Do we really need to feed our corals?

[FutureInterest]

After reading the black powder thread, and how its pretty much useless coral food, it got me thinking as to whether other coral foods are actually necessary or not... Are we just needlessly spending cash and polluting our tanks and wasting our time with this stuff?

Some of the nicest tank's I've seen in terms of coral growth are those tanks where the owners only feed the fish and don't add anything for the corals. Take Suasati's SPS tank for example... If you've never seen it, its the brightest and thickest SPS forest I've ever seen... its amazing... and he never feeds the corals anything... Justonemoretank also has really good SPS growth and he never feeds his corals and rarely feeds his fish . Last month's tank of the month on RC was simply amazing as well and along with doing water changes only every 6 months or so he didn't feed his corals anything if I remember correctly... and his corals were gorgeous enough to be the tank of the month.

It's kind of appealing to think that we don't have to feed our corals... so much less hassle and cash spent. I for one hate having to remember to shake that DTs bottle every few days. Also my freezer has a whole shelf of coral food that I'd love to claim back for my own food storage needs. Convenience aside, we spend a decent chunk of change on coral foods... the ones I keep: oyster eggs, cyclopeeze, reef chilli, and DTs are not cheap . Also when you add this stuff to the tank, only a small portion of it ever makes it to the corals... even with target feeding. So some of it is getting skimmed out and some of it is just polluting our tanks...

I'm not sure which way I lean right now... I'm thinking though that if you have a decent amount of fish, they're poop alone should keep your corals fed and happy. If you're one of those people that don't keep many fish or barely any then perhaps coral feeding is a necessity. I don't really know for certain. For the time being I think I'll run through my coral food supplies and then just see what happens. Any comments/suggestions?

 

[ouling]

I spot feed, and I actually see some of my larger polyped corals catch the cyclopeeze all the time. I doubt SPS actually catch any food unless at night when the sweepers are out (thats the time when I feed zooplanton). Yes, they do actually catch food, and I know for sure they need food.

 

[FutureInterest]

Of course they need to eat. That's different from actually feeding them . The question though is whether the byproducts(aka fish poop) of feeding your fish alone is enough for the corals. And yes this is pertaining to primarily to SPS.

 

[ouling]

I'm not sure about fish poop but I doubt the Montipora, Anacropora, and bolder corals catch any food our eyes can see. I don't even bother to feed those. I think acropora and other more aggresive corals need some kind of feeding. What I do is this, monday+wednesday i just skip the fish food and go with a cube of cyclopeeze at night as dinner for everyone. This way i don't waste money (siht is expensive) and everyone gets food.

 

[FutureInterest]

Yah it is expensive . What if you don't actually need to feed them at all?

 

[ouling]

yea but I can live with the $15 pack of Cyclopeeze, not the $837423 for a small can of oyster eggs. lawl! it takes me 3 month to use a pack of it... I just use it as fancy fish food even if corals don't eat it. I belive cyclopeeze really improve the color of my fish. Once my oddball coral that hitch hiked on my spiny oyster start bleeching, i spot fed him that for 2 days and he came back like miracle. That made me an believer.

I keep an extremely large refugium and it have alot of skrimps and small stuff in it; if you have that then the food web in your aquarium should be able to support your corals. $94382 for a can of eggs is crazy, DT phytoplankton is the biggest waste of money I think (also pointless), but i stand by cyclopeeze as good for fish and corals, especially when you spot feed.

 

[cameron]

It is a great question and I have been reading up on this subject wondering if heavy skimming 24x7 is really a good idea. Anyway, a coral (SPS anyway) needs nitrogen, light, flow and calcium. They also need some form of hetrotrophic feeding. So since most of us get the first covered the second is the tricky part. Corals seem to do fine in tanks that only feed fish and have no fuge so it is probably not required, but every study I have read show supplemental feeding of various sources (mostly freeze dried or frozen) improve the color and growth rates of corals substantially.

Large fuges are probably best as they can actually grow zooplankton which is the best food for corals (totally IMO). A great article I read that sums up better than I can is here:

 

[glxtrix]

I dont feed my corals, for the exception of once in a blue moon I'll throw some cyclopeeze in there, other than that whatever they dont snag from when I feed the fish or whatever poop swings their way.

 

[dakota9]

UH? Guys? Apparently no body bothered checking out the link on the home page of ARC this month, theres time lapse photographs showing several different corals actually eating Mysis Shrimp and other foods. Looks like all LPS need to be fed, and I'd think most sps need to be fed. You guys should check it out, go back to the home page, scroll down and click on the link "Coral Feeding" on the left of the page. It's truly amazing to watch, plus you get to see in the back/for ground of most shots some of the WORST bristleworm infestations you've ever seen! I think you can get away without feeding your corals if everything else is well maintained. Corals feed through light, absorbtion and direct feeding. Maybe 2 of the 3 is all they need. I have mainly softies, but feed them a little regularly, even though I really doubt the need. Make sure you watch the photo sequence entitled Coral Feeding, it's definately interesting!

 

[FutureInterest]

Sorry for the confusion Dakota, this was pertaining to SPS. Anemones and LPS need to be fed regularly from what I've read .

Good article Cam, pretty decent read. I think its interesting that even SPS don't seem to care for phytoplankton. I've heard that clams don't even ingest phyto... so what are we feeding DT for? To feed our tank's zooplankton or our skimmers?

 

[ouling]

Feeding DTs Phytoplankton is the noobest thing i've done in my entire life. I was tricked by the fish store a few years ago when i just started, and he told me clams must be fed dt!! I bought it once and never again, my clams havn't had that siht for 2 years and growing just fine.

 

[nishant3789]

dts is not a coral food, it is a food for the coral food living in your tank already.

 

[cameron]

Dakota9;50553 wrote: Looks like all LPS need to be fed, and I'd think most sps need to be fed. Corals feed through light, absorbtion and direct feeding. Maybe 2 of the 3 is all they need. I have mainly softies, but feed them a little regularly, even though I really doubt the need.

Corals need supplemental feeding to my knowledge to gain extra energy for growth. It is my understand light and nitrogen provide most of the energy required for biological needs. So targetted or direct feeding isn't likely required as most tanks probably have enough supplemental organic matter floating around to sustain LPS/SPS. The question is do we need to feed them beyond what our tanks are already providing? That is a VERY difficult question to get a straight answer on and likely depends on the growth and coloration you want in your corals. Too much food and the corals will start to brown for a variety of reasons but may grow faster. Not enough food and they will stop growing quickly and possibly shift away from brown. This all depends greatly on lighting and flow as well. Anyway, the quesiton isn't as simple as does a coral eat mysis.

On phyto... The concept of dosing phyto is basically to feed the lowest level lifeforms so they multiply and the nutrients in the food chain move up. Other than very small young clams, there is no proof that clams actually feed on phyto.

 

[nishant3789]

also, just because a coral consumes something, it doesnt mean its neccessarily bennefiting from it or even taking up any nutrients from it. i.e. im sure if i stuck an algae wafer on a lobo brain, while it was feeding it would probably take it up, but it would also probably expell just about everything