I really want a candy cane!!!

The LFS has a candy cane frag that has two heads on it. It's in the $5 frag section that I check every week when I'm there getting water (it's an addiction I tell you...$5 frags of all things). I need an RO/DI for nothing else than to keep me from overstocking my tank...gotta get a Protein Skimmer first!

Anyway, there is a note on the glass in front of it that says "Hold Candy Cane for Ginny until August 15th" which gives me time to get my Toadstool and Rainford Goby out of quarantine and decide if I really want it. I paid for it, but if I don't pick it up they'll give me the $5 in credit (which I can use for another frag). I'm really going to need a 200G tank soon.

So, here's what I have in my 25G tank so far:

1-Xenia
1-GSP
1-Frogspawn
1-Royal Gramma
1-Hawaiian Feather Duster
1-Toadstool (in q/t still)
1-Rainford Goby (in q/t still)
1-Zoa colony (brown polyps) that hitchhiked in on the liverock

Can I get this candy cane? It's so pretty, pink and green! The rule around here is it stays in the q/t until it starts showing new growth (growth that can be documented in pictures. Or do I need to slow down?

Gin

 

not familiar with candy cane but I've been looking at them as well, great looking coral and grow fairly fast from what I've been told, I think you'd be fine putting it in there just keep it out of reach of the other LPS

 

Get it! Feed your addiction. I have 3 differant colored candy canes and they are easy to care for and dont bother anything in my tanks. The best part is when they start splitting you can frag them easily and sell them.

 

It's a good beginner LPS, plus you can target feed them at night and they get big when you do.

 

So, I just target feed some cyclopeeze or will it like meatier foods? I've read so many conflicting things.

Just answered my own question...looked it up in my Pocket Expert Guide.

I have the perfect spot picked out for it where I can reach it to feed it and it won't be too close to the lights.

FYI...it says:

"Need to be fed, but are avid and voracious feeders. Will eat small krill, brine shrimp, diced fish.

During feeding, the water motion in the tank should be arrested (shut down) so that the food is allowed to drop onto the discs. The corals will then eagerly feed. After an hour or so, turn the water currents back on."

Sounds easy enough, I just have one more question.

Do I need to feed each polyp individually?

 

I feed whatever polyps are "open and reaching".
Hint - If you have a skunk cleaner shrimp, feed him first, because he will steal the food right out of the polyp before it even gets a chance to fully close in around the mysis, spirolina, or whatever you're feeding your coral.
I use a small "turkey baster", more like a big eyedropper, which are free up at the pharmacy counter at the Stop & Shop grocery store.

 

I've figured out that a bulb syringe (like you use to syphon out a babies nose) works the best for target feeding. I have to watch the Royal Gramma though, since we put him in too early he had the run of things for too long and he'll take the food right out of the end of it.

 

I use a large water bottle like a 1 liter. Cut he bottom off and slide it down over the top of my Sun coral, candy canes and what ever I need to target fed. This does 2 things, keeps unwanted crabs and fish out of the feeding area and keeps food in a smaller area so I can either pick it up and re-feed it or I can pick up the bottle and it keeps it in one place for all the creatures waiting on the outside which usually by the time I am done is most everything inside the tank.

Sick person that I am, it adds another benefit, I get to watch the fish slam into the plastic as they try and grab the food as it floats to the bottom

 

LMAO! ;D

 

I got it today!!!! And it's freaking beautiful! It's stuck in a hole in the q/t! I'll post pics tomorrow...