Troubled Orange Acan?

[rk4435]

I have an Orange Acan that has changed colors recently, from a brighter to a darker orange. I am attaching a link to a picture from tonight. I also added an older picture as my avatar.

Being a novice I'm not sure if there is a problem. All I learned from Internet research was that I needed to move some zoos away from it.

http://s1273.photobucket.com/user/rkidwill/media/f8c62d13-1887-4981-8956-01dee9d861eb_zps58ae97ed.jpg.html?state=copy">f8c62d13-1887-4981-8956-01dee9d861eb_zps58ae97ed.jpg Photo by rkidwill | Photobucket</a>

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[rskillz]

Just Acans being Acans. They morph in color GREATLY from different lighting conditions.

Best advice I ever got was to keep Acans in lower, blue light if you want them to keep their rainbow/contrasting colors. If you put them under Metal Halides or T5 or intense LEDs at 200+ par, they usually just turn Green, Red, or Orange and morph to one solid color.

 

[rk4435]

Thanks, I guess I should have mentioned the lighting. I am using a Marineland LED that looks good, but does not really promote growth. I added a 24 watt T5 today. Based on your advise I'll move it lower tomorrow, it is about halfway up in a 36 gallon tank.

 

[kf2008]

Rskillz;873385 wrote: Just Acans being Acans. They morph in color GREATLY from different lighting conditions.

Best advice I ever got was to keep Acans in lower, blue light if you want them to keep their rainbow/contrasting colors. If you put them under Metal Halides or T5 or intense LEDs at 200+ par, they usually just turn Green, Red, or Orange and morph to one solid color.

Solid advice. Additionally, try target feeding them Fauna Marin's LPS pellets.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[rk4435]

Thanks kf2008, the other thing I learned from reading is that it needs a bit of target feeding, I have not been doing that, but it does seem to like Mysis when it lands there.

 

[rskillz]

Just don't overfeed. Overfeeding corals is like the #1 way hobbyist ruin their tanks. I have people all the time who "wave" the cyclop eeze bars throughout their water column, like three times per week. This is problematic in lots of ways. 99% of that just gets stuck in rocks and washed into the overflow where it rots and spikes nitrates. Add to that most corals have a "manus" so they have to digest food fully and then spit it back out before they can eat again. This process takes days if not a week.

I'd suggest only feeding your Acans once every week or two weeks. I think people overestimate how much food they need.

 

[rk4435]

Now I feel better! Thanks Rskillz.

 

[rjrgroup]

+1 to everything Ryan said.

 

[ralph atl]

rjrgroup;873446 wrote: +1 to everything Ryan said.

:up:

 

[russ-iv]

Rskillz;873428 wrote: Just don't overfeed. Overfeeding corals is like the #1 way hobbyist ruin their tanks. I have people all the time who "wave" the cyclop eeze bars throughout their water column, like three times per week. This is problematic in lots of ways. 99% of that just gets stuck in rocks and washed into the overflow where it rots and spikes nitrates. Add to that most corals have a "manus" so they have to digest food fully and then spit it back out before they can eat again. This process takes days if not a week.

I'd suggest only feeding your Acans once every week or two weeks. I think people overestimate how much food they need.

while i agree with this, (and i dont mean to hijack) im just curious your experience feeding gonioporas? Mine can eat several times a day, although i only feed him twice a day now and will taper to once.... he was in bad shape when i got him and after feeding him 3-5x a day for 5 days he came back to life as normal.
I know what you are saying though. Its pretty easy to foul up waters overfeeding.

 

[rskillz]

Russ-IV;873670 wrote: while i agree with this, (and i dont mean to hijack) im just curious your experience feeding gonioporas? Mine can eat several times a day, although i only feed him twice a day now and will taper to once.... he was in bad shape when i got him and after feeding him 3-5x a day for 5 days he came back to life as normal.
I know what you are saying though. Its pretty easy to foul up waters overfeeding.

Gonios need small particulate food for sure. My best advice is only do it once or twice a week, make sure your return pumps are off, and let the powerheads inside the tank circulate the food for around 30mins-hour before you turn your return back on. This way, your fish/corals/inverts have ample opportunity to grab it all before it just wastes away or gets sucked into the overflow. Also, I prefer products like Reef Chili as opposed to frozen Cyclop-eeze, etc. I just find it to be a bit cleaner and not as messy for the tank.

 

[darren24]

Yes acans will change color because of lighting. The good news is yours looks good and healthy. Low light and low-medium flow in most cases with acans.

 

[rk4435]

I moved the flow away a bit and it has changed back to the brighter color.