Need scholling on Microplankton/Zooplankton

I am unhappy with the polyp extension of my hammer coral, xenia and others. I want to get more coral but I want to learn how to feed them first.

What is microplankton and how does it work? Is it just added to the water or target feed? I was tols Hammer will benifit from the addition of Microplankton and Branched Montipora will benifit from the addition from Zooplankton. How do you do this and how do they eat?

 

I hit my 58g tank with about 40ml of DT's Plankton every few days.

not sure it helps the corals, but I do have all kinds of weird macro algae growing now that were probably introduced by the DT's (nothing bad)

 

Contaminated bottle?

 

DT's is live phytoplankton, which could in theory at least contain the microscopic spores of certain macro algae ... just a guess. Probably not likely.

 

Polyp extension has more to do with flow, water chemistry, and lighting than feeding IME.

MOST corals we keep in captive reef tanks are photosynthetic and require little or no direct feeding. But those that be fed will certainly benefit from occasional feeding.

I feed my frogspawn (close relative of hammer coral) large mysid shrimp and bits of silversides. I don't think they care about microplanktons. It's rare it actually eats anything I offer it, but from time to time it will gobble up a big chunk of whatever I offer.

Xenia don't seem to need any direct/intentional feeding, and probably get most of what they need from photosynthesis and nutrients you already have (nitrates).

Other corals have various requirements, and it varied between species to the point that general advice stops at "maybe you should feed them, maybe not". I would suggest some books on corals combined with diligent research on the specific corals you want to keep BEFORE you get them. Always feel welcome to ask here, I learn more every day here than I realize.

Microplankton is composed of microscopic bits of living organisms from marine environments. It can be microscopic plants and animals that never grow larger than microscopic. It can be eggs and larval forms of fish, invetebrates, and corals that will eventually grow into macroscopic critters...all of the above.

Phytoplankton is composed of plant/non-animal life. e.g. algae, diatoms, rotifers, fungal spores... Zooplankton is composed of animal life, e.g. fish larvae, small shrimps, bacteria, eggs, 'pods, etc.

As a whole they are Plankton, the basic food source for everything else in the ocean.


As for what corals will benefit from, as I've said, it really varies. LPS corals and soft/coralimorphs will often accept larger zooplankton members like mysid shrimp, baby silver sides, brine shrimp, etc...

Zoanthids/palythoas seem to LOVE oyster eggs.

SPS corals will often benefit from phytoplankton/microfauna like pods, algae, bacteria, baby brine, cyclopeeze, oyster eggs, etc...

The popular coral foods out there include brands like Rods, Marine Snow, DT's, Coral Frenzy... all contain various blends of planktonic life.... some live (DT's) other freeze dried (coral frenzy) and some are a mix (Marine snow?)

Ultimately, there are few corals that REQUIRE targeted feeding, usually you can dose a tank and let the currents feed the corals. I turn off my sump/skimmer for about 30 minutes when I feed DT's.

...hope that helps. I'm not an expert but that's what I understand on the subject. Check out wikipedia for good info on plankton in general.

-Doug

 

Thanks Grey. What you said has been helpful. As far as the hammer coral and frog spawn, they actually will (may eat) this if offered? How do I know if they are eating and where would the mouth be at on that particular coral?

 

You can see the mouths, if its a branching hammer/spawn it will generally have one mouth per branch... unless its getting ready to split/branch again. The mouth will be right at the center or the "head" on the branch...

Target feeding really isn't necessary with the corals you mentioned though, I rarely target feed but when I do the hammers and frogspawn usually don't even accept it... they grab it and pull it in and then are just like whatever and let it go. My Acans however greedily nab anything that touches the feeding tenticles, my Ricordea also eat fairly well when target fed as do the Trumpet/Candy Cane and Pinapple coral....

 

I'll sometimes let a small cube of brine dissolve in zooplankton and then target feed to corals. but i typically just dose to the display and let the current do the feeding. But also like posted above^ I'm not sure how much the dosing of any plankton rly helps my corals. I think the only thing in my tank that rly benefits from it is my pulsating exina.

before getting any type of plankton I'd look into lighting, flow, and water chemistry as these are the prime contributers to healthy corals.

 

But see the thing is, its just these few corals that are not behaving correctly. I have Montipora,Frogspawn,6 types of zoas,mushrooms,leathers,Ricordea,Green Star. That all are fine.

I have tests for Cal,mag,DKH,amm,nitrate,nitrite,PH,Phosphate. I have been testing all regulary. My cal is the only thing that maybe out of zone but its 380 which isnt far of range.

I have one korilia 3 pointing in from the right and one Korilia 1 pointing in on the left wall. I will say that my Korilia 1 seems maybe to small for the tank, however other high flow demand corals seem to be content with the flow. (I wouldnt think my 46g would need 1700gph flow. would it?) So that why I didnt get another 3 instead of a one. Should I trade the 1 back in for another 3? My hammer is at the bottom of the tank however. I wouldnt think I would have to raise it up becuase the LFS Hammer from the same colony are fully extended at the bottom of there tank

 

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