How to feed coral?

Hi guys, sorry this might be kind of a stupid question. But how am I supposed to feed my corals?

I have some zoas, green star polyps, kenya tree and a ricordea mushroom. I know these soft corals don't really need to be fed. But recently I bought a green galaxy coral which does need to be fed. I bought some frozen marine plankton, the bottle says "made with cyclopleeze. So i turn off the pumps and try to spray the stuff at the corals but most of it just kind of drifts in the water. Are they eating it or able to, because it doesn't look like they are getting any of it. Also the ricordea mushroom has a mouth, will it eat the plankton too?

And again, I'm just kind of concerned because it doesn't really look like the corals are getting any of it to eat. It just kind of drifts. Thanks!

 

You can feed em brine shrimp, some corals will even take meatier stuff than that...feed with a turkey baster usually better to do at night once the feeder tentacles come out

 

Cut a two liter soda pop bottle in half. Use the top half, cover the coral with it, and use a turkey baster to squirt the food in the half bottle. That will keep the food concentrated over the coral rather than drifting all over and polluting the tank.

 

I do try to feed them mysis shrimp sometimes. But still, the issue is just the food escaping and going everywhere.

Oh thanks, thats a great idea! I'll try it. I'll probably try like a small 12oz bottle since the frags are small.


Funny, after I posted this, I saw my ricordea mushroom eating something. When I looked closely, It was an exo skeleton of a copepod that molted recently. I had seen that molted skeleton flying around in the water a little while before. I will try the bottle technique on it.

Do the galaxy corals only eat when the sweeper tentacles are extended?

 

I place mysis on my galaxy coral. It's pretty much learned when feeding time is now and will extend some feeder tentacles, but even if they're not out, it will still eat what I place on it. If food like mysis is flying around, you have too much flow going while you're trying to feed. Sometimes to get my various LPS ready to eat, I'll "smoke" a little of the tank water the food is thawed in over them with a turkey baster, then they'll extend tentacles and can properly grab the food. I don't do anything for the zoas and they're growing like crazy. I also don't intentionally feed my mushrooms, but sometimes stuff lands on them -- I don't have any ricordeas, though. When I did I used to sometimes feed them.

 

Ok great. Thank you guys for all the info! Appreciate it!

 

I usually do the whole tank

 

So I just tried the half bottle trick. I just cut the tops off of those 12 oz water bottles and it worked perfectly! One top for my galaxy coral and one top for the mushroom. It's amazing how the mushroom can slooooowly move food to its mouth. But let me tell ya, watching coral eat is probably the most boring thing I have ever seen. LOL. Thanks again everyone!

 

LOL. I always come back and look at various points in the process. We have a favia that I thought food kept "blowing" out of, so I'd put another piece on there. One day I was still feeding, put the food back on there, and watched the food move from where the mouth was to over the edge. You couldn't see any part of the coral moving at all, so assuming it was moving slime to kick the food out. I put another piece on & we watched it do it again. I put it back & it ate it LOL.

 

LOL! Exactly! I was staring at it, squinting reaaaal hard! Trying to see if it was moving or not. Surely the piece of mysis was inching closer to the mouth but I could see no moving parts on the mushroom! Boring...but so cool!;D