Terrible Advice Tuesday: Feed This Coral
Terrible Advice Tuesdays: Gorgonians need to be fed food (phytoplankton, etc) because they are non-photosynthetic.
The rest of the story: Some, but not all, gorgonians are non-photosynthetic. There are plenty of photosynthetic ones that can survive on light alone.
And there are plenty of aquacultured Gorgonians available that come in a variety of shapes and colors. No need to buy wild caught ones, go for the aquacultured photosynthetic Gorgonians.
Browse the Store! Questions?
I agree with this to some extent, but if you maintain an ultra low nutrient system feeding once a week or so can be a good thing to give some darker color to the corals
You realize that there is no such thing as a ‘fully photosynthetic coral’, right? I guess not, or you wouldn’t have posted this. Corals would NOT have polyps or tentacles to capture prey, nor would they have stomachs that they could process this prey they catch, if they were unnecessary, they would have been lost over millions of years of evolution.
But they haven’t, gorgonians especially so. Their polyps are specifically designed for the type of flow of their particular environment to maximize prey capture. This is seen in both NPS and photosynthetic gorgonians. Why would this be so if they were fully photoautotrophic?
Hey Ben, im going to go out on a limb here and assume Mark knows what hes talking about.I bought a red goni about two years ago, and never fed it once. Its the size of a softball now. Prey??? Dont make me laugh
Goniopora is another coral that needs to be A) fed, lower micron foods, or B) in a tank with quite a lot of fish or fish that are fed often. You have fulfilled one of those in your tank.
Again, the science is out there. Corals capture prey, and they do it for a reason. Google is your friend.
Ben,
Just to be clear……There are some Gorgonians that do not need to be fed.
That is all this post was about. There are a lot of reef keepers that do not target feed specifically for corals. Mark was simply stating that those of us who do not target feed can keep some Gorgonians. Good advice!!
Thanks for the added clarity Bill. The point of the post was that there are types of gorgonians that do not need supplemental feedings to survive. Yes these photosynthetic gorgonians capture food via their polyps and feeding these corals with coral food is not needed for them to thrive.
Hey Ben,
While I hear what you are saying I have coral, including gorgonians that I never specifically feed. They are doing just fine. I think you should be open to other ways of doing things. Perhaps the ability to catch food in the water column is a back up survival mechanism since the sun isn’t as consistent as our lights.
Beth
I have tried both, not feeding anything beyond what the fish get and target feeding corals. There is a noticeable difference in growth of the target fed corals. Yes non fed corals grow, just much more slowly than the target feed, even zoanthids. You just have to compensate for the extra food in the system or enjoy the green hair outbreak. Starving is not cool, you wouldn’t want to experience it neither do your corals.
i also dont feed my corals, but i have a heavier fish load and im sure the corals are feeding that way. most of us have some fish in our reef tanks so can we really say we are not feeding the coral, however indirectly.
I think It’s hilarious when people say that an organism “evolved” the only way of sustaining itself. Wonder what it did before it
“evolved” this trait?? Probably all just died off huh??? Never mind. TOOOOO easy.