Target Feeding Corals: Needed or Not?

The short answer is no.

(If you don’t know what target feeding is, scroll to the bottom of this post for a description)

But there are 2 catches.

– If you are keeping non-photosynthetic corals, then yes, these corals will need to be target fed in order for them to stay alive and flourish in your tank. (see below for a list of suggested food for these corals)

– If you are wanting large polyp stony (LPS) corals such as acans, to growth faster. (These corals are slow growing by nature though, so I’ve always found the reward vs. effort of target feeding them not worth it)

Otherwise, corals get plenty of food from your lights as well from the fish poop floating around in your tank water. If you never target feed them, they’ll do fine.

Target feeding isn’t needed, but it can be fun if you enjoy seeing your corals polyps retract when they grab a piece of food. But be careful as target feeding your corals is introducing nutrients into your tank. If you go overboard and feed too much, then you’ll undoubtably run into nuisance algae issues.

Here are some good foods to target feed your corals with if you want to see your corals eat. Just remember to do it in very limited quantities!

Coral foods for non-photosynthetic corals and if you just can’t resist trying target feeding:

• Reef Roids
• Cyclop-eeze

What is target feeding?

Target feeding involved taking coral food and putting right near a piece of coral so it can grab the food before it gets blown around your tank. It is usually done by squirting the coral with a food/water mixture from a turkey baster, syringe or feeding stick.

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