Candy Cane Color.. ?

I got 2 good frags of candy cane, a couple days ago..
They doing good, eating well.. I even hand fed them sone small pieces of shrimp..
I have a 55 gal tank.. I have alot of easy to care for corals, mushrooms, leathers A orange plate coral thats doing real good also..
I use kent Liquid Reactor, etc..
The canes are about 1/2 way up in my tank, on a rock by themselves.. I have 260 PC Lighting..

In the guys tank, one candy cane was a very beautiful neon green...
When I got home, befor I even put it in my tank.... It was a very lightish pink, purple color..??
Not bleached out.. Just faded color..
It's doing real good, eating well, etc..
His lighting may have been stronger then mine..

Do these do this..? Will the color come back to green..??
I understand, different water, different lights.. it has to get used to..

I'm home almost 24/7 .. So I have plenty of time to spend on my tank..
The other one stayed the same color as it was in his tank.. eating well doing good..

So do you think over time it'll regain it's neon green color..?
And
I plan on hand feeding a few times a week, I take it I need to feed each head ..??

ANY info and tips on helping me care for these I could really use..

I have been reading all I can find....
I don't want these to just live..
I want them to take over my tank.. !! LOL

I just don't understand the color change.. ?
And as I said, they are not bleached, and doing fine..

Thanks, Larry

 

I have had some really good experience with candy canes.....
You will notice that they will change color somewhat with feeding, lighting, time of day etc.

I feed mine krill also a couple times a week. If they are attached to each by their stalks then they will share their nutrients. I have probably 40 polyps right now and have fragged many off. I alternate who gets the krill. I will add a couple pieces per section one day and then hit the other section later on that week. I also feed Rods Coral food a couple times a week so they get a lot to eat!

I notice that the color changes according to many factors, the light being the biggest one. When my MH are on, they are brighter then they are when only my blue T5's are on! Now all lights are off and they are retracted in with brown-red color in center (have LEDS on)

Also I notice mine will turn pale and loose their color when they are swollen right after they eat.

So the corals will do well...add a little bit of Vit C and HUFAs with the shrimp when you feed them. And be careful when you place it on the polyp..to just gently touch it to them, and they only need a small piece..the tissue is very delicate..esp when swollen. There are days that mine dont want to eat and wont take it..

good luck!

 

Thanks, all the info was a big help..
Glad to hear about the feeding part.. But what is HUFAs ..??

Later, Larry

 

Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids

 

I have a neon green candy cane, it is in the bottom third of my tank and under 4 54 watt T-5 lighting. It has never lost its color, maybe yours would be happier down lower in your tank.

 

maybe its the pc's

 

What would be Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids ..?
I give them little pieces of raw shrimp, and squid that I cut up.. Plus what my filter feeders get, etc..



I hope it's not the PC's, they are fresh bulbs.. My calcium was alittle low..
But not very low..
Raiseing it now.. Does around 440 sound about right..??
I will lower them and see what happens.. They are eating like pigs, and doing really good.. It has 5 nice size heads on it..
The other frag, didn't lose any color..?? But it wasn't a neon green..?
I just ordered 2 more, A green, and a snow green.. All the corals in my tank are looking real good.. All are soft corals, but one plate coral..

Thanks for any help and info.. I have been reading all I can find on them, which isn't much.. Just strange that the neon green, turned light peach..

But I will lower it .. Do the frags need to be glued to live rock.. ?
Or they OK the way they are, they are a good size..

Thanks, Larry

my camera want take good pictures of my tank..

 

it could just be the coral, alittle stress goes along way. But its probly just your lighting. i wouldnt worry if they are eating and inflating. You dont have to glue them down if you dont want to. it does help if you have hermit crabs or other clumsly animals. I my crabs have killed a couple of my sps by droping them face down in the sand before i could putty them down

 

Candy canes do not generally need strong lighting so your PCs are probably ok. I have one doing fine under one 96w pc. That being said, each individual is different and that is probably the source of your problem if everything else is good. It is not surprising for a coral to be a different color in one tank than in another. There are lots of anecdotal stories about that happening. Are the frags in approximately equivalent places? It is interesting that one maintained the same color while the other changed. Just watch that they have consistent behavior (e.g. tentacles extend at night, tissue doesn't pull away from the skeleton, the flesh plumps up during the day). CCs are hardy--mine had one head nearly killed by a rhodactis but it began recovering almost immediately after I removed the mushroom. Another head is currently winning a battle with an Aiptasia so that really says something about them.

My CCs might be my current fav.

 

my candy canes don't do good under direct halide light. I noticed they are better off in the shade a little. good luck