Australian Dendrophyllia

[lebladp]

Hey guys, I've been having this dendro for about 2 or 3 weeks now. It has never opened. You could see it wanna come out sometimes, but then it would just sink back in. Help?

 

[Dr_Steve]

Brine will usually get them to open up

 

[lebladp]

Brine will usually get them to open up

So you think if i just put a piece of shrimp on it, it might open?

 

[lebladp]

Piece of brine i mean

 

[reefaboo]

So you think if i just put a piece of shrimp on it, it might open?

Yes that should help

Also they prefer lower light so put them in shade if possible

 

[lebladp]

Yes that should help

Also they prefer lower light so put them in shade if possible

Yeaaa, i had him in the shade for a week and a half. Still nothing. Will update if i get him to open though!

 

[Tab28]

They need to be fed manually. Unlike many corals they get no nourishment from lighting. What are your water perimeters? Is it in a low light low flow area? When you feed turn off all pumps. Make a mixture of brine shrimp, mysis, liguid and powder foods. The last two will help get the scent of food in the water column. Squirt some of it around the dendro. It should respond to the smell of the food. When it comes out squirt more onto the tentacles. Dendro need to be fed a few times a week. Unlike their cousins the sun coral. Dendros come out all times of day.

 

[lebladp]

They need to be fed manually. Unlike many corals they get no nourishment from lighting. What are your water perimeters? Is it in a low light low flow area? When you feed turn off all pumps. Make a mixture of brine shrimp, mysis, liguid and powder foods. The last two will help get the scent of food in the water column. Squirt some of it around the dendro. It should respond to the smell of the food. When it comes out squirt more onto the tentacles. Dendro need to be fed a few times a week. Unlike their cousins the sun coral. Dendros come out all times of day.

It's in low light, moderate flow. Imma move it to light flow today and try the food mixture like you said. Hope it works!!

 

[Brinkfish312]

Our Dendro likes lower light and high flow. It was tricky trying to find its happy place but we finally did. This is him starting to come out one day

 

[Culater94]

I have found that flow makes a big difference, under moderate flow, mine is open almost all the time, under low flow would open only when feeding time.

 

[lebladp]

I have found that flow makes a big difference, under moderate flow, mine is open almost all the time, under low flow would open only when feeding time.

Could not get him to open yesterday. Ill try some more moderate flow i guess.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Any update? I just got mine this past Tuesday. No activity yet. I'll try spot feeding with mysis shrimp today.

 

[Reefnjunkie]

I found when I dosed oyster feast it would cause mine to open up more and I had a long pipette to target feed Mysis. I've heard of people taking like a 2 liter plastic bottle, cutting it down so you have a dome type container to put over the dendro. Once this has been done it can be easy to get a richer nutrient environment to stimulate the coral and have it open. After doing this a few times and target feeding mysis or brine, rods food, LRS type food ( something meaty) you'll find it opens more regularlyand you won't need the bottle contraption-it's helpful to kick start feelings IMO

Good luck, they are certainly a beautiful coral IMO

 

[lebladp]

Forgot to update!

Idk if it was the target feeding or if it finally got bored of staying closed, but after a couple weeks it finally decided to open a little!

 

[lebladp]

I would mix up a little phyto, zooplankton and brine shrimp and just squirt it over him.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Thanks for updates and suggestions. About to feed it.

 

[saltyphish]

Nice, glad it is opening for you. I saw one the other day at the lfs almost bought it but got the ric instead same price.

 

[lebladp]

Got me two lil rics too

And a purple gorgonian!

 

[reynaldoramon]

Yeah I've got a tricolor ric and a green ric. Real nice. .woo be great when they get a little bigger. So I spot feed them. They are slowly starting to come along. They're tentacles aren't extended, but it's "body" is starting to come out.

 

[reynaldoramon]

Only thing that sucks is that I'm due for some tank maintenence/cleaning and water change. Don't want to spook them, but tank really needs it.