stupid impulse buy

[MatthewJ]

I stopped at the lfs to get some hermits and left with something called a yellow polyp. The rock is small but includes some other interesting (albeit small) growth like some macro algae, other really small greenish polyps, some weird whitish tentacles coming out of the rock (i'm curious what these are). Anyway, I'm totally clueless and the lfs convinced me to buy cylopeeze and phytofeast live. In hindsight I can't imagine that both are necessary and they cost as much as the coral. Do I need to feed the polyps one or both of these?

[Frankie]

Here is a good thread to read through:
Anybody keeps non-photosynthetic corals and will talk shop?

And another:
Suncorals and more

[LaurentSeattle]

Not a bad choice: Yellow polyps are very nice and hardy. They are easy on the wallet too: I have a medium sized rock with about 50 polyps that I got for $25 at my favorite LFS.

Usually there is no need to feed them at all, especially if you feed fishes in the tank. Unfortunately, the peppermint shrimp has a tendency to eat them.

[MatthewJ]

I was looking for something cheap and hardy. I'm finding that local prices are higher. This was the cheapest coral they had and it was $32 for about 15 polyps on a very small rock. Most of what the have is between $80-100. It's probably the last time I buy from the lfs unless it's an emergency. I'm kind of pissed that they told me I needed both of these very expensive foods when I may not need either. I share some of the blame for buying without researching.

I think my clowns will eat the cyclopeeze, but the phytofeast seems like I'm dumping waste into my tank;-)

Will my emerald crab eat the polyps? When I went to bed last night, I think he was making quick work of any macro algae that was on the rock.

[sambrinar]

I would take the phytofeast back for sure, it will prolly cause an increase in trates and hence increase in algae (they were making $$ off ya). My clown does eat the cyclopeeze. My emerald doesn't eat my yellow polyps

[ZAPCOnj]

Can you post some pics of your new addition. No one wants to admit it but we are all photo junkies >

[MatthewJ]

sure. I already took some "before" pictures, I'll upload one or two tonight. I'm not sure if I got one of the tentacles, but I'll get one. They look kinda like brittle star arms and they seem to move "intelligently".

[lcstorc]

Everybody loves Cyclopeze. That one is not a waste at all.
All my fish and corals go crazy for the stuff.

[ZAPCOnj]

my lfs compared cyclopeze to Crack for your tank. lol

[MatthewJ]

Originally Posted by ZAPCOnj

my lfs compared cyclopeze to Crack for your tank. lol

I think crack is cheaper

[lcstorc]

IDK
A tiny bit of Cyclopeze goes a really long way.

[Reefmack]

myusernameRocks - don't feel bad - I dished out a lot of money for DTs (live algae) and a few other phyto type things - JMO, but I think most are a waste of money and just add bioload to the tank. Cyclopeeze will be eaten by the fish and any corals they land on, but as said above - a little goes a long way, so don't add a lot of it. I don't feed my corals anything anymore and they still grow like crazy, almost too much in fact. I've always avoided the non-photosynthetic types (sun corals, etc.) as I don't want to pollute the tank with uneaten food from target feeding things, but that's just my style. Aquarium International recently ran a 2 part series on clams, and some of the experts determined that most of the clams we keep (such as Crocea) do not need to be fed, and will grow just fine on light energy and other tank nutrients, without adding extra stuff like DTs live algae to the tank.

Hard to tell without a picture, but what you described does sound like micro brittle stars. Usually all you see of them is their tiny arms poking out of a hole so small you can't even see it. I have a lot of those and the arms are usually white with tiny black bands.

[MatthewJ]

My name is Matt. I got frustrated trying to find a valid username and so ended up creating a stupid one.

Originally Posted by Reefmack

myusernameRocks - don't feel bad - I dished out a lot of money for DTs (live algae) and a few other phyto type things - JMO, but I think most are a waste of money and just add bioload to the tank.

I've already decided I'm not going to use the phytofeast. I already opened it though, so live and learn on this one.

Cyclopeeze will be eaten by the fish and any corals they land on, but as said above - a little goes a long way, so don't add a lot of it.

duly noted in another post too, but I still over did it. I really had no idea how much to use and the next thing I knew I had a cloud of red. I really tried to be conservative too. It was pretty darn cool to see the polyps eat it though. It was even more cool too see the little white tentacles steal it.

Here are some pictures:

the white tentacles


yellow polyps and a few other polyps?


TONS of microbubbles. This is getting ridiculous.

[JBmynes]

That is a cool little rock! I think it would have been the same price around here too. The only food that I drop in is Rod's Food and some nori for the Tang and Lawnmower, My LFS turned me on to that stuff and its Amazing IMO.... give it a try its got all kinds of goodies in it...

[seafansar]

Yeah, the white tentacles are tiny brittle star arms poking through the rock.