Calling all Scolymia keepers (past and present)

How have S.australis fared in your reef tanks over the long term? I am very interested in hearing both success stories and failures to learn about their husbandry and sustainability. The rate of collection for this species alarms me. I just wrote a blog about this subject matter: Scolymia australis: The Forbidden (Bleeding) Apple?; Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

 

Feel free to post my response on your blog:
I have had two in my time with this hobby. One for 2.5 years and the second for almost a year now. My first suffered greatly after having it for just over a year due to neglect while I was away. It receded to almost nothing... like pretty much just a 1/2" mouth left. With careful husbandry and target feedings every other day it grew back out to the original size within 4-5 months. It has since grown to twice the original size than before the recession incident.
My other specimen has been steadily growing and also developing a range of new and attractive colors. For the past few months I have been doing weekly feedings with pellet food and both have feeding tentacles out daily. Both my specimens appear to be quite healthy

 

What pellet food do you feed, and how much of it?

 

most often I will feed nothing more than NLS 1mm pellets. occasionally ON formula one or two sinking pellets.
Per scolymia I usually drop in around 10 pellets, sometimes a few more and sometimes a few less. Upon pellet contact, the mouth will start to open slightly and the upper tissue will enclose around the food within a min or two. About 10 minutes later it is very typical to find the tissue opening back up and the feeding tentacles are almost immediately extended. At this time I will sometimes feed another 5-10 pellets if I am around, otherwise they do perfectly fine with only the first weekly feeding of approximately 10 pellets.

 

Thanks for the info. Hobbyists should probably think of Scolys like Azoox corals (many think of them like brain corals that don't need to be fed). I don't think I've ever read a success story that didn't involve diligent feeding.