Is my hammer hungry? it even eats algae

[rowenaad]

I don't know if i just a tank of weird euphyllia collection or something is not right with my tank but every one of them is weird in a different way.

I have this hammer for a few weeks. Its a pig and eats literally everything, fish food pellet, mysis, reef roid, and today, I found it swallowing a piece of algae i scraped off the glass which i have never heard of. My tank runs high NP with nitrate 20+ phosphate around 0.1. Its under low light and moderate flow. I target feed it 2-3 times a week. It sucks whatever i dump on it.

It looks healthy in the day, well extended, but looks dead at night fully deflated and mouth wide open and only very occasionally expelling anything. I can see the "teeth" and all the guts inside..... but now i kinda feel like it might just be eating...

I really dont know but is it that hungry? should I up the feeding to it? Can I overfeed it or it should reject excess food? any thought is welcomed. Thanks

 

[rowenaad]

I just puked that algae out. lolll apparently thats not food for it.

 

[BonnieB]

I don't know if i just a tank of weird euphyllia collection or something is not right with my tank but every one of them is weird in a different way.

I have this hammer for a few weeks. Its a pig and eats literally everything, fish food pellet, mysis, reef roid, and today, I found it swallowing a piece of algae i scraped off the glass which i have never heard of. My tank runs high NP with nitrate 20+ phosphate around 0.1. Its under low light and moderate flow. I target feed it 2-3 times a week. It sucks whatever i dump on it.

It looks healthy in the day, well extended, but looks dead at night fully deflated and mouth wide open and only very occasionally expelling anything. I can see the "teeth" and all the guts inside..... but now i kinda feel like it might just be eating...

I really dont know but is it that hungry? should I up the feeding to it? Can I overfeed it or it should reject excess food? any thought is welcomed. Thanks

In short, yes, you can overfeed it but generally they will self regulate that by expelling. Out of curiosity, why are you feeding so much? It is photosynthetic so it doesn’t need a ton of extra food. Besides as you saw with the algae, it sends out its sweepers and captures food from the water column. IMO and IME, let their primary source be your light with supplements like coral aminos. Feeding no more than once a week if your corals need the extra overall (in the proper proportions feeding does help growth but can also mess with your parameters). Your daytime picture looks beautiful. Your night picture is eerie but that could be a result of the overbreeding and it doing its thing to adjust and expel.

 

[rowenaad]

In short, yes, you can overfeed it but generally they will self regulate that by expelling. Out of curiosity, why are you feeding so much? It is photosynthetic so it doesn’t need a ton of extra food. Besides as you saw with the algae, it sends out its sweepers and captures food from the water column. IMO and IME, let their primary source be your light with supplements like coral aminos. Feeding no more than once a week if your corals need the extra overall (in the proper proportions feeding does help growth but can also mess with your parameters). Your daytime picture looks beautiful. Your night picture is eerie but that could be a result of the overbreeding and it doing its thing to adjust and expel.

Thanks ill get it down. just seeing it eating so much makes me wanna feed more loll. I never had a euphyllia responding so actively to feeding. but im already overfeeding my tank as an after effect battled dino for a long time and im not really adding any more but dropping a few pieces on it which otherwise land on sand so my numbers are still in check. I already broadcast feeding amino and phyto. Yea it should get what it need from water.

 

[BonnieB]

In short, yes, you can overfeed it but generally they will self regulate that by expelling. Out of curiosity, why are you feeding so much? It is photosynthetic so it doesn’t need a ton of extra food. Besides as you saw with the algae, it sends out its sweepers and captures food from the water column. IMO and IME, let their primary source be your light with supplements like coral aminos. Feeding no more than once a week if your corals need the extra overall (in the proper proportions feeding does help growth but can also mess with your parameters). Your daytime picture looks beautiful. Your night picture is eerie but that could be a result of the overbreeding and it doing its thing to adjust and expel.

Thanks ill get it down. just seeing it eating so much makes me wanna feed more loll. I never had a euphyllia responding so actively to feeding. but im already overfeeding my tank as an after effect battled dino for a long time and im not really adding any more but dropping a few pieces on it which otherwise land on sand so my numbers are still in check. I already broadcast feeding amino and phyto. Yea it should get what it need from water.

It’s a hungry hammer! . One of the biggest mistakes we, as in us humans, make it’s overfeeding. We all are or have been guilty of it at one time or another!