General Information-This months Coral is
Tubastrea, also known as sun polyps or cup coral. While this is a very intriguing coral with vibrant colors this coral comes with some cautions and some things you MUST know before purchasing this coral. This coral has caused many debates and tens of hundreds of page long threads. Everyone that keeps these has a different way of keeping/feeding them. So this makes this coral a great coral for COTM so we can hear everyones different ways!
Lighting- This coral does not need light to live because it is one of the few corals that does not contain the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae. Most say that this coral does best under ledges or slopes.
Water flow- This coral needs moderate water flow so it can pick up zoo plankton or anything floating in the water.
Aggressiveness- Sun polyps are not very aggressive, a 1 inch perimeter around the coral would be fine.
Feeding- Now this is where things get tricky! This coral does not get its food from the light, so therefore you must feed each individual polyp. This coral does not have one stomach, each polyp contains a stomach so you must feed each individual polyp. One way you can do this is take the coral out of your tank, put it in a small plastic container, introduce some food so it will come out, then spray the colony with mysis or enriched brine shrimp. This will need to be done 2-3 times a week to keep the coral healthy. Any other ways you have tried feeding these corals would be great!
Hardiness- Provided this coral gets enough food, it is a pretty easy coral to keep.
Feel free to ask questions/post pics/ discuss this coral!
Matt