Sun Coral they call it.. But it stays close!

Oliver94 · May 27, 2014

Hey Guys! How are you?
I hope you are having a good week's beginning..
Last week I bought my first corals,all are doing well,but my Sun Coral is really shy,sick...

Day 1 :

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Till today still closed,it open a bit and close a bit,but I never looked like these sun corals on google! Even when I try to feed using the bottle.. they don't open more than they are,and I see some polyps taking some brine shrimp,while staying closed..

Sun coral keepers,does it take that much time for a sun coral to open??

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Do they really open?! :tongue: lol

Cheers! and thank you in advanced!

Aquarium Art · May 27, 2014

Dont place them in a section with no light and no current . Just because there non Photosynthetic does not mean that they cant handle light . Place them in a section with a good amount of flow and you'll see them open up !

markcerm · May 27, 2014

I have mine out of direct light kind of under a rock but have med flow hitting it and its open most of the time for me. When I first put him in with hardly any flow never opened up.

iReef86 · May 27, 2014

Ours liked mild flow and lighting, as well. I had some under a ledge and it only opened up with my goby created a sand mess close by, where it had low flow and very little light.

Oliver94 · May 27, 2014

Thank you guys for your advice! I will place it in a more lighted and with more flow zone.

Eienna · May 27, 2014

Here you go!

https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ge...re-large-polyp-non-photosynthetic-corals.html

Tab28 · May 28, 2014

I always found it odd the coral is called sun coral but hates the sun. Mine liked a bit of current. A think it was because the current churned smell of food. They can be trained to expand in day. I used powder foods which carried in the water column better. Once out mysis and a turkey baster. I now keep dendro. They look similar and are always out.

Oliver94 · May 28, 2014

Eienna Thank you so much!

I read the article... and I am applying right now the tupperwear method.. the coral is inside since 3/4 of an hour.. and a bit of opening but nothing special! ...

Oliver94 · May 28, 2014

Thank you Tab28 for your advice!
Do you think it is over? I should put it back in the main tank? it has been swimming with food all around it for 3/4 of an hour

Oliver94 · May 28, 2014

Here it is :

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Oliver94 · May 28, 2014

Back in the tank! And without food the polyps open more haha what a complex coral ! Will take a while to understand it hah

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Eienna · May 28, 2014

Feed the heck out of it, that's all I can say...

Oliver94 · May 31, 2014

Today I suceeded to feed 50% of my sun coral polyps! They didn't fully open but they were enough to catch some brine shrimp
Hopefully in the following days they will open more and more and finally fully open

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Eienna · May 31, 2014

Good news!

Oliver94 · Jun 4, 2014

Today polluted a bit the tank but I fed 90% of it,it is very difficult to feed it all specially when the bloody tentacles are not showing out I don't KNOW WHY!!
here it is : better and better each day..

Patience.. the key of this hobby:

SantaMonicaHelp · Jun 4, 2014

Sorry to hear you're having so much trouble, but I must say, it looks quite lovely even when it's closed up, with its pink ballon-like bodies... Just me though.

Oliver94 · Jun 6, 2014

Hehe yeah but when you know how it should look like when opened,the orange-pink body is worthless..
Yesterday my sun coral
Opened even more! But I didn't fed it I will today. Hopefully it will fully open in the near future! I will share some pic today if it opens like yesterday

SantaMonicaHelp · Jun 6, 2014

True, it is very striking when it's thriving and open...but at least it's not a complete loss, right? :]
Good luck, and I hope that you'll be getting the results you want soon!

Gazog2 · Jun 6, 2014

They usually tend to open more fully when the lights are off. I started feeding mine at night for a few weeks and it got used to it. Then I changed it up and started feeding it when the lights were on, it took a few weeks for it to get used to it after a while it pretty much stayed open all the time. But you have to feed it regularly for it to thrive, and don;t take it out of the tank use the bottle that is in the 3rd picture and make an eye dropper out of a piece of air tubing and store bought eye dropper bulb.

Eienna · Jun 7, 2014

Oliver94 said:
Hehe yeah but when you know how it should look like when opened,the orange-pink body is worthless..
Yesterday my sun coral
Opened even more! But I didn't fed it I will today. Hopefully it will fully open in the near future! I will share some pic today if it opens like yesterday

It won't open if it thinks there's no food to be had, and it needs to be fed every day. Just so you know