Dendronepthea help

[thebigfryfry]

Hi all, I picked up this dendronepthea a few weeks ago as an experiment, I was wondering if anyone has had success with these corals and what do they feed it. After studying on where they live in the wild it seems they like to be perpendicular to water flow and be upside down. I have done so with mine. For food i have fed it nannochloropsis twice a day. Sometimes reef roids but i dont know if its really eating it or just retracting its polyps because of the flow from the turkey baster. If anyone has tips and tricks for sucess please let me know. Keep in mind its in a mixed system so I cant go crazy with foods...

 

[thebigfryfry]

Here’s a pic of him I recently moved it so it’s a bit ticked off. Could be a sclero but idk

 

[Northwest_Scapes_]

Hi all, I picked up this dendronepthea a few weeks ago as an experiment, I was wondering if anyone has had success with these corals and what do they feed it. After studying on where they live in the wild it seems they like to be perpendicular to water flow and be upside down. I have done so with mine. For food i have fed it nannochloropsis twice a day. Sometimes reef roids but i dont know if its really eating it or just retracting its polyps because of the flow from the turkey baster. If anyone has tips and tricks for sucess please let me know. Keep in mind its in a mixed system so I cant go crazy with foods...

Sadly Dendronepthea is pretty much impossible to keep in Aquaria. Not really any records of them thriving in captivity long term, even aquarists at the Steinhart Aquarium couldn't keep them alive with copious amount of Live Phytoplankton. They're generally best left to be in the wild, but because they're so pretty, keep being imported. I've heard the Aussie species are lean more towards being Zooplankton eaters, but I'd have to look more into it.
Scleronepthea and the recently appearing Chromonephea seem to be a bit easier, still need lots of food and care though, but time will tell. However for Dendronepthea, for sure a group that's best left in the wild.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

To add:

Dr. Dendrostein is definitely the one to talk to for this (I haven't had time to read through the 132 page thread linked below, but I know it contains some good info for at least some Dendronephthya spp.) - that said, I do know that the care varies from one species to another with this genus; with most feeding on phyto of various sizes, but at least one I know (D. australis) feeding primarily and with great success on zooplankton (Artemia, Rotifers, and powdered zooplankton were all used successfully with this species).

So, if you can figure out the exact species you have there, you might be able to figure out a specific flow/substrate for it, and you might be able to figure out what size of food is appropriate for it (which may not help you save/grow it, but it would be a good starting point to try at least).

Edit: Forgot to add the link:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/dendronephthya-scleronephthya-aquaculture.481941/