How to Spot Feed Corals?

[Malefactor]

So, i have no clue how to do this. I know i should in the next day or two. I've got 2 LPS frags (brains) and was told i can spot feed them coral food / mysis shrimp / brine shrimp or any other protein source. Just aim it at the head... So, how do i do this so i know they get it? For my RBTA i've been feeding it by dropping food down a PVC pipe i have aimed at it and the tentacles catch the food and bring it in... These corals have no tentacles (well, sweepers, but only one of them really has spread them out at night when i feed... The other doesn't). The sweeper tentacles don't seem "sticky" on the one that really brings them out. As in, i haven't seen them catch the food. And the Mysis shrimp i tried to feed wants to float, not sink directly onto the coral. So, how do i get the food to them? Keep in mind, i have VERY few fish and only these two corals in a LARGE tank... So, feeding the tank isn't really an option without horribly polluting it.

 

[Mike R]

You need a telescoping feeding tool or a turkey baster. For my Dendro, plate corals etc, I use tops from 2 liter bottles with holes all around made by a hole punch to all flow through. I feed through the opening in the top of the bottle. Helps keep fish, shrimp, snails and crabs from stealing the food.

 

[Malefactor]

I can do that, i've got 2 baby medication syringes (they're well cleaned and been used for my freshwater tanks for about a year now... So, nothing that can transfer / harm a salt tank) as well as a baby aspirator that i use for egg collection in my fresh water breeding setup. Just finished off a 2L of Mountain Dew as well *lol*. Just don't like sticking my hands in there if i don't have to, so was hoping there's another way. I know the natural oils / sweat from my hands is enough to send my skimmers skimmate to implode for about 2 hrs before it picks back up. Don't wanna do that anymore than i have to since it was recently added and pulling out ALL the crap (literally) that built up before i got it.

 

[Mike R]

I use large blue plastic grabber tongs to place/remove the bottle tops. Most LFS carry them.

 

[texasswangin214]

Yea I usually add some phytoplankton give it a little while until they stick there tentacles out cut off flow and just drop it on top with a turkey baster. Never thought of the 2 litter idea, smart. I usually just feed my cleaner shrimp first because he will literally pull food out of my torch, frogspawn, hammer, or Duncan's mouth while its inside them very rude.

 

[Mike R]

@texasswangin214 wrote:

I learned the hard way. Actually lost a couple really nice plate corals from the cleaner and blood shrimp damaging the corals mouths by digging food out of them. One of my current plates is a very slow eater. When I feed it, I leave the bottle on it overnight so it has plenty of time to fully digest the food and close it's mouth.

 

[texasswangin214]

@Mike R wrote:

I learned the hard way. Actually lost a couple really nice plate corals from the cleaner and blood shrimp damaging the corals mouths by digging food out of them. One of my current plates is a very slow eater. When I feed it, I leave the bottle on it overnight so it has plenty of time to fully digest the food and close it's mouth."]
I had thought that was why my plate didn't make it, so do you just di it in the sand a little to make it stay?

 

[Mike R]

@texasswangin214 wrote:

I learned the hard way. Actually lost a couple really nice plate corals from the cleaner and blood shrimp damaging the corals mouths by digging food out of them. One of my current plates is a very slow eater. When I feed it, I leave the bottle on it overnight so it has plenty of time to fully digest the food and close it's mouth."]
I had thought that was why my plate didn't make it, so do you just di it in the sand a little to make it stay?"]

Exactly.

 

[Malefactor]

I don't have any shrimp yet to worry about that. Tried the bottle deal you mentioned and it didn't work all that well. Mostly because my little guys are on a couple of rocks to get them closer to the lights and not on the floor of the tank, so it's an odd angle / fit for the bottle. What i did do, is just bite the bullet and make sure my hands were clean (not with soap, just making sure before i was going to work with the tank i didn't touch anything really that would contaminate them and then rub them together really fast to remove any dead skin ect) then i used the baby medicine syringe with some mysis and squirted the mysis directly on them. I was surprised to find it "stuck" to them a lot like it does my anemone and they started chowing down. Was really cool, i've never seen a corals "mouth" open before. But it was clear as day when i turned the pumps back on and half the mysis was sticking out of it... Now it makes me wonder what exactly the difference is between an anemone and something like a torch coral... After seeing both and a coral with an open mouth... The only difference i can think of is that the coral would have multiple "mouths" as opposed to the anemone's singular.

 

[texasswangin214]

Yea some lps usually have sweepers or many small tentacles. My torch will let me know when its hungry sending out its sweeper and my acans pretty much always have there mouths open now that I feed them often. My favias eat they swell up and open there mouth similar to how my zoas/palys do never seen tentacles. Pretty interesting to see how they all eat differently. Don't over feed though, I was feeding my torch a little too much and one day he was all sucked in taking a dump like someone after eating at a buffet didnt look comfortable lol.