Overfeeding LPS??

[zibba]

I was going to ask this question in relation to a specific type of LPS, but I'm going to ask it more generally: Is there such a thing as "overfeeding" LPS?

I'm particularly interested in the following corals: Dendros, Acans, Chalices and Scolys.

The feeder tentacles are out every single morning on the above mentioned corals in my tank and if it weren't for nutrient export issues, I'm pretty sure I could feed them every day and they would be right back the next morning looking for food. I want to continue to promote good growth and coloration but don't want to harm the coral by feeding too much or too much of one thing.

I've tried researching this a little bit but haven't found much information. If you have experience or can point me in the direction of some research, that would be awesome.

I'll share one anecdote: I bought a 5-headed frag of dendros back in December. They were out nearly every day for several hours. I started feeding them about 1-2x per week. I mixed it up between Rod's mysis, PE mysis, spectrum pellets and blackworms. I continued this for about 4-5 months then they stopped opening regularly (or only opened slightly) for about 3-4 weeks and I didn't feed them. I watched them start to bud new heads during this time and could count little babies starting to pop up. Neither the big heads or baby heads would come out. Then, for about 2 more weeks, they would just some out every so slightly and wouldn't accept any food. Just recently (this week), all of the polyps started coming back out on a regular basis. I counted 11 heads this morning. Good news, obviously. But that's not the point. The point is that it caused me to think that, Dendros at least, will only put out their feeders if they're hungry and you should feed as much as possible while still maintaining water quality. When they've finally acquired enough nutrients and they'll stop eating and focus their energy on growing new heads. Basically, it led me to think that there's no such thing as "overfeeding" with the very important caveat that you need to maintain water quality because the coral will tell you when it's not hungry.

I realize that this a pedestrian view of the reproductive process and coral physiology, but it makes sense to me. I just don't know if the same applies across the board and wanted to get feed back from others.

Thanks!
Z

 

[jt17]

I've wondered about this as well. We dont want our corals to be hungry but how much is too much. Jason Fox said in his indo thread that in the wild where chalices grow there's quite a bit of food floating around so it would stand to reason that they eat what and when they want to. He also said there was plenty of flow which means catching the food could be a challenge and is possibly rare that they get full. I've seen my chalices, acans and dendro with full bellies and still have tentacles extended. It's possible in nature that they don't fill up the way they can when we feed them in our tanks, but instinct tells them to keep catching food. Would love to hear some of the experts chime in as this noob is just taking a guess.

 

[duke4130]

In my experience corals do not need big meaty chunks of food........ I used to think the more meaty foods the better for them, constantly feeding meaty foods to a coral will have ill effects on them. Especially feeding stuff with shells is even worse because they are unable to digest it, if they are unable to digest it then the food rots inside them and eventually lead to the demise of the coral ..... In the wild, when do you think chunks of food or a whole dead shrimp would fall on a coral and sit there long enough for them to eat it with out a fish or scavenger stealing it from them??? The answer is probably almost never. For the past year I have been using a different feeding method and it works great, I have been using Coral Frenzy and spot feeding all the corals every other day along with vitamins and minerals my stuff is rockin!!!! Not just the small chalices and z/p's, I have acans, bowerbanki, cynaria, dendro in my tank and they all love it...... Just squirt some on top and they will eat it, just make sure to turn off all flow while feeding.....

 

[zibba]

Didn't mean to post and walk away from this topic. Thanks for the insight. Even for the larger lps like scolys, acanthrophyllia, wellso, etc., I could see that smaller portions would be easier on their digestive systems. My challenge now for chalices is keeping the snails off when I feed. It's a knock off of "whack-a-mole" -- "whack-a-snail!"

 

[mike007]

Most corals receive most what they need through the lighting on your tank. I have seen lots of awesome tanks where they did not feed there corals. You have to be carefull because you could end up with a nutrient problem which will cause nitrates to rise and unwanted algae growth.

 

[bct15]

Most corals receive most what they need through the lighting on your tank. I have seen lots of awesome tanks where they did not feed there corals. You have to be carefull because you could end up with a nutrient problem which will cause nitrates to rise and unwanted algae growth.

This is true for some corals, where as corals that come form deeper water (as Jason fox pointed out in his last dive) rely a lot on feeding because they do not get much light at all at depths. He stated that people were nuking there favias and chalices, when he collects them they are barely getting any par and are in food heavy zones. There is also some coral that do not use photosynthesis at all, they have not devolved a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae. Some coral get most nutrients from light... But not all of them


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[bct15]

Also I have see people with ULNS systems that are sps dominated with no growth from there sps at all until they start feeding their corals on a regular basis. the standard tank might have the needed nutrients suspended in the water column that the coral can pull out, but if they are lacking then the coral will need to be supplemented with food. This is te theory about why sps tips burn, no getting enough nutrients to support skeletal growth...so either feed the corals or lower skeleton building elements.

As far as overfeeding, I imagine as long as the coral are extending feeders, taking food, and you are not having nutrient problems the corals are not being overfed.


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[zibba]

OK, so a point of clarification for this discussion. I think "overfeed" was the wrong term -- I think, "how much/often can we feed LPS?" or something a long those lines would have been more appropriate because, clearly, there is such a thing as "overfeeding." Moving forward...

Most corals receive most what they need through the lighting on your tank. I have seen lots of awesome tanks where they did not feed there corals. You have to be carefull because you could end up with a nutrient problem which will cause nitrates to rise and unwanted algae growth.

No doubt, mike007. I've read posts from many people who do not target feed and who say they have nice coloration and nice growth. I don't know what their standards are and certainly not trying to disprove anything, but the corals have polps with tentacles designed for trapping food, correct? If so, then they should also benefit from additional nutrient source outside of that provided by photosynthesis. I completely agree that we need to be very cautious and conscientious when it come to nutrient levels (and waste that generates nitrates, phosphates, etc.).

This is true for some corals, where as corals that come form deeper water (as Jason fox pointed out in his last dive) rely a lot on feeding because they do not get much light at all at depths. He stated that people were nuking there favias and chalices, when he collects them they are barely getting any par and are in food heavy zones. There is also some coral that do not use photosynthesis at all, they have not devolved a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae. Some coral get most nutrients from light... But not all of them

Also I have see people with ULNS systems that are sps dominated with no growth from there sps at all until they start feeding their corals on a regular basis. the standard tank might have the needed nutrients suspended in the water column that the coral can pull out, but if they are lacking then the coral will need to be supplemented with food. This is te theory about why sps tips burn, no getting enough nutrients to support skeletal growth...so either feed the corals or lower skeleton building elements.

As far as overfeeding, I imagine as long as the coral are extending feeders, taking food, and you are not having nutrient problems the corals are not being overfed.

Interesting points. I wish I could have heard Jason speak. I need to see sit down and actually do some real searching for some science on this...and maybe just coral feeding generally because I'm clearly just guessing at this point and going on the reaction of the corals.

 

[CthulhuAqua]

In my experience corals do not need big meaty chunks of food........ I used to think the more meaty foods the better for them, constantly feeding meaty foods to a coral will have ill effects on them. Especially feeding stuff with shells is even worse because they are unable to digest it, if they are unable to digest it then the food rots inside them and eventually lead to the demise of the coral .....

Do you have any evidence of this? I've been feeding my LPS big chucks of stuff including whole large mysis for years and never had an issue. My acans and blastos grow like mad. I generally off as big a chunk of mysis or pellet as the coral can take without struggling.

 

[Aquaph8]

This is true for some corals, where as corals that come form deeper water (as Jason fox pointed out in his last dive) rely a lot on feeding because they do not get much light at all at depths. He stated that people were nuking there favias and chalices, when he collects them they are barely getting any par and are in food heavy zones. There is also some coral that do not use photosynthesis at all, they have not devolved a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae. Some coral get most nutrients from light... But not all of them


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Chalices do awful in my SPS tank unless I shade them and feed all the time they just start receding and wither away.