phytoplankton vs. zooplankton

O.K. I looked through as many posts as I could to avoid asking the same questions again, but I'm still a little confused. I've had an open brained coral for about two years now and it has been doing pretty good, although it hasn't grown too much. So I wanted to try feeding(have never used any supplements before). Now I have Dt's that I started using but now from reading I see that this is not what corals need. Zooplankton seems to be the right choice, correct? I also have a pink anenome and pencil urchin, would they benefit from the DT's? And if not would putting DT's phytoplankton in my tank just be a waste?

 

All SPS and LPS corals are meat eaters. Soft corals and clams will benefit greatly from Phytoplankton, but you Brain and anemone need meat. An easy way to feed both the brain and the anemone is to wait until the feeders are out on the brain and just gently spray Byrne shrimp or mysis in it's direction. The Anemone will take food any time and I've even fed mine small pieces of cocktail shrimp.

J

 

My open brain hasn't been looking too good and I have just started feeding it silver sides. I cut one in half and gave it to him. It took awhile but it was really cool watching him take in that fish. I've only done it once. I have trouble keeping the fish in place so he can get his mouth around it. I have never seen feeders on my brain. Does this mean that there is something really wrong with it?

Cindy

 

I've never fed my open brain coral. And I'm not sure where the feeders are either. Where do I put the food and will it eat krill? Where is the mouth?

 

[quote author=Jason McKenzie link=board=General;num=1093182506;start=0#1 date=08/22/04 at 08:38:04]All SPS and LPS corals are meat eaters. Soft corals and clams will benefit greatly from Phytoplankton, but you Brain and anemone need meat. An easy way to feed both the brain and the anemone is to wait until the feeders are out on the brain and just gently spray Byrne shrimp or mysis in it's direction.  The Anemone will take food any time and I've even fed mine small pieces of cocktail shrimp.

J[/quote]


You learn something new each day, I always thought that open brain corals were generally photosynthetic and didn't require feeding, although I guess if it has a mouth then it wants to eat

John

 

Well, I think I answered my own question. I fed my brain a small piece of krill in between one of the figure 8's(trying to find a mouth), and sure enough it slowly started covering over it! Amazing. All this time (about two years) I never fed it. Never knew it had a mouth! Too cool!

 

By the way. I don't see any tenacles on mine.

 

If ya'll click on this link you can see a brain eating a fish. After clicking on the link click the title Eating Sequence of Brain. It is really cool. This is where I got my info on feeding.

Mike how did you get the fish down to yours? My brain sits on the bottom and is kind of hard for my short arms to reach down that far. I used a wooden skewer but then I had trouble getting the fish off and keeping it there long enough for it to start eating.

finding nemo
Growing Roses.

In case you are not feeding yours, here is a sequence I put together of my brain eating a silverside.
http://home.att.net/~karenssaltwater/wsb/index.html

Enjoy, Cindy


__________________

 

Mike,

Here's another link with a close up pic of the tentacles. Maybe (?) it doesn't use or show it's tentacles if it's happy just using the light for food? Just a guess

http://www.reefcorner.com/SpecimenSheets/open_brain_coral.htm

John

 

Light only gives up to 98% of energy that photosynthetic corals need.