the container using the holes that I had drilled into the container. I used 4 rocks one on each side and then I kind of push it down some into the sand.

You'll have to show us some pics of your new purchase. I'm not familiar yet with all of the names so I would like to see what you are talking about.

I agree that its pretty cool to watch them eat. Before mine got to looking so bad I took one half of a silverside and watched it eat it. That was before I started using the container so I was able to observe it really well. It was just so totally awesome. Since then I learned like Brack said, to cut stuff up into small pieces.

Cindy]
 
[Some people have made feeding domes by hot gluing some clear or colored glass pieces you find in hobby departments. (Usually poured into vases...) This would make the dome sink and stay in place. I have a two liter bottle cut in half, and press it around my sun coral to feed it. It stays in the sand nicely.

Cindy, feed your coral. Try something larger like krill, it'll do better I bet. If you have cleaner shrimp, leave the dome over your coral for at least 2 hours or more. The shrimp will come over and pull food right out of your coral if they have the opportunity. And I mean, out of the polyp itself, even when it was totally out of sight.]
 
Marc wrote:


[Marc, I like your idea with the glass weights. Especially since I usually leave the dome on it over night. It might not be too great leaving twist ties in there. You are right the others will come and take the food away if something isn't put over it. Other than the red brain, the other corals I just feed phytoplankton and don't do anything special. Should I ?
It seems like its a full time job just taking care of a tank. I got my Tunze equipment in last night. I'm fixing to unpack it and start playing with it a bit. The Tunze magnets also came in to my surprise. They thought it would be a couple of more weeks.

Cindy]
 
Brack wrote:


[Marc, I'll try the krill again. Since it isn't eating much of anything it just seems to make a mess. I squirt the food down the bowl with a turkey baster so I guess it is kind of hit or miss.

Do you think it would do better with phytoplankton? I don't know if it is something a brain eats or not. I'm fixing to read the link that Brack provided earlier and maybe that will give me some more insight.

Cindy]
 
[They eat meaty foods. I would try to feed it something solid every 3 days if possible. Krill comes in mush-form, or very small shrimp size. You might buy those, and cut one in half and try to feed that chunk to your coral. Leaving the coral covered for 3 hours should suffice. If you plan to leave it on all night, I would cut some slits in the bottle/dome so that some flow can get in the container. I'm sure the water almost stagnates overnight in the dome otherwise.]
 
Marc wrote:


[I try to feed him every day since he looks so bad. I've been feeding him the frozen formula I that looks like ground hamburger meat along with a frozen cube of squid thats kind of chunky. Tonight I've been cutting up little pieces of krill. I fed him awhile ago but my chrismas wrasse got in there and made a mess of things. He got in there because I had cut the top open a little larger so I could try to get some food inbetween its folds with the turkey baster. I should have put a rock on top when I finished. I'm thawing out more food now so I can try again. I do have holes in my container so it should be ok til morning. Its very slow eating if and when it does so I'm trying to give it plenty of time to consume whatever I give him. I hope he's not too far gone.

Cindy]
 
[The pictures you posted didn't look too bad yet. Wrasses are clever.

Btw, I'm editing the title of this thread since we are talking about a brain coral and not a brian coral.]
 
Marc wrote:


[I'm confussed Marc, I thought the thread title was brain and not brian coral. Am I missing something here?

Unfortunately the brain coral looks worse now than in the last pic. After what you said about the stagnation I decided that I might not have enough holes in the container to keep it from being stagnant, especially leaving it on all night so I'm going to remove it before I go to bed tonight.

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm all ears if you have any more. I did go to wet web.com as brack suggested. Lots of info. I need more time to spend there. I don't care for their format. Its difficult for me to tell whose doing the talking with their just using the symbols.

I'll go log on again.

Cindy]
 
[Cindy, I corrected the typo, that is why you are confused now.

And I agree with you about wetwebmedia. I almost wish the replies were a different color, rather than the brackets.]
 
Brack wrote:


[Brack, how is your brain coral doing?

I can't remember who suggested it or where, but someone said theirs did well when they put their brain coral in the fuge because of the pods . I put mine in the fuge this afternoon. So far I don't see any difference. I thought he might puff up a little. It will make it easier to feed him some krill . I just wonder if it will be a problem for the brain to be in the fuge with the light on 24/7. I thought I would try it for a few days.

Cindy]
 
[It's doing very well actually. Going to feed tonight (Been feeding once every 2-3 days). I've noticed that when it gets ready to feed, the little mouths pucker up like they are getting ready for a kiss. :blush21:

Sorry to hear about your red brain Cindy. I hope it helps to be in the fuge. I'm not sure what the 24hour light will do. But at least there you can concentrate on letting some meaty chunks rest on a mouth (if you can find any openings).

Is there a better name for that other than mouth? :suspect:

Anyway, here is a pic from yesterday. Looks very good IMHO.]
 
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