Sweeper tentacles, what do they mean?

Shilpan Patel · Jun 4, 2019

Wow. I have some new frags in the QT for the last 3-4 days (first time getting into LPS). And I decided to look at a green brain coral at night to see if it retracted at all or not. And then I saw this long mucous tentacle things which were huuuuuge! I was shocked haha.

So I googled and starting learning about sweeper corals. I had them on nights 1 and 2. But not on night 3.

1. Is there any significance in having sweeper tentacles NOT show up?

2. Also my plating montipora frag is within rAnge, so it should be moved right?

3. One more question when (or should I ever?) feed LPS pellets? When the sweeper tentacles are out at night?

sfin52 · Jun 4, 2019

sweepers are what lps use to wage war with near by corals. If a coral is with its sweeper range, that coral needs to be moved.

Some lps like Duncan dont produce sweepers. Other coral produce sweepers are small.

ScottR · Jun 4, 2019

You probably saw mesenterial filaments, which are different than sweepers. They are like many stringlike tentacles that go out and sting nearby (or far away corals).

DSC reef · Jun 4, 2019

ScottR · Jun 4, 2019

DSC reef said:
Sweepers are used for defense and it can also be a feeding response from most LPS corals. Mesenterial filaments look way different than sweepers and I would move any coral that is within reach of the sweepers to avoid warfare. I never liked to use pellet food for LPS, always preferred fresh food like reef nutrition and LRS reef frenzy. Night time is fine for feeding LPS, couple times a week is plenty.

+1

Shilpan Patel · Jun 4, 2019

Thanks team!

Stuartmercer · Jun 4, 2019

Sweeper tentacles mean a few things. one, the coral is defending its surroundings from other corals by taking all their stinging cells and putting them into the sweepers. two, the coral is trying to catch food.