Feeding trumpet coral

[Wade]

Is it necessary and/or beneficial to target feed trumpet corel? I notice the small tenticles coming out at night and wonder if I should be feeding them a little sumptin' sumptin'. Is there a list somewhere of what corals would benefit form target feeding, when to feed them, and what to feed them? Otherwise it's just guesswork for noobs like me.

[Wade]

Found this: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/atj/

and this: http://www.livingreefs.com/feeding-corals-t424.html

Edited July 16, 2013 by Wade

[JamesL]

Most LPS will benefit from extra feedings, mostly by growing faster.

That said, be aware that the extra feedings will add nutrients to your systems, so don't go overboard or you will see a bloom of algae/cyno/etc.

But it is really cool to see them feed. When I feed my fish frozen food (like mysis and cyclopeeze, oyster eggs, etc), I tend to target some food (with a turkey baster) towards my LPS, gorgonians, etc.

[Planeden]

i found a couple of articles that may be of interest.

this one is pretty dense and scientific. timfish my enjoy it http://www.coralscience.org/main/articles/nutrition-6/how-corals-feed

this one seems to have been an excerpt from a shimek artical. you may want to try to find the original one. http://www.livingreefs.com/do-need-feed-my-corals-t808.html

seems what i found do far (aside from controversy) is NEED TO? no - HELPFUL? usually. this seemed to go for LPS and SPS. obviously NPS need to be fed (non-photosyntetic s-word that may or may not be stoney)

but i'm with james, it's fun to see them eat. i have four budding heads on my sun coral that are smaller than pencil erasers. last feeding one of the small heads grabbed two mysis shrimp and munched on them. little pig. drat, i thought i took a picture of it.

[jknight1]

I've never fed mine and they seem to grow pretty fast anyways. But I like to keep my feedings as minimal as I can. I occasionally (once a week) feed my smaller acan colonies but I stop once they get a decent size. And I would only feed one or two heads, never all of them at once.

[Neon Reefer]

Most but not all Large Polyp Stony corals do benefit from supplimental feeding, and the rule of thumb is the larger the mouth and tenticles then the larger the piece of meaty food. Stony corals primarily eat three things bacteria, algae and detritus. I notice my coral loves it when i clean the glass of plakton (the greenish - brown film) that accumulates on the glass. When i scrape the inside of the glass I see the feeding tenticles extend and stay extended tru the night especilly on my trumpet and candy cane corals. Other LPS and SPS benefit from these plakton meals as well. In addition I stir my crushed coral once a week to stir up the detritus, as there is no need to let waste go to waste, and every forth week instead of stiring I puree a cube of mysis shrimp and turn off the filtration and power heads and turkey baste each colony. Crabs and shrimp have a field day as well On this week next day i vacuum the crushed coral to remove excess waste if any. Don't want too much build up at one time. Right?. But I have them trained now. When the current goes off they automatically extend their tenticles. Like a dog sitting up and begging. LOL. I used to hand feed each polyp in the begining as many of the polyps do not share IE like my duncans, but way too many heads for that now. And it is said that meaty foods will accelarate growth rates. Most every LPS I have readily accepts mysis shrimp .

[victoly]

It's up to you to strike that balance of unnecessary but beneficial feedings to adding nutrients to your tank. I hand feed my chalices pellets to get them to grow faster. I also feed my scolymia. However, I don't directly feed anything else (duncans, acans, etc.)

[sifuentes31]

I've been using the Reef Chilli from BRS with good results. I usually do it twice a week...

[Bpb]

I target feed all my lps corals (all mine eat, but not all lps do). I use a mix of thawed PE mysis, and seachem zooplankton. With the cloudy water that comes from the cube, plus the zooplankton that takes care of a treat for the sps (probably not necessary but couldn't hurt), and the meaty bits get eaten by the lps. I do target feed my trumpet coral and it readily eats. I used to feed about 4 days a week but over a couple months I noticed an increase in algae.

I've reduced my target feeding to twice a week now. My trumpet coral went from 3 heads in April when I got it, to 15 now today. I attribute that to feeding.

In my tank, the things that show a feeding response, and get target fed twice a week are as follows:

Trumpet coral

Duncan

All palys

Anemones

All favias

All acans

Everything else just feeds on bacteria and plankton.

It's something you've gotta judge for your own livestock and nutrient export abilities. I have a massive cuc and run lots of carbon and gfo, therefore I feel ok with feeding heavy handed

Most lps feeding/sweepers have the same look. Long clear tentacle with a little bulb on the end. If you see those...it'll eat. That's my observation. And they usually surround a mouth so they come in rings

[jestep]

Caulastrea definitely benefit. Acans grow a little better. Duncans and euphyllia's all grow substantially faster when target feeding. Mine typically get about 25% of the pellets I feed just by chance, and a few have grown drastically in a few years. My purple hammer went from a couple heads to about 50 in 2 years. Mysis are another good one as suggested that everything likes.

If you're having any nutrient problems, I would just skip it. If some food lands on them when feeding the fish, that's great, but not worth off balancing your chemistry for it.