Zoa Growth

I am now officially not worried about iodine....

M

 

I feed all my LPS/soft corals that will take them mysis shrimp. The only ones I have not observed eating are Xenia, purple mushrooms and sarco leathers. I'm sure the mushrooms would eat if I had patience to hold a shrimp on a mouth long enough for it to open....

What I have seen eat:

Zoanthids - seen 2 heads fight over one shrimp.
Palythoas
Ricordia (Yuma and Florida)
Rhodactis - very fast and greedy feeder
Euphylia/frogspawn - very slow to take food, but finishes quickly once it's in its mouth.


When it comes to nature food = energy. If a creature has the ability to ingest and digest food it can derive energy from that food source. many corals can live a long stable life by feeding entirely on zooxanthelae, which in turn feed on nitrates and light, but it stands to reason that supplemental feedings do have some affect on growth.

I know from my own observations that in my tank with my particular species (unknown) of zoanthids the colonies that get regular feedings from detritus and flake that falls on them are growing larger and faster than those in areas of the tank where excess food doesn't normally fall on them.