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 Posted 1/13/2006 1:08:01 PM |
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"Corals cannot exist with light alone in an environment devoid of nutrients."
I was wondering what you recommend feeding a reef tank. Specifically, a tank that is acropora, montipora, stylopora, hydno, ect. dominated. Also, is the goal of feeding a reef tank to feed the corals directly, or to feed them indirectly by feeding the prey(zooplankton, bacteria) that then turn around and get eaten by the corals. Also, do you have an opinion on products such as golden pearls, cyclop-eez(frozen, and the wafers/freeze dried offered here at marine depot).
Thank you.
-MrPike
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| Posted 1/13/2006 3:02:48 PM |
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I have a long series of articles at ReefKeeping.com on feeding corals that I will put on my article page soon.
I will say the following generalities:
1. relatively few rigorous gut analyses of coral species have been done.
2. Stony corals are almost exclusively carnivores, despite some evidence that a few have been noted to either take up or ingest phytoplankton (notably Acropora and Goniopora). However, these may have been later ejected as a pellet or not utilized. To my knowledge, no one has done radioacive tracer studies to label phyoplankton for incorporation into scleractinain biomass. Some lacking tentacle development (Mycetophyllia, Pachyseris) feed by mesenterial extrusion or ciliary action. Some Turbinaria feed using mucus webs. Scleractinian corals also utilize bacteria, dissolved inorganic and organic nutrients, amino acids and particulate material (detritus and psuedoplankton (eggs, etc.) as food sources. Various stony corals have differing prey capture behaviors, with some extremely good at capturing large motile prey items, and others tending towards inactive small prey or particulates. This group includes both small and large polyped corals. The only difference is the size of the food that can be captured, and the small polyped species can and often are more dependent on prey capture than large polyped species, and it simply depends on a species by species basis. There is also significant ability for switching, in that they maximize nutrient acquisition depending on the available resources. Some feed mainly by mucus webs, some by deposition, and some by active prey capture (cnidocysyts).
3. Soft corals appear to be a mixed bag, with most utilzing particulate material, dissolved material, and bacteria as food sources. In general, they lack the type of nematocysts necessary to capture large or motile prey. Older studies suggest they do capture zooplankton, and some might to a degree, but it is probably not the most important food source for them. The early studies also failed to watch the prey long enough, and some were able to evade, escape from or actually swim out of the guts of octocorals once captured. Some soft corals (i.e Clavularia, Briareum, probably all xeniids) lack sufficient development of cnidocytes and mesenteries to have any significant prey capture response. Phytoplankton has been shown as a food source for some soft corals, though the degree to which it is a food for all is currently unknown.
4. Zoanthids can be among the most nearly autotrophic cnidarians. Some, however, are highlyheterotrophic and capture prey effectively. They feed similarly to stony corals with the exception of some (like Z. sociatus) which may feed very little on zooplankton, but depend more on other sources.
5. Corallimorphs are similar in their variation. One, A, fenestrafer, captures fish. Others show almost no prey capture response at all and likely feed mainly on particulates and bacteria swept to the mouth by ciliary action. Trumpeting and purse-string closure are both behaviors indicating a feeding response by funneling food towards the mouth. They do, however, have the largest spirocysts of all corals, and this would indicate a prey response.
Some corals feed by day and some by night, and some around the clock. I feed the fish during the day, and the food mix has a lot of coral food in it, as well. I also feed them at night, and this mix is usually largely particles too small for fish, with enough that nocturnal fish like some cardinals, get a natural timing for feeding, too. My night mix is mostly oyster eggs and cyclop-eeze.
I rarely target feed, but will turn off the skimmer during feeding, especially the very small (and expensive) foods. Some corals should be target fed...Tubastraea, for example. Large polyped corals do not necessarily benefit from big chunky foods. Just because they can swallow them does not mean its a good thing. Larger foods take more time and energy to digest, so large polyped corals might be better off exerting less energy with smaller food sources. Small polyped corals need very small food.
As to the question of feeding vs. culturing or production in the tank, live foods are always ideal as they do not degrade in the water...they are livestock, so to speak, and culturing areas where there are lots of polychaetes, mysids, amphipods, etc is a great idea - by batch culture, continuous culture or through refugia. While they may not directly feed the corals (they avoid them pretty well), their gametes and larvae do. Small polyped species tend to feed on things that are at or below the level of visual perception, so if its big enough to see, its probably too big for the smallest polyped species. Hence why blenderizing the food produces a lot of really small particles.
Now, here is an updated version of my coral food recipe that has been posted about everywhere on the planet by now.
Eric's "famous" coral food recipe
I rarely have or use all of the ingredients listed, and I don't think it will make a difference over the long term. I also use this, or a variation of it, for my homemade fish food (I leave the fish food chunkier and add various algae). Basically, I either use what is left over from the last round of food-making, or I go to a few stores and get whatever they might have at the time. I feed this to the tank day and at night, generally, and would add that for some of the ingredients, I have no idea if they have any specific role. Its just what I have done before. I have also changed a bit with some other foods now available (since I have written this last time)
I try to get a mix of particle sizes involved to accomodate not just all sizes of polyps, but also feed other inverts that filter feed.
Fresh seafood:
Some combination of the ingredients below and it makes up a relatively small percent of the total - maybe 10-20%?
shrimp (I squeeze the heads and usually use some of the "meat" in the fish food)
oysters - blend well (may have Vibriostatic properties)
various other shellfish (mussels, clams, periwinkles, etc. - the bloodier, the better...live is great (shucking is a pain but gives a good final product)
Fish roe (sometimes available at Asian markets as fresh)
Frozen foods
This makes up perhaps 20-30% of the mix - some are from an aquarium store, some from the grocer, some can be cultured
Artemia - adult
Artemia nauplii (baby brine shrimp) (enriched, if possible)
Mysid shrimp
Sea urchin roe
Flying fish roe
Rotifers
DT's oyster eggs - this is a new additions and one of my very favorite coral foods. Particle size and nutrition is excellent.
Dried Aquarium Foods
this makes up the majority of my mix - probably 40%
Golden Pearls - all sizes available, but a majority of the smallest size
Cyclop-Eeze
VibraGro
Powdered marine flake
Phytoplankton - doesn't need to be alive since the mix is frozen, but make sure it is high quality. I don't expect it does much, but just in case some of the species utilize it, great. If not, the zooplankton and other filter feeders wiil -makes up maybe 2% of mix or less?
Supplements
makes up maybe 2-5% of mix?
Super Selco ( a big squeeze)
Sea Green Vitamin supplements - various brands, powdered, from Whole Foods market
I have also been known to add Echinacea capsules, the skins of colorful vegetables and fruits, various pigment complexes of carotenoids, etc. and/or antioxidants from Whole Foods market. I am also now adding SeaVive, a beta glucan/vitamin C and protein complex (all natural) into my fish foods, which due to its powdered form, also will potentially be a coral food.
In terms of preparation, I puree the solid seaoods, mix in the frozen thawed ingredients, soak the dry/powdered ingredients in the wet ingredients, combine them all together and let them sit for a few hours, and then freeze them into small flats in ziplocs in the freezer. I usually wind up with about 50.00 in foods per batch and make about a gallon or so of food that lasts a couple or more months.
If I have live cultures going, I add them when its time. I have no qualms about making the tank absolutely cloudy with food, though do not feed this heavily all the time. I try to feed every night, but miss some nights. Some nights I give them the holy grail and just pour in food so it resides for at least an hour, and then skim the rest out.
I'll leave this thread open, but stuck, to invite comments and questions.
_____________________
Eric Borneman
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| Posted 1/13/2006 3:32:27 PM |
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When you add this to your tank, do you soak it first and wisk it to break it up, or just toss the frozen piece in the tank and let it dissolve? The blenderized food that I feed my tank generally takes quite a bit of soaking and stirring, and it just doesnt seem that there are that many small particles, im assuming it should sort of look like I poured milk in my aquarium but it doesnt. Also, would adding nori sheets/garlic to the blender mix be benificial?
Thanks for the detailed response =)
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| Posted 1/13/2006 3:51:37 PM |
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MrPike (1/13/2006)
and it just doesnt seem that there are that many small particlesThen keep blending. " [sniff] Honey? If you like blended and blended something hard and chunky for a real long time - did the blender ever smell funny?. No I'm just curious. The exhaust fan? It's a little stuffy in here." While in the car on the way to buy a new blender, the Wife observed that a food processor would probably work better. And no, even if I was able to find it, I couldn't use the food processor in the kitchen to mix that green putrid smelling slimy fish food.
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| Posted 1/13/2006 3:56:44 PM |
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| Aye well, its blended quite well, it just seems that it sticks together after it freezes, and even after I thaw it.
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| Posted 1/13/2006 5:05:43 PM |
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While in the car on the way to buy a new blender, the Wife observed that a food processor would probably work better.
A food processor works MUCH better, for one thing you need no liquid. And if you get one of good quaility, it cleans up much easier and faster than a blender and there are no uncleanable ridges and other crannies to get nasty food stuck in. And it will last longer than any blender.
I use my food processor all the time for human food; I have no qualms about using it for fish/coral food. Then again, I use few items that I would not be willing to eat myself, that is if I didn't dislike most seafood.
(For the record, it's a Cuisinart 7 cup stainless steel DFP-7BC. And it's my favorite, most used appliance.)
Don't count your gobies before they've metamorphosized.
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| Posted 1/13/2006 6:05:03 PM |
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I say use a blender, but I actually use a food processor, too, and the smell does come out pretty easily. But, there are lots of blenders with glass containers that don't hold the smell like cheap plastic. As far as the liquid, add some water to help along if its too dry or chunky. I tend to stir in the items I don't want chopped further - like the Cyclop-eeze, powdered flake, etc. There should be enough liquid in the ingedients, but you can even use a bottle of phytoplankton for the liquid if you are a phyoplankton user. I thaw it....and sometimes I'll do this just by adding hot water to it, or soaking a chunk in a glass sitting in a larger bowl with hot water running in the bowl. As for nori/garlic, sure if you use this as a combined fish and coral food, or as a fish food. I'm not sure the usefulness of garlic has been proven, but garlic has a lot of good properties to it. The nori, of course, is a good soruce or iodine, magnesium, calacium and as an herbivore food, and I do add nori to a fish/coral food mix, but not a coral food mix.
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Eric Borneman
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| Posted 1/13/2006 6:25:39 PM |
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| Not much i can add to the advice given but i would like to share my experience with you.I have 2-40gal reefs,1 of which is LPS dominated,no softies).With this LPS tank,I always fed my corals 3-4times a week.I always had excellent growth and overall healthy corals(no losses in 2.5ys).I was getting some excess algae growth due to poor export so i decided i would see what happens by starving my tank.I did this for 5 months as a sort of experiment(mainly to confirm some things i've read).At the end of the 5months,i finally experienced my first mortality(Echinopora sp.).Before the death of my Echinopora,I started losing polyps off of my Acanthastrea sp.My Faviids were starting to recede as well.The coral that took it the hardest was my Trachyphyllia geoffroyi.It had started to recede and the septa were becoming visible under the tissue.I immediately stopped the "experiment" and began to start feeding again.At first,my Faviids would not show a feeding response by way of tentacle display at night.After a week or so,they began capturing food again and recovering.The Acanthastrea sp. immediately began to accept foods and within 2months had regrown the polyps it had lost.After 2 months of feeding my tank again,my poor Trachyphyllia is still not showing feeding tentacles and wont accept a direct feeding.It realy makes me sad to see it in such bad shape.I plan on trying to force feed it otherwise i dont think it will pull through the recession(although it hasn't progressed)
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| Posted 1/13/2006 7:43:26 PM |
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DonJasper (1/13/2006)While in the car on the way to buy a new blender, the Wife observed that a food processor would probably work better. That's pretty funny  I asked my wife a similar question before making Eric's coral chow. "Would you rather I ruin the blender or the food processor?" Turns out the food processor works great. Since I alternate feeding flake, mysis, and cyclopeze already I just wanted something of a smaller particulate size for the corals to utilize. [if they do that is] So I kept it simple with 3 oysters in the shell and 3 shrimp. Made a puree of it, with some slightly larger chunks here and there. Turns out this oyster/shrimp mix puree'd works fantastic. When you thaw it, it holds together a little like gelatin so the fish can get good sized bites. As they feed though, some just breaks up into a cloud of very small particles which I hope are perfect for the corals 
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| Posted 1/14/2006 3:40:06 PM |
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Is it possible to add gelatin or something similar to the mix to make the food hold together better specifically for fish feeding?
Peter
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