Tubastrea aurea Orange Cup Coral

[clownfishcrazy]

I was wondering if anybody has any Orange Cup Coral (Tubastrea aurea) in your tank. I want to get it for my tank and I was wondering how hard it is to keep. I know that it doesn't have any zooxanthellae in its tissue, so it doesn't use photosynthesis to produce food, and that means that you have to feed it plankton. Can Orange Cup Coral be kept out in the light or does it have to be kept in a dark place such as a cave. I do have a cave in my tank incase it cannot be kept out in the light. Any info would be great.

[sls]

you have a pm

[clownfishcrazy]

sls now you have a pm

[capman]

Hey guys...why have this conversation via PM's?? I was interested in reading the info about Tubastrea!

[sls]

cup corals are actually pretty easy to care for aside from the fact that they need to be target fed. i have heard intense lighting wont effect them in any way but cant confirm this. i only run vhos. when you target feed they need kinda chunky meaty foods such as minced krill, mysis shrimp, and i guess they benefit quite a bit when feeding cyclopeez but again i have no direct confirmation because i havent tried it yet. of course each polyp needs to be fed directly. but not everytime. meaning as long as each polyp gets some food once to twice a week it will thrive. i make sure this happens by always starting the nights feeding on a differrent side of the coral so differrrent polyps get first dibbs each night.

[MERCEDES]

Bill We have a tubestrea in our main reef tank that has 4 400w MH and 4 96w Super Actinics and Tracy has hooked up but I don't think he uses them much 2 250w MH. We have our sun coral in a cave I will post a pic to you it is not the greatest but it should work. We absolutely love this coral and I try to squirt food by it when I feed in the evenings. The polyps usually don't start to open until about 1-2 hours before lights out. It is so cool watching them down a huge piece of mysis shrimp The cyclo-peeze is consumed immediately and they will sometimes open up during the day if I was feeding the baby bangaiis in that tank. I think as long as you have good water quality and can provide a cave of some sort and are willing to occasionally target feed each week it is a wonderful coral. Another thing that I think has helped us with this is that we have a lot natural live food in our reef tank with all of the shrimp releasing babies pretty regulary every week. I hope this helps a little just my .02 cents

[MERCEDES]

Ooops I forgot to attach the picture This one I just took

[despot101]

"course each polyp needs to be fed directly"
This is only half true actually....as long as there is tissue connecting each polyp you do not need to feed each and every polyp.
They also don't mind bright light I have mine out in the open under a 250mh and 150watt vho. In nature they are usually in caves but in the home aquarium it just makes it harder to feed them. They do need to be fed often, directly. I use mysis shrimp, and brine shrimp, with a bit of selcon.

Here's a pic of mine.

[clownfishcrazy]

I heard if they are under light that are to bright they just waste away. And Sheryl do you think you could get a pic of yours when the polyps are out.

[despot101]

I've had mine out in the open for about 6 months and it appears to be doing alright.

[capman]

Are your colonies growing?

[despot101]

Mine's done great, its shown new growth.

When I purchased it many of the polyps did not have connecting tissue. It has since filled in many of the gaps and grown new polyps.

[Havre]

They do not mind the bright light, however they can be prone to algae growover. (if that is a problem in your tank).

[Graham]

I agree with the light promoting algae proposition - it's been my experience, although currently, nothing is safe from the onslaught of bubble algae I am experiencing. Good thing it doesn't really overgrow anything - save the Tubastrea. I have had to clean the bubble overgrowth off it a couple times.

That said, I find that they are more work than pleasure. Mine's polyps are rarely - if ever, expanded during the day, so the only time I see them is at lights-out when I feed it. I plan on maintaining this colony, but I doubt I will ever keep it again.

[reeftanktime]

Mine has been doing great since I got it. In fact I noticed a small one growing on a rock clear across the tank. I read that this could happen. I will throw a little flake in the tank and five minutes later the Tubastrea are open and then I do my normal feeding of formula one, etc. I can see them grabbing pieces that float by. About once every 2 weeks I will target feed them and the open brain with mysis shrimp, etc.
Dennis