Do corals need to be fed? If so, what are the best coral foods?

[Zionas]

I plan to do a mixed reef tank with an approximately equal split between softies and LPS corals. Do corals have to be fed directly? If so, what are the best foods for corals? Can my tank be successful if I don’t feed my corals at all? Thanks.

 

[ahiggins]

Absolutely you can be successful without feeding and most corals do well without feeding like zoas and palys. Personally I feed the majority of my lps. I would suggest watching coral spotlight by tidal gardens. Feeding really is on a coral by coral basis. You’ll learn a lot from those videos.

 

[footgal]

I 100% believe in feeding as follows. I made this feeding schedule myself, and have seen my growth rates triple. Not saying it’s perfect or fool proof, it just works well for me. Be forewarned, this does require a lot of dedication and a good CUC. I recommend a mix of turbo, astrea, stomatella snails along with at least 1 larger shrimp per 20 gallons (fire, peppermint, skunk, etc). This is also assuming that the corals are happy with their lighting, flow, and water perams. This will not help a coral suffering from a bad environment, but I have used it to save a lot of abused corals that needed that extra bit of TLC.

GENERAL MIXED REEF
Going a little bit overboard when feeding is crucial. You can only do this if your tanks is COMPLETELY cycled and mature, if it’s not, then you will experience one of the worst algae blooms you’ve ever seen. For this purpose, I use LRS reef frenzy foods, but any variety of frozen food should be just fine.
Fish are a big part of this, and shrimps are a must. The fish eat the ‘getaway’ particles and the shrimp eat the stuff that falls to the bottom of the tank. Without a good CUC, algae blooms will happen and the leftover food will fuel bad critters such as bristleworms Rub the cube/frozen piece in your tank until it begins to melt and great apart, at this point, remove it from the tank and place it in your palm/paper plate/easily cleanable surface. Here, pick apart the frozen food and isolate larger chunks such as scallops, shrimps, etc. Pour the remaining smaller bits into the tank with the flow on, close to the powerheads or pumps so the particles swirl around the tank. Your fish should’ve eaten and gotten full during this step, if they have not, then feed more. Hungry fish steal food from corals which is traumatic to them. As a general rule, with corals that have a clear mouth (anemones, fungia, etc) try to feed foods that are half the size of the mouth at maximum. These corals are able to physically choke to death on foods that are too large, so please take caution!

LPS/ANEMONE/EUPHYLLIA
Remember those larger chunks you isolated? Grab those back. Using your fingers or a pair of tongs (I prefer fingers because the food is less likely to get stuck) stick the food directly into the coral.
For LPS, it’s crucial to wait until feeder tentacles are extended then feed directly, if these tentacles are not extended then the coral cannot eat and the food will be wasted. This is why it’s important to allow the small particles to circulate before attempting this, the ‘smell’ of food in the water activates the feeding response. I suggest smaller, squishy things such as half mysis shrimp for LPS like acans, Favia, Blastos, and trumpet/candy canes. This method also works well for rhodactis mushrooms, please use only in low/no flow so the shroom has time to eat.
For anemones and elegance coral you’re going to want those firmer chunks such as bits of scallop. Give these directly to the tentacles of the coral, they will feed themselves. Be very careful when feeding because the tentacles are very sticky and if care is not taken, they can be ripped off and cause damage. Personally, I feed BTA anemones every day, they split and bubble better when very well fed.
For all other euphyllia (hammers, torch, frogspawn, etc) the technique differs by location in the tank. Since these are not as sticky as an anemone/elegance, they need time to eat the food properly. If the current/flow is too strong, then the food may be blown away before it has a chance to eat it. Feed softer chunks, not as soft as the LPS but not as firm as the anemones, kind of in the middle. The euphyllia will swallow these in 5 minutes or less, remove uneaten food or turn the flow back on to remove it.

SPS
I use reefroids for this purpose, about 2x weekly. They are also getting food from photosynthesis and the ‘particle’ step so please adjust as needed. Locate a 10 cc syringe without a needle, you can get these on amazon cheaply. You only need one, as they can be reused. Get yourself a container, solo cups, Tupperware, pee cups, if it holds water, it works. My recipe for a 20 gallon tank is 40 ccs of water (4 syringe fulls) mixed with a pinch of reefroids, enough to tint my water an orangeish/peachy color. Stir vigorously until incorporated then immediately suck up in the syringe. Turning off your pumps is very important here so please do that. Target feed SPS gently, hold the syringe about 2 inches away from the coral and push the plunger slowly, if looking from the side of the tank, you will see a cloud surround the coral. They only need a light coating, almost a dusting. The coral should not retract any polyps or show signs of distress, if it does, then you pushed the plunger too hard and triggered a defense response. Gentle. Leave the pumps off for
10 minutes to allow the coral time to eat.

ZOAS/PALYS/GSP/CLOVE/DAISY/GLOVE/GONIOPORA/ALVEOPORA/TOADSTOOL
Use mixing instructions above for mixing reefroids. Again, pumps are turned off. Use your syringe to broadcast feed these. Hold the syringe about 6-8 inches above the zoas and push with a little bit of force towards the zoas. They should not close or show signs of distress. Allow 10-13 minutes for the reefroids to sink into the zoas. Target feeding zoas is difficult and more often than not, leads to a defense response and the reefroids only added nutrients to your tank without providing much benefit. VERY IMPORTANT! Please remove all hermit crabs from the immediate area, they will crawl all over your coral eating the reefroids and stress them out.

SCOLY
Scolies are different and very special, they require specialized care that dedicated reefers may provide. The best time to feed is at night, however if you notice feeding tentacles extended during any part of the above steps then please feed it! I feed my scoly anywhere from 1-3x a week, and I do see a difference! Scolies enjoy larger foods, much like the anemones. Using your finger is the best method here because of their extremely sticky tentacles. Simply introduce the food to the tentacles without touching them yourself, the barest contact is enough for the coral to grab ahold of the food and begin moving it towards the oral disk. Please don’t try to force feed a scoly EVER, this is very traumatic to it, like if you were sleeping and someone tried to cram a hotdog in your mouth. The stomach will extend if the coral is given a substantial amount of food so do not panic! It’s okay.

I think this is it! The ultimate guide. If there’s a coral I missed, please let me know! I have one of just about everything so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I will post my feeding regime for that as well! Cheers!

 

[Tahoe61]

I 100% believe in feeding as follows. I made this feeding schedule myself, and have seen my growth rates triple. Not saying it’s perfect or fool proof, it just works well for me. Be forewarned, this does require a lot of dedication and a good CUC. I recommend a mix of turbo, astrea, stomatella snails along with at least 1 larger shrimp per 20 gallons (fire, peppermint, skunk, etc). This is also assuming that the corals are happy with their lighting, flow, and water perams. This will not help a coral suffering from a bad environment, but I have used it to save a lot of abused corals that needed that extra bit of TLC.

GENERAL MIXED REEF
Going a little bit overboard when feeding is crucial. You can only do this if your tanks is COMPLETELY cycled and mature, if it’s not, then you will experience one of the worst algae blooms you’ve ever seen. For this purpose, I use LRS reef frenzy foods, but any variety of frozen food should be just fine.
Fish are a big part of this, and shrimps are a must. The fish eat the ‘getaway’ particles and the shrimp eat the stuff that falls to the bottom of the tank. Without a good CUC, algae blooms will happen and the leftover food will fuel bad critters such as bristleworms Rub the cube/frozen piece in your tank until it begins to melt and great apart, at this point, remove it from the tank and place it in your palm/paper plate/easily cleanable surface. Here, pick apart the frozen food and isolate larger chunks such as scallops, shrimps, etc. Pour the remaining smaller bits into the tank with the flow on, close to the powerheads or pumps so the particles swirl around the tank. Your fish should’ve eaten and gotten full during this step, if they have not, then feed more. Hungry fish steal food from corals which is traumatic to them. As a general rule, with corals that have a clear mouth (anemones, fungia, etc) try to feed foods that are half the size of the mouth at maximum. These corals are able to physically choke to death on foods that are too large, so please take caution!

LPS/ANEMONE/EUPHYLLIA
Remember those larger chunks you isolated? Grab those back. Using your fingers or a pair of tongs (I prefer fingers because the food is less likely to get stuck) stick the food directly into the coral.
For LPS, it’s crucial to wait until feeder tentacles are extended then feed directly, if these tentacles are not extended then the coral cannot eat and the food will be wasted. This is why it’s important to allow the small particles to circulate before attempting this, the ‘smell’ of food in the water activates the feeding response. I suggest smaller, squishy things such as half mysis shrimp for LPS like acans, Favia, Blastos, and trumpet/candy canes. This method also works well for rhodactis mushrooms, please use only in low/no flow so the shroom has time to eat.
For anemones and elegance coral you’re going to want those firmer chunks such as bits of scallop. Give these directly to the tentacles of the coral, they will feed themselves. Be very careful when feeding because the tentacles are very sticky and if care is not taken, they can be ripped off and cause damage. Personally, I feed BTA anemones every day, they split and bubble better when very well fed.
For all other euphyllia (hammers, torch, frogspawn, etc) the technique differs by location in the tank. Since these are not as sticky as an anemone/elegance, they need time to eat the food properly. If the current/flow is too strong, then the food may be blown away before it has a chance to eat it. Feed softer chunks, not as soft as the LPS but not as firm as the anemones, kind of in the middle. The euphyllia will swallow these in 5 minutes or less, remove uneaten food or turn the flow back on to remove it.

SPS
I use reefroids for this purpose, about 2x weekly. They are also getting food from photosynthesis and the ‘particle’ step so please adjust as needed. Locate a 10 cc syringe without a needle, you can get these on amazon cheaply. You only need one, as they can be reused. Get yourself a container, solo cups, Tupperware, pee cups, if it holds water, it works. My recipe for a 20 gallon tank is 40 ccs of water (4 syringe fulls) mixed with a pinch of reefroids, enough to tint my water an orangeish/peachy color. Stir vigorously until incorporated then immediately suck up in the syringe. Turning off your pumps is very important here so please do that. Target feed SPS gently, hold the syringe about 2 inches away from the coral and push the plunger slowly, if looking from the side of the tank, you will see a cloud surround the coral. They only need a light coating, almost a dusting. The coral should not retract any polyps or show signs of distress, if it does, then you pushed the plunger too hard and triggered a defense response. Gentle. Leave the pumps off for
10 minutes to allow the coral time to eat.

ZOAS/PALYS/GSP/CLOVE/DAISY/GLOVE/GONIOPORA/ALVEOPORA/TOADSTOOL
Use mixing instructions above for mixing reefroids. Again, pumps are turned off. Use your syringe to broadcast feed these. Hold the syringe about 6-8 inches above the zoas and push with a little bit of force towards the zoas. They should not close or show signs of distress. Allow 10-13 minutes for the reefroids to sink into the zoas. Target feeding zoas is difficult and more often than not, leads to a defense response and the reefroids only added nutrients to your tank without providing much benefit. VERY IMPORTANT! Please remove all hermit crabs from the immediate area, they will crawl all over your coral eating the reefroids and stress them out.

SCOLY
Scolies are different and very special, they require specialized care that dedicated reefers may provide. The best time to feed is at night, however if you notice feeding tentacles extended during any part of the above steps then please feed it! I feed my scoly anywhere from 1-3x a week, and I do see a difference! Scolies enjoy larger foods, much like the anemones. Using your finger is the best method here because of their extremely sticky tentacles. Simply introduce the food to the tentacles without touching them yourself, the barest contact is enough for the coral to grab ahold of the food and begin moving it towards the oral disk. Please don’t try to force feed a scoly EVER, this is very traumatic to it, like if you were sleeping and someone tried to cram a hotdog in your mouth. The stomach will extend if the coral is given a substantial amount of food so do not panic! It’s okay.

I think this is it! The ultimate guide. If there’s a coral I missed, please let me know! I have one of just about everything so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I will post my feeding regime for that as well! Cheers!

Excellent post.

 

[Paulie069]

I 100% believe in feeding as follows. I made this feeding schedule myself, and have seen my growth rates triple. Not saying it’s perfect or fool proof, it just works well for me. Be forewarned, this does require a lot of dedication and a good CUC. I recommend a mix of turbo, astrea, stomatella snails along with at least 1 larger shrimp per 20 gallons (fire, peppermint, skunk, etc). This is also assuming that the corals are happy with their lighting, flow, and water perams. This will not help a coral suffering from a bad environment, but I have used it to save a lot of abused corals that needed that extra bit of TLC.

GENERAL MIXED REEF
Going a little bit overboard when feeding is crucial. You can only do this if your tanks is COMPLETELY cycled and mature, if it’s not, then you will experience one of the worst algae blooms you’ve ever seen. For this purpose, I use LRS reef frenzy foods, but any variety of frozen food should be just fine.
Fish are a big part of this, and shrimps are a must. The fish eat the ‘getaway’ particles and the shrimp eat the stuff that falls to the bottom of the tank. Without a good CUC, algae blooms will happen and the leftover food will fuel bad critters such as bristleworms Rub the cube/frozen piece in your tank until it begins to melt and great apart, at this point, remove it from the tank and place it in your palm/paper plate/easily cleanable surface. Here, pick apart the frozen food and isolate larger chunks such as scallops, shrimps, etc. Pour the remaining smaller bits into the tank with the flow on, close to the powerheads or pumps so the particles swirl around the tank. Your fish should’ve eaten and gotten full during this step, if they have not, then feed more. Hungry fish steal food from corals which is traumatic to them. As a general rule, with corals that have a clear mouth (anemones, fungia, etc) try to feed foods that are half the size of the mouth at maximum. These corals are able to physically choke to death on foods that are too large, so please take caution!

LPS/ANEMONE/EUPHYLLIA
Remember those larger chunks you isolated? Grab those back. Using your fingers or a pair of tongs (I prefer fingers because the food is less likely to get stuck) stick the food directly into the coral.
For LPS, it’s crucial to wait until feeder tentacles are extended then feed directly, if these tentacles are not extended then the coral cannot eat and the food will be wasted. This is why it’s important to allow the small particles to circulate before attempting this, the ‘smell’ of food in the water activates the feeding response. I suggest smaller, squishy things such as half mysis shrimp for LPS like acans, Favia, Blastos, and trumpet/candy canes. This method also works well for rhodactis mushrooms, please use only in low/no flow so the shroom has time to eat.
For anemones and elegance coral you’re going to want those firmer chunks such as bits of scallop. Give these directly to the tentacles of the coral, they will feed themselves. Be very careful when feeding because the tentacles are very sticky and if care is not taken, they can be ripped off and cause damage. Personally, I feed BTA anemones every day, they split and bubble better when very well fed.
For all other euphyllia (hammers, torch, frogspawn, etc) the technique differs by location in the tank. Since these are not as sticky as an anemone/elegance, they need time to eat the food properly. If the current/flow is too strong, then the food may be blown away before it has a chance to eat it. Feed softer chunks, not as soft as the LPS but not as firm as the anemones, kind of in the middle. The euphyllia will swallow these in 5 minutes or less, remove uneaten food or turn the flow back on to remove it.

SPS
I use reefroids for this purpose, about 2x weekly. They are also getting food from photosynthesis and the ‘particle’ step so please adjust as needed. Locate a 10 cc syringe without a needle, you can get these on amazon cheaply. You only need one, as they can be reused. Get yourself a container, solo cups, Tupperware, pee cups, if it holds water, it works. My recipe for a 20 gallon tank is 40 ccs of water (4 syringe fulls) mixed with a pinch of reefroids, enough to tint my water an orangeish/peachy color. Stir vigorously until incorporated then immediately suck up in the syringe. Turning off your pumps is very important here so please do that. Target feed SPS gently, hold the syringe about 2 inches away from the coral and push the plunger slowly, if looking from the side of the tank, you will see a cloud surround the coral. They only need a light coating, almost a dusting. The coral should not retract any polyps or show signs of distress, if it does, then you pushed the plunger too hard and triggered a defense response. Gentle. Leave the pumps off for
10 minutes to allow the coral time to eat.

ZOAS/PALYS/GSP/CLOVE/DAISY/GLOVE/GONIOPORA/ALVEOPORA/TOADSTOOL
Use mixing instructions above for mixing reefroids. Again, pumps are turned off. Use your syringe to broadcast feed these. Hold the syringe about 6-8 inches above the zoas and push with a little bit of force towards the zoas. They should not close or show signs of distress. Allow 10-13 minutes for the reefroids to sink into the zoas. Target feeding zoas is difficult and more often than not, leads to a defense response and the reefroids only added nutrients to your tank without providing much benefit. VERY IMPORTANT! Please remove all hermit crabs from the immediate area, they will crawl all over your coral eating the reefroids and stress them out.

SCOLY
Scolies are different and very special, they require specialized care that dedicated reefers may provide. The best time to feed is at night, however if you notice feeding tentacles extended during any part of the above steps then please feed it! I feed my scoly anywhere from 1-3x a week, and I do see a difference! Scolies enjoy larger foods, much like the anemones. Using your finger is the best method here because of their extremely sticky tentacles. Simply introduce the food to the tentacles without touching them yourself, the barest contact is enough for the coral to grab ahold of the food and begin moving it towards the oral disk. Please don’t try to force feed a scoly EVER, this is very traumatic to it, like if you were sleeping and someone tried to cram a hotdog in your mouth. The stomach will extend if the coral is given a substantial amount of food so do not panic! It’s okay.

I think this is it! The ultimate guide. If there’s a coral I missed, please let me know! I have one of just about everything so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment and I will post my feeding regime for that as well! Cheers!

That was a very helpful and knowledgeable post I enjoyed reading it

 

[footgal]

That was a very helpful and knowledgeable post I enjoyed reading it

Thank you! I’ve been home a lot for the quarantine so I’ve finally been able to do a full write up of my routine. I made sure to write it for a reefer with less time (the general section) and for corals individually. I think I might have to update the post with some YOU NEED TO DO THIS stuff for scolies and things like that that 100% need to have a dedicated feeding schedule. I’m sure I can write up a conditions/environment thing if a need arises for it (a general guide on where to put corals in the tank related to flow, light, neighbors, aggression, and preferred substrate).

 

[Paulie069]

Thank you! I’ve been home a lot for the quarantine so I’ve finally been able to do a full write up of my routine. I made sure to write it for a reefer with less time (the general section) and for corals individually. I think I might have to update the post with some YOU NEED TO DO THIS stuff for scolies and things like that that 100% need to have a dedicated feeding schedule. I’m sure I can write up a conditions/environment thing if a need arises for it (a general guide on where to put corals in the tank related to flow, light, neighbors, aggression, and preferred substrate).

I am a Paul.B kind of train of thought, I let Mother Nature do what she does, it’s just that I want her to do it in my tank and make everything nice,, I’ve chosen corals that just require light n flow,, I’m a touch from the norm when it comes to reefing,. I didn’t start out to have corals but ,,,sometimes reefs happen,,

 

[ThePurple12]

Corals in aquariums don’t need to be directly fed because they eat the “stuff” floating around in the water, but they do better and grow faster if you feed them. I think this is also one of the factors leading to reproduction.

Coral polyps consist of a mouth and stinging tentacles. They’re designed to eat!

 

[User1]

You are going to get a lot of different opinions on this one but here is the one thing to note. There is no "best" per say. There are several choices and a lot of it depends on the coral you keep, the fish, nutrient levels, what food you do feed the fish, and of course lighting. To say you don't need to feed is a bit misleading because some corals do have mouths and others do not. As stated the onus is on the Hobbyist to understand what they are keeping and the proper requirements.

Foods vary:
LRS frozen
Reef roids
IPSF Coral heaven
etc
etc
etc

I use LRS frozen when I can find it, reef roids here and there, and my favorite coral heaven by indo pacific sea farms. Those work for me. Note I didn't say any are best but I do have a favorite

 

[Opus]

You are going to get a lot of different opinions on this one but here is the one thing to note. There is no "best" per say. There are several choices and a lot of it depends on the coral you keep, the fish, nutrient levels, what food you do feed the fish, and of course lighting. To say you don't need to feed is a bit misleading because some corals do have mouths and others do not. As stated the onus is on the Hobbyist to understand what they are keeping and the proper requirements.

Foods vary:
LRS frozen
Reef roids
IPSF Coral heaven
etc
etc
etc

I use LRS frozen when I can find it, reef roids here and there, and my favorite coral heaven by indo pacific sea farms. Those work for me. Note I didn't say any are best but I do have a favorite

I had never heard of Coral Heaven so had to look it up. Looks interesting but if I put another fish thing in the fridge my wife will kill me.
It was weird seeing Dick Perrin's name. I thought he was in prison for the illegal selling of protected animals.

 

[User1]

I had never heard of Coral Heaven so had to look it up. Looks interesting but if I put another fish thing in the fridge my wife will kill me.
It was weird seeing Dick Perrin's name. I thought he was in prison for the illegal selling of protected animals.

Fully understand the fish thing . Mine is out in the garage for that reason. I'm not sure what sort of sentence and fines Perrin received. He was caught up in it for sure but do not believe he was one of the major players. I don't remember the whole thing to be fair so probably wrong.

Ipsf / Gerald Heslinga has a pretty big facility working closely with the state of Hawaii. I believe most of their work is around the aquaculture side and conservation. Just glad they are not caught up in that mess.