I just bought some sun coral from the store yesterday in the store it wasn't open but the guy assured me that this was an "Indonesian" sun coral that feed at night so I bought it 35 bucks seemed cheap! HOWEVER, it has not opened up yet is this noraml? anyone have experience? What can I do?:cry1:
Sun coral
- Thread starter illy915
- Start date
Sun coral and the duncans are in the same family. I bought 3 sets of 4-6 heads. 1 opened immediately, one opened 12 hours later. The third didnt open for 2 days. give it some time. It may yet open.
what kind of lights are they under? where in the tank are they.
what kind of lights are they under? where in the tank are they.
Sun Corals are non-photosynthetic and don't need light BUT need to be target fed, each individual polyp. They will usually extend their feeder tentacles at night but can be trained (sort of speak) to feed during the day. Zooplankton can be used such as DT'S Oyster eggs or cyclop-eeze or if feeding directly small pieces of shrimp squid etc. Here's a good read:
Aquarium Corals: A Look at the Sun Corals — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
Aquarium Corals: A Look at the Sun Corals — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
I went with Duncans instead of sun Corals. They dont like light, prefering to feed at night. Where as Duncans are open all the time, and are partially photosynthetic. They love my 10k halide over my 65. i ahve 2 colonies atm. 1 greenish, 2 heads. one pale green with 8 heads. Since i started target feeding them before bed 1x a week and keeping them low in the 65 under my 250 watt halide, both have put off babies in less than a week. Im hoping by spring to have several frags ready to sell/trade.
Nanoprincess
Member
Matt...I thought dendros are the ones always open most of the time and the sun corals only open at feeding time. Ohhh man I was gonna get some dendros but don't want anything in the tank that doesn't stay open most of the time.
Bummer...so now dendros are out....or is this not the norm????
Bummer...so now dendros are out....or is this not the norm????
ed84g
Member
I bought one of those about a month ago. It was just a boring looking red coral but i asked the guy in the store if it did anything and he assured me that it looked great when it was open. I took a leap of faith and brought it home but it didn't open.
I moved it to a couple of spots and noticed that it opened up a little when it was in a little bit of shade. Seeing this i moved a large rock and turned it into a ledge by putting a small one under it and created a big shadey area. After moving it into the shaded area it started opening up for an hour or 2 every night.
It one of my favourite corals in the tank now, the colours are intense!
I moved it to a couple of spots and noticed that it opened up a little when it was in a little bit of shade. Seeing this i moved a large rock and turned it into a ledge by putting a small one under it and created a big shadey area. After moving it into the shaded area it started opening up for an hour or 2 every night.
It one of my favourite corals in the tank now, the colours are intense!
kmaintl
Member
give it some time to acclimate to new surroundings. make sure your parameters are right. and he does need to be in the shade initially.
michaelis88
Member
U should always keep them in shadow area, they dont like any light
try to feed all other corals and fish first, then when he sense there is food, the tentcles will slowly open, I did feed mine during the nights
try to feed all other corals and fish first, then when he sense there is food, the tentcles will slowly open, I did feed mine during the nights