Question regarding coral

[Laurosaur]

Hello all!

My husband and I are new to saltwater tanks - ours has been up and running since the beginning of February. We just got some coral in the last week or so and I'm not sure if this is a stupid question, but is each coral head its own individual animal, or are they all part of the same animal?

Wondering for target feeding purposes - if I can't reach each individual head, will the head die?

Thanks!

 

[neonreef3d]

it would be considered a colony, depending on the type of coral, two main type LPS (long polyp stony) and SPS (short polyp stony)

 

[bstodds15]

Hello all!

My husband and I are new to saltwater tanks - ours has been up and running since the beginning of February. We just got some coral in the last week or so and I'm not sure if this is a stupid question, but is each coral head its own individual animal, or are they all part of the same animal?

Wondering for target feeding purposes - if I can't reach each individual head, will the head die?

Thanks!

What kind of corals do you have?

 

[Laurosaur]

it would be considered a colony, depending on the type of coral, two main type LPS (long polyp stony) and SPS (short polyp stony)

Okay.

What kind of corals do you have?

I have some LPS (micro lord, acan, octospawn, goni), a couple of softies (zoas, GSP, ricordea, toadstool leather), and some montipora that was given to me by a friend. Everything appears to be doing well - just noticed a new head on the ricordea and several new heads on the micro lord so I was wondering about the target feeding.

 

[davidcalgary29]

It's certainly not a stupid question! You can find a basic explanation of the difference between photosynthetic polyps and colonies here.

In general, you do not have to worry about feeding every polyp in a colony if you have photosynthetic coral -- the majority of what you can find in the hobby -- because they obtain much of their energy from your lighting. Non-photosynthetic corals (NPS) are often much more difficult maintain, and feeding them adequately is one of these problems, as you do have to be careful to target all areas of most of these corals. And then feed them frequently.

 

[Laurosaur]

It's certainly not a stupid question! You can find a basic explanation of the difference between photosynthetic polyps and colonies here.

In general, you do not have to worry about feeding every polyp in a colony if you have photosynthetic coral -- the majority of what you can find in the hobby -- because they obtain much of their energy from your lighting. Non-photosynthetic corals (NPS) are often much more difficult maintain, and feeding them adequately is one of these problems, as you do have to be careful to target all areas of most of these corals.

Thanks! I'm pretty sure everything I have is photosynthetic, so that's good to know. I hear they will grow faster if I target feed. If I miss the smaller polyps does that mean those won't grow as fast? Some of them are at the bottom of the tank and are pretty hard to reach for someone small like me hahaha

 

[encrustingacro]

Hello all!

My husband and I are new to saltwater tanks - ours has been up and running since the beginning of February. We just got some coral in the last week or so and I'm not sure if this is a stupid question, but is each coral head its own individual animal, or are they all part of the same animal?

Wondering for target feeding purposes - if I can't reach each individual head, will the head die?

Thanks!

For most corals, if you cannot feed each individual head, you will be fine, because polyps being fed will share the nutrients with the other polyps. However, this is not true for all corals. An example of this is tubastrea, which you need to feed every polyp or the unfed polyps will die.

 

[Laurosaur]

For most corals, if you cannot feed each individual head, you will be fine, because polyps being fed will share the nutrients with the other polyps. However, this is not true for all corals. An example of this is tubastrea, which you need to feed every polyp or the unfed polyps will die.

That's good to know! For tubastrea, is that because it's non-photosynthetic?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hi and welcome
To R2R. Yes it’s NPS.

 

[Laurosaur]

Hi and welcome
To R2R. Yes it’s NPS.

Got it. Thank you!

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

if u start to target feed u may want to test for nitrates and phosphates with a good test kit like Hanna.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

What size system?

 

[bstodds15]

if u start to target feed u may want to test for nitrates and phosphates with a good test kit like Hanna.

Yeah, a problem you can run into with target feeding is all the extra uneaten food in the system. This can turn into water parameter issues quickly.

how often have you been target feeding?

 

[Laurosaur]

if u start to target feed u may want to test for nitrates and phosphates with a good test kit like Hanna.

What size system?

Yeah, a problem you can run into with target feeding is all the extra uneaten food in the system. This can turn into water parameter issues quickly.

how often have you been target feeding?

I'm planning on twice a week (that being said, I've only done it twice so far). Will definitely be checking nutrients. Up until this point they've been undetectable because we've only had three tiny fish in there. It's 71g in the display with a 20g sump.

 

[bstodds15]

Twice a week isnt a huge deal and shouldn’t cause many issues!

 

[Laurosaur]

Twice a week isnt a huge deal and shouldn’t cause many issues!

Good to know! I'm trying to keep it at about half the recommended dose too (maybe should do even less) because we don't really have that much coral and the frags are small. Feeding red sea AB+.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Good amount of volume. A good target for nitrates is around 10 and phosphates.03-.1. Juat don’t bottom them out. I really don target feed probably get more growth in my micromussa but do add some ab+ and amino

 

[Laurosaur]

Good amount of volume. A good target for nitrates is around 10 and phosphates.03-.1. Juat don’t bottom them out. I really don target feed probably get more growth in my micromussa but do add some ab+ and amino

By 'bottom out' you mean have them at 0 right?

Right now they are definitely at 0 but that's because our stocking has been so low. I'm sure it'll change soon. I haven't been target feeding any fish food, just AB+.

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

By 'bottom out' you mean have them at 0 right?

Right now they are definitely at 0 but that's because our stocking has been so low. I'm sure it'll change soon. I haven't been target feeding any fish food, just AB+.

Yes. 0 are not good since some nutrients are necessary for coral health

 

[Laurosaur]

Yes. 0 are not good since some nutrients are necessary for coral health

Okay, yeah I figured as much. That should change soon hopefully as our stocking has gone up/we have a few more fish in the system. I'll keep monitoring.