New Dendronepthya Coral frag (2nd & Final Attempt)

[ChilisREasy]

Hello everyone..this will be a Log on a new Dendro i picked up recently. its Yellow & Pink. i will be posting pictures & maybe some videos..im going to try several NEW feeding methods, that by reading 100's of web sites, have NOT or ARE NOT commonly used (if any)

i Still have my old colony, its 7 months old..the 2 largest frags are not looking so good lately..but 3 small frags from that colony are still going strong, they are 2 months old now. pics & information will be posted often on there progress..

Please allow some time for documentation to be readied,& pics to be uploaded.stay tuned !
This will be a log, NOT a study board. i will appreaciate any comments or suggestions on this matter, as always.this thread is to document these corals in an entire new feeding method, in an oraganized setting.

no. of carnations..3 small frags (2months old) 2 small frags *one inch* (7 months old) 1 medium frag (3/17/07) 1 small frag (3/17/07)

Hope this info is clear

[ChilisREasy]

here is my first small frag that came from my 7 month old colony, this frag is 2 months old, though my camera was not capable of photographing it untill now..i was target feeding it, now i use the External Chamber feeding method..this will be explained later. it started as a Single Polyp Sprout..now it has 6 arms & is nearly a quarter inch large, Sorry for the bad Quality pic..its the best my Camera will do.

[ChilisREasy]

heres the newest addition (3/17/07) The Yellow & Pink Dednronepthya.
there are 2 frags on this rock..one thats about half an inch tall, and the largest peice.as you can see, & after carefull examination under microscope..its polyps are extremly healthy..making it a great coral for this experiment. i hope it lives a long time. i will try nearly 10 foods in External Feeding chambers. all foods will range in the smallest of micron sizes.

[Reefyone]

Envy you, in the best sense: mine new dendronephtya (not D. hemprichii), just melted in 5 days, in normal for all other corals water (including scleronephthya).

BTW, it seems, that worm specialist, that I told you, is now at The Reef Tank forums, at Pest and Hithchikers subforum, LeslieH. I may be mistaken, but seems so - very knowledgable. If you still have web-spinning creatures near the dendro, may be worth to ask.

[ChilisREasy]

Carnation Expanded 3x its size after about 4 hours. its polyps are EXTREMLY Fluffy, (a great sign) i have fed it 2 times now in the chamber feeding cup. ill have to make my own container, this dendro was only about 3 to 4 inches when i 1st fed it..over night it expanded to about 8 inches long !! so far its doing great. ill be obtaining some new foods soon, would flake foods make a good choice to try ??? if so what kinds ? (brands-type) ?

[ChilisREasy]

Day 3 :

Not much new to report, still doing fine,only target feed baby brine today. though my xenia is starting to approach the dendro, anyone know if they will sting/kill each other ? should i move it ?

[ChilisREasy]

heres the little pink carnation (3/17/07) 15 min's after feeding

as you can see his stalk is FULL of food..fat little guy..the dendros dont seem to mind me messing with them too much. even though i have to squeeze the large one in the container..his polyps remain open..& when put back in the tank opens back his polyps almost immediatly,

[Reefyone]

Can you, please, post in this thread the tank photo, description of the flow pattern, filtration and the water parameters, salt used and water (tap ot not), evrything - for the reference. It's all contributes to the conditions in your tank (and feeding chamber), allowing dendros to survive in your tank.
And the lack of something of this - melting in mine
Thanks.

[ChilisREasy]

Originally Posted by Reefyone

Can you, please, post in this thread the tank photo, description of the flow pattern, filtration and the water parameters, salt used and water (tap ot not), evrything - for the reference. It's all contributes to the conditions in your tank (and feeding chamber), allowing dendros to survive in your tank.
And the lack of something of this - melting in mine
Thanks.

Flow pattern is in 2 ways..one filter pump from above..1 max-jet 1200 from the left. this is strong enough to support SPS corals's.i know cause im raising them in this tank too.

Filtration is 1 dual bio-wheel carbon filter./.one large (i dont know gallons) wet/dry sump.

NO skimmer

Instant Ocean salt...never alternating brands..this nearly caused all my coral to die once..

Ro/DI water only.

Feeding chamber : im currently constructing my own right now..blueprints will be provided soon..currently im using a large plastic cup, & filling it with Chroma,Phyto,Zoo,Baby Brine shrimp. letting it set with low current for about 40 mins to 1 hour.

water parms are all normal...exaclty what they should be to support fish & all corals..i have it checked often..though i never document the
numeric value.


this should be plenty of information..nobody can immitate anybodys tank perfectly, some people do little things differently, im not saying if you can immitate my tank habits that anyone should be able to keep Dendronepthya..im just documenting the main subjects of my tank.& feeding habits of the coral.

[ChilisREasy]

it seems that reefyone is the only person in this communtiy interested in this research..am i wasting my time..or is everyone sitting back for about 12 months to see if i actually accomplish this.

updates will slow down to once a week. its pointless to update every day or other day when no-ones interested. (no offense reefyone, i appreciate your interest greatly)

Till next time :

[Reefyone]

Thanks.
- Size and shape of the tank;
- age of the tank setup;
- DSB, SSB or BB (or anything else)?

It seems to me, that:
- not much people are keeping the non-photosynthetic corals, other than sun coral, at all. And I understand them now, different care.
- from what I had seen, after acquiring new coral a lot of people start the new threads, then don't update the progress. Not much succesful collaborative threads, especially sharing long-term success with difficult animals. Or successful keepers are not interested, or they are just not here... Who know.

Cheers.

[ChilisREasy]

tank is about 3 or 4 years old. does size/shape matter ? what does DSB,SSB,BB, mean (i think your talking about the substrate) if so its a type of fine gravel.


Dendro update : well tommorrow makes 1 week , its still doing great, although i think cyano is starting to grow on the stem,...it better not be,!!!
its expanding & retracting ALOT about 6 times a day.is this normal ? my other dendros didnt do this. im going to feed it agian today, feeding dosent seem to bother it very much still yet.


till next time:

[Reefyone]

Originally Posted by ChilisREasy

tank ... does size/shape matter ? what does DSB,SSB,BB, mean (i think your talking about the substrate) if so its a type of fine gravel.

For the resarch, registration of environmental variables - yes, I think so
It were said a lot in the articles and posts, that keeping the filter feeders in the tanks less than 90g (well-established, with abundance of bio-diversity) is problematic.

Shape: I have impression, for example, that Christmas tree rock was doing better in the tank, that was closer to cylinder, than to rectangle; the flow distribution after reflection from the walls allows better delivery of the food and removing wastes without bothering coral.worms. Could be the same for other corals, could be not.

DSB - deep sand bed, source of the abundance of micro-life, the dream of the filter feeders, according to the many articles and the posts.
SHB - shallow sand bed, looks better, than bare-bottom tank (BB), cleanable.
BB - bare-botoom tank (as mine are), when the tank wastes are accumulating and not processed by the sand bed inhabitants, the keeper becomes, the part of clean-up crew

Sorry, don't mean to be invasive, best of luck with your project!

[ChilisREasy]

yes, but your forgeting,,im not feeding the dendro IN my tank, so food getting to the coral in the tank dosent matter here..as long as it has current on the polyps for waste removal & expansion.


Week 2 : Dendronepthya is still going strong, & appears to be getting more yellow & orange polyps now !! cant really PROVE growth. but i dont remember seeing orange on it when i put it in the tank & through week 1,the little pink/yellow frag is growing well, its building a solid pink base, as the large one has !.

Pictures will be uploaded later this week end :


The 2 month old red dendro frags are doing fine, but growth is slow on all but one of them.


Till Next Week ! :

[ceige]

I'm hooked in and following this one now...I just found it today.

Since you have SPS as well in this tank how are they with the light you have (what light do you have for that matter)?