Basically I'm an idiot...I've had a nano for about 3 months now & wanted to add a coral. Stupid me...I didn't go with a beginner coral because i was mesmerized by an Orange Cup Coral. So purchased it. I know somethings about it such as it feeds at night unless you slowly attempt to alter that. I also know you feed it zooplankton, oyster eggs, and whatnot through a turkey baster by placing them directly into the heads. I've heard different things abhout it online as far as light & flow requirements & I'm deadset on not kiling my first coral. Looking a little sad right now and basically ANYTHINGGGGGG at all you can tell/recommend to me about this coral would be awesome!!!! (feeding,additives,placement,flow.....ANYTHING!!!)
Tubastraea ?'s
- Thread starter tdk4922
- Start date
CaptainAndy
Non-member
First, try to get it healthy. Get ahold of some mysis shrimp or enriched brine shrimp, and place a pinch directly on the polyps just when the light goes on. Turn off flow. Within a half an hour, most of the polyps should open as they sense food nearby. After a week of daily feedings (at dusk or dark) start to do the same with lights on.
I keep my colony in lower light but they do tend to like some current. In fact, some of the best I've ever seen in display tanks receive a decent amount of soft current and the polyps look like little anemones waving in the breeze.
A great coral if your patient and have the time
I keep my colony in lower light but they do tend to like some current. In fact, some of the best I've ever seen in display tanks receive a decent amount of soft current and the polyps look like little anemones waving in the breeze.
A great coral if your patient and have the time
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The coral right now is on a down slide, but not unfixable. You want to turn off your pumps, with your turkey baster, squirt some thawed frozen brine over the closed polyps, this will coax them open. Once they open, squirt some more nutritional thawed frozen mysis right onto the open polyps. Once they get used to this regiment, you can feed them any time of day. Oh, and don't forget to turn your pumps back on. 
maxfischer
Instigator
i nursed one back from what looked like a mess, it was given to me from a LFS. They had been givin it from BRS member. So i was the third. I stuck it in my refug under low light(under a cave) with little to no flow, It took a month or so. Then i put it in my 120 under a hangover and target fed it a few times a week. It would eat every day when i fed the tank with goo (a home made fish food do a search) good luck
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seahorsedreams
Non-member
On monday wed friday when I feed the other predators silversides, squid, krill or clams I feed the same to the tubastrea. They love the big ole chunks. You don't have to worry about shading it. For the most part, in our tanks, that is to discourage algae from growing on it. In the wild it for the plankton concentrations which are higher in overhangs or what not. Mine is placed close to the top of the tank for easy access.
On non predator feeding days I feed frozen mysis and use a 60cc syringe with some regular and rigid airline tubing.
Mine likes flow. Here's some pics... I have 4 of them.
On non predator feeding days I feed frozen mysis and use a 60cc syringe with some regular and rigid airline tubing.
Mine likes flow. Here's some pics... I have 4 of them.
maxfischer
Instigator
looks great!!!
Also be careful if you have any peppermint or cleaner shrimp. They love to steal food right out of the polyps mouths. I had a tubastrea for a while. At first I had to coax it to open up by squirting some Selcon around it. After a minute or two it would open up and I would target feed it with Selcon enriched mysid shrimp. Then I'd have to sit there and fend off the shrimp until the food was fully ingested. I did this once or twice a day for over a year! Long story short...my tank went through a period of neglect due to an increasingly hectic schedule and the coral died. I also made the mistake of getting a flame angel which had been fine for about a year, then all of a sudden decided it liked the taste of some of my corals and quickly devoured all my xenia and my derasa clam, but that's another story. Anyway, I would love to add another tubastrea to my renewed reef tank, but I just don't have that kind of patience or time anymore. They are one of the most beautiful corals IMO.
