feeding sun polyps

How do you effectively feed sun polyps?

Mine are constantly retracted and hardly ever show any yellow (got them 2 weeks ago). I have tried to spot feed them frozen mysis shrimp, and also bottled zooplankton (Kents) - the action of the water turbulence from the syringe I use to feed causes the tentacles to retract, so I don't know if it is eating anything.

I have also tried removing the sun polyp frag in a very small container with tank water and adding zooplankton to that (so it can't blow away) - the polyps extended after about 30 minutes in that environment. But is this necessary? If so, how long should I keep them in that environment before returning them to the tank?

 

I would feed those the way I feed my other corals....

Turn off all of the flow in the tank (all of my powerheads are on one strip, everything else on another). I then pipe food VERY slowly onto them with a pipette. You have to do it very slowly so that they don't retract. Leave the flow off for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

 

Thanks for the response, Whippy. My only problem with that is that the tentacles never come out in the first place...

 

Ah, I see. You have to feed them at night usually. They feed at night and have to be trained to extend during the day.

I hope this is helpful.

 

I cut off the top of a 16oz soda bottle, glued some rubble on the side to weight it down and place that over the sun coral. Then I could use the pipette, or turkey baster to spot feed my sun corals without having the water action take the food away.

I also feed the rest of my tank first, then wait about 10 minutes until I start seeing the tentacles come out, then I feed the sun coral.

 

Neat idea! How long do you leave it on?

 

I usually leave it on for anywhere from 10 minutes to a half hour. Usually, when I can see when most of the food has been taken in I will take it off.....sometimes later, when I remember that I put it in there....LOL! It hasnt seemed to bother them and they now come out at all times during the day.

 

Feeding the tank first is the real trick . . . they almost have to sense that there's food around to want to extend.

~Will.

 

I agree. I always feed the tank first.