Is target feeding an absolute necessity?

Discussion in 'NPS Corals' started by sigmoid, Jul 2, 2013.

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  1. evolved

    evolved Wrasse Freak

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    Some are; depends on species.
     
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  3. Boywithafishtan

    Boywithafishtan Coral Banded Shrimp

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    +1. Some gorgonias are non-photosynthetic and some are photosynthetic. If you got a more deep-water species of gorgonian, it might be non-photosynthetic, and then they have to get target fed, eventually research and identify your species of gorgonian, to make sure what type of gorgonian it is. Some NPS corals can actually thrive, and catch enough food for themselves. However, many NPS corals are definitely corals that i would reccommend to feed. Especially the sun coral, that only eats food when it can smell it, and will never pop out if food isnt present. I would reccommend feeding all NPS corals, since it will just make them more healthy, and who doesnt want that? Good luck :)!
     
  4. Boywithafishtan

    Boywithafishtan Coral Banded Shrimp

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    You can upload a picture on here, and we might be able to help you with the identification :)
     
  5. Corailline

    Corailline Super Moderator

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    It is a dry heat, yeah right !
    Are you currently keeping NPS corals long term? Where did this information come from?

    We all make occasional assumptions regarding husbandry, but hopefully most that post have actually kept them long term and or have first hand experience.
     
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  6. Boywithafishtan

    Boywithafishtan Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Oh, i have a friend who keeps a NPS-only tank. He got various different NPS, and the tank is good and healthy. He has given me this information, and he is telling the truth, cause hes corals are nice, really nice! :) He keeps a BIG sun coral, some gorgonians and some other NPS's aswell. Love his tank, its really cool. I've always asked him about how to keep them etc. and he tells me about how to care for them. He has had these guys for a little over 2 years now, so..
     
  7. Boywithafishtan

    Boywithafishtan Coral Banded Shrimp

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    Oh, and he has kept a chili coral i think it was, and he didnt feed it. It was a little experiment he made. He fed his other corals though, but it catched food by itself. It still lives today! :)
     
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  9. sigmoid

    sigmoid Astrea Snail

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    Hm from what I read up so far, it seems that if you have adequate filtration, then continuous drip feeding should be superior to target feeding.

    The trick is the adequate filtration. :D The link @Corailline gave me on page 1 shows an incredibly complex setup with all sorts of industrial-grade stuff going on, which is a bit intimidating.
    Still, it would seem that there are other options explored by some, like a chain of various refugia, or algae scrubbers (from what I gather, they are a revolution compared to skimmers and ozonation similar to what live rock and refugia meant for the doctrine of old undergravel filtration systems).

    It's a lot to research, but honestly, it seems worth the effort.