sun coral aka orange cup coral success tips?

[salt creepette]

i got one of these yesterday, ive heard they will be ok in bright light or dim light as they are not photosynthetic but they like to be fed often and like med to high current. any tips? ive been doing the liter bottle trick to feed them but they havent fully extended yet. it HAS only been two days. any tips from those who have successfully kept them? thanks.

[Doug1]

Erin that is definatly a tubestrea or Sun Coral, non photo, needs feeding.
Cup or PAgoda coral is a whole nother different animal

[salt creepette]

oh ok whoops

[salt creepette]

well hmm, borneman calls this coral "tubastraea sp (orange cup coral)" on page 315 of his book aquarium corals. i know what youre talking about when you say pagoda, though, that is definitely not what I have.

[Clownfishman]

I think they need their individual "mouths" feed..

[seamonkey]

I have one that I have to feed with target feeding making sure to get each polyp with a good bit of mush. Mine is in a med current place in a low lighted area of my tank. I read and was told by people that this was the best way to have sucess with them. I hope yours does well and remember constant feeding does wonders for them. I feed mine every other day with a 13cc suringe.

[blckmstng]

they like to be in the dark in a cave-like structure with some current flowing through. They need to be fed regularly and open at night mostly. hope that helps

[JennM]

Placement is really a non-issue except you need to be able to target feed it easily. Light or not - does not matter.

This coral tends to feed at night but can be conditioned to open during the day - feed it a bit earlier each time and its internal clock will adjust

Some folks make a "hat" out of the top of a soda bottle, place it over the colony and squirt food through the bottle neck. Some remove the coral to a separate dish to feed it. I just target feed them with a baster in the shop - but my coral tanks are only 12" deep so it's a no-brainer, I just place them at the front where I can get to them easily.

They like meaty foods, frozen brine, mysis, cyclopeeze... they eat a good variety of stuff.

Nice colony Best of luck with it!

Jenn

[dustin]

Ive had success with both the orange sun coral and the black sun coral(supposed to be more fragile?). Anyways, I second Jens advice "target feed them with a baster". I feed mysis and combo pack cubes with cyclopeeze and primarily blow food over the coral when I feed the tank. I'll cut the pumps and blow some food in the tank and wait 15-20 minutes. Give the poylps time to smell the food and begin to extend. Take your time and with intervals give the polyps a shot of food. Everything in the tank will mooch some food but if you always do it this way the coral will get its share. Ive kept a healthy colony this way for over 3 years. oh and as far as current and placement, Ive found that they do best in an area where the water whirlpools a bit. So if you feed flake watch where the current keeps flake spinning for a bit as this will allow the coral a better feeding area for when your not target feeding.

Good Luck

[salt creepette]

great advice dustin thanks

[Doug1]

Originally posted by salt creepette
well hmm, borneman calls this coral "tubastraea sp (orange cup coral)" on page 315 of his book aquarium corals. i know what youre talking about when you say pagoda, though, that is definitely not what I have.

Thats why common names are so problematic. Tubestrea are often refered to as Sun Coral. Turbinara are the ones commonly refered to as cup or pagoda
Taxonomy is a nightmare

[salt creepette]

i hear ya!

i fed the little booger tonight and it opened even further, so i guess its settling in, i hope i can make it happy!