sun coral

[produceb]

Question for those who have a sun coral. Are they open or closed most of the time? I have heard they open just for feeding. I have a perfect little over hang for one, and like the look of the coral when open. I just dont think I want one if it is closed all the other times. Thank you

 

[melosu58]

Yes Mine only open when I feed the rest of the tank. They come out at nite also. I saw the most beautiful one the other day . Here is the link.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=97475

Look at that one and tell me it aint the prettiest on you ever seen. If you can get your sun polyps to look like that then target feeding are worth it.

 

[MsBeanCtr]

Question for those who have a sun coral. Are they open or closed most of the time? I have heard they open just for feeding. I have a perfect little over hang for one, and like the look of the coral when open. I just dont think I want one if it is closed all the other times. Thank you

Mine is closed, except for feeding, but even closed they add a beautiful dash of color to the tank.

They really are beautiful corals, closed or open.

Good luck!

 

[kay-bee19]

My yellow/orange sun corals tend to open up about an hour before the lights go out and stay open until the lights come back on. They'll also open up if I'm feeding the tank something they like.

My black sun corals tend to stay open for a large portion of the day and all through the night (and like the other sun coral, also during certain feedings).

 

[melosu58]

How about some pics esp. the black sun polyps.

 

[lando]

Mine only tends to open during feeding as well. I target-feed it about twice a week.

 

[MsBeanCtr]

How about some pics esp. the black sun polyps.

yes yes!! I'd love to see those. I've also heard of the pink ones too. Have you seen them?

 

[kay-bee19]

How about some pics esp. the black sun polyps.

Here's a close up of the yellow-orange sun coral. In addition to what I feed them they eat tiny organisms in the tank. For example, I saw one head eating a copepod and just the other night I was observing this coral using a flashlight, the light beam attracted a bunch of tiny shrimp and a few had the misfortune of brushing up against the tentacles and becoming a quick snack):

I don't have any decent pics of the black sun corals, I should have took some last night when they were out (at night they expand some and the heads become equivalent in size to the yellow ones).

Here are some daytime pics from a month ago (the two types of sun coral are growing adjacent to each other):

The black ones have greenish 'mouths':

 

[lando]

Geat pics! this is a very interesting coral to keep.

 

[melosu58]

Great pics. I`ve never seen the black one out. Seen the coral but not the polyps.