Wild caught sun coral, is it worth it?

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I was recently browsing a website when I noticed wild caught australian tubastrea, now I know the care for NPS coral, though I've heard that wild caught sun coral is considerably more difficult than their aquacultured counterparts, and since I'm only keeping wild caught colonies I wanted to jump on this opportunity, though i don't want this colony to die on me. I am planning to keep it in a deep cave with weekly feedings of meaty foods, though is there anything else I can do to best ensure their survival? Thanks

 

[LouieP]

If you don't want it to die on you then don't buy it.

This coral is best left in the wild.

 

[Science/G]

I would feed them everyday. I did a dive in Costa Rica years ago on a rockpile that was covered in tubastrea. The water was a blizzard of plankton.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I would feed them everyday. I did a dive in Costa Rica years ago on a rockpile that was covered in tubastrea. The water was a blizzard of plankton.

No problem! I have a coral only setup (hopefully not for much longer) and my refeugium lets me broadcast feed every night

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Flow requirements?

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

http://aquariumanimals.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-keepers-of-sun.html

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

http://aquariumanimals.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-keepers-of-sun.html

Thanks for that article! I do Daily feedings of Hikari coral gumbo, bi-daily of phyto and weekly of reef-roids, though I can accommodate for spot feeding, also the area where I'm planning on keeping it dosent have much flow, though I could always use the feeding opportunities to blow debris off... though definitely want to keep mine in a darker area

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hi. I saw the post and this article popped up. I don’t keep nps. I do try my best to keep a mixed reef.

 

[rhdoug]

I have kept several colonies in my mixed reef for many years. There is no need to hide them in a dark cave, mine are up near the surface in front of the overflow intake in bright light and fairly strong (intermittent) flow. They open as soon as they smell food in the water, and since they are so close to the top they are very easy to feed. If you make it easy to feed you will more likely do so. Once I moved them up to the top they began to flourish. When they were closer to the bottom they were just surviving.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I have kept several colonies in my mixed reef for many years. There is no need to hide them in a dark cave, mine are up near the surface in front of the overflow intake in bright light and fairly strong (intermittent) flow. They open as soon as they smell food in the water, and since they are so close to the top they are very easy to feed. If you make it easy to feed you will more likely do so. Once I moved them up to the top they began to flourish. When they were closer to the bottom they were just surviving.

Wow! Thats beautiful! I only was thinking of adding them to a cave to replace their wild habitat (and hopefully see some polyp extension during the day :) ) I do unfortunately have higher light so I don't know if that would work, how often/what do you feed? I was thinking if I put them in a cave I could pop a mysis or some other frozen cube it and it would float to the top while slowly releasing food. Though yours look amazing!

 

[Kasrift]

Watch this video

Great info on them and you need to feed more than weekly.

 

[Propane]

I found a video a couple of months ago where by a guy named Wang Huohuo from china was using newly hatched artemia to feed his NPS with great success. It was called Is NPS coral really expert only. Pretty good info.

 

[Coffee Soundboard]

If you don't want it to die on you then don't buy it.

This coral is best left in the wild.

Such a helpful post.

 

[PeterEde]

This is a coral that requires feeding. It will die if you neglect it.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

Watch this video

Great info on them and you need to feed more than weekly.

Ah, my bad, it was the walking dendro that need to be fed 1-2 times weekly, I posted a thread earlier about them. Though I have to say good idea mixing foods instead of using just mysis or some other, and throughout the first half of the video all I was thinking was "that's way too close to the other coral, it's not going to like that" lol

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

This is a coral that requires feeding. It will die if you neglect it.

Yes, my bad in the post, it was walking dendro that need 1-2 times weekly as they can photosynthesize, just not as well as other corals, tubastrea need frequent feedings

 

[Kasrift]

I found a video a couple of months ago where by a guy named Wang Huohuo from china was using newly hatched artemia to feed his NPS with great success. It was called Is NPS coral really expert only. Pretty good info.

I do that to feed hammers and pretty much everything. I hatch baby brine maybe weekly to feed the mandarin (don’t worry my tank is overrun with pods, this is supplemental), fish, and spray down any LPS with tentacles out. I’m also recently been on a NPS kick. I have fat head dendros, a regular yellow dendro, NPS gorgonian, and just bought a black sun Coral which I’ll pick up from AquaSD tomorrow.

 

[Kasrift]

I’ll be follow the video above to try and get the sun coral to open during the day. AquaSd has a couple sun corals and black sun corals, I was looking at this post from reefbuilders and the black sun coral is beautiful.

https://reefbuilders.com/2012/10/10/tubastrea-micrantha/
Oh and I feed phyto daily since I culture it, which is why I have tons of pods. I sometimes wonder if I need to feed NPS I have so many pods even with a mandarin and six line in a 32 gallon for a year and a half.

 

[Reefkeepers Archive]

I’ll be follow the video above to try and get the sun coral to open during the day. AquaSd has a couple sun corals and black sun corals, I was looking at this post from reefbuilders and the black sun coral is beautiful.

https://reefbuilders.com/2012/10/10/tubastrea-micrantha/
Oh and I feed phyto daily since I culture it, which is why I have tons of pods. I sometimes wonder if I need to feed NPS I have so many pods even with a mandarin and six line in a 32 gallon for a year and a half.

I do feed phyto every other day, pods aren't a problem considering I so far have a fishless setup and an abundance of diatoms in my 8 1/2 month old tank

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

I do that to feed hammers and pretty much everything. I hatch baby brine maybe weekly to feed the mandarin (don’t worry my tank is overrun with pods, this is supplemental), fish, and spray down any LPS with tentacles out. I’m also recently been on a NPS kick. I have fat head dendros, a regular yellow dendro, NPS gorgonian, and just bought a black sun Coral which I’ll pick up from AquaSD tomorrow.

Which nps listed, less the gorgo, has done the best for you?