Feeding candy cane

REV · 02/13/2006, 10:12 AM

My wife just got me a frag of candy cane from the lfs ("Happy Valentines") Pretty cool, huh!? Anyway, does anyone have any of this? I want to make sure that it gets the food it needs... does anyone target feed, just let it feed on it's own...? Please help. Thanks.

saltygeek · 02/13/2006, 10:21 AM

I feed it pieces of mysis about once a week at night after the lights go out. About 15 minutes after lights out the polyps will put out little feeding tenticles. I just place a piece on each one. I think they can survive with just light but they definately spread faster when you feed them.

REV · 02/13/2006, 10:23 AM

Does yours have good color? Do you supplement anything like strontium or molybdenum?

saltygeek · 02/13/2006, 10:27 AM

I dont does anything except calcium and alk, but I only have a 24 gal so I'm propably the wrong person to ask that. They did have good color before I had an incident I just described it in the post "candy cane problems"

vinstr · 02/13/2006, 10:44 AM

I don't feed mine at all and it grows like crazy...I started out about 2 years ago with about 3 buds on it and now have (after fragging it many times 3 large blocks of it with at least 30 buds on each...I have also sold/traded many other frags of it...
2 175K MH 10k lights and 2 110 w VHO actinics for lighting and Korallin Calc reactor...thats it

saltygeek · 02/13/2006, 10:54 AM

Yeah I guess it really depends on your lighting, I only have PCs so that may be why they grow better when I feed them.

REV · 02/13/2006, 10:58 AM

I'm only running pcs... should I feed?

saltygeek · 02/13/2006, 11:07 AM

wouldn't hurt to feed them once in awhile

REV · 02/13/2006, 11:08 AM

Hey geek, you said earlier mysis... ever just tried brine shrimp?

TANGBOY5000 · 02/13/2006, 11:11 AM

Mysis after lights out is good, but I've also gotten a feeding response during the day when feeding cyclopeeze.

REV · 02/13/2006, 11:13 AM

This may be a dumb question, but what is cyclopeeze? And, HOW do you feed?

Dubbin1 · 02/13/2006, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by REV
This may be a dumb question, but what is cyclopeeze? And, HOW do you feed?

Google is your friend http://www.cyclop-eeze.com/product_info.php

Its like crack for your fish and corals

saltygeek · 02/13/2006, 12:04 PM

yeah they take brine too but mysid is better for them.

REV · 02/13/2006, 12:14 PM

I may see if they take some food later. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the color improves... I do drip lime water. I don't think my lighting would be an issue, running pcs, came from a mh tank at lfs. Anyway, maybe feeding will help color too?? Will take any advice. (With a grain of salt... Reef Crystals)

TANGBOY5000 · 02/13/2006, 12:22 PM

LOL, I think crack is putting it mildly. For those of you who also keep FW fish, elephant noses love cyclopeeze, which is great because they usually starve to death.

REV · 02/13/2006, 01:26 PM

Does anyone think that cyclopeeze or anything else will do anything to improve color?

clutch · 02/13/2006, 01:32 PM

lol CRACK good one.........mine love coral munch and high lighting

TANGBOY5000 · 02/13/2006, 02:17 PM

I have not seen a direct link between cyclopeeze and coral color. Red and orange fish should pop a little more if fed cyclopeeze on a regular basis due to the high amounts of Beta Carrotene.

REV · 02/13/2006, 02:20 PM

Okay, so basically the consensus is feed or don't feed a variety of different things... why is everything in this hobby like that!?! More things should be right or wrong! Black or white! I quit! (for an hour or so...)

PRC · 02/13/2006, 02:45 PM

lol, right or wrong, black or white, hehe. This hobby drove me crazy for awhile til I learned to accept that there is no one right way for most anything, just lots of opinions. I feed my Caulastrea Formula One small pellets with a turkey baster about once or twice a week after lights out or before lights come on in the morning. Either way just as long as the feeding tentacles are out. It sits near the bottom of a 30" deep tank with T5 lighting. Seems to be doing fairly well.

REV · 02/13/2006, 03:23 PM

Okay, that was a long hour. lol I have some formula one... PRC, do you ever feed meaty foods?

MiddletonMark · 02/13/2006, 03:33 PM

I feed mine, provided I don't end up causing nutrient issues from the feeding [missing the candy cane's mouth] ... I can't see that target feeding could hurt the coral.

I've also not fed, and they seem to do fine.
Then again, I can eat junk food and `do fine', though that doesn't mean it's good for me

REV · 02/13/2006, 03:37 PM

Hey Mark, when you do feed, what do you feed?

REV · 02/13/2006, 07:10 PM

Anyone else have any feeding advice??

MiddletonMark · 02/13/2006, 07:17 PM

I feed PE mysis a fair bit. Sometimes squid, sometimes my fish-mush/DIY food.

For the one in my SPS tank, I don't feed. If I fed too much, I might have to frag it often.

I do direct feed my maze brain, fungia, acanastrea in that tank, though.

The one in my coral tub downstairs I feed every week or so, when I feed my brain and bubble that also live there.

Mine normally open for food after lights-out [or not long after I feed the fish] ... and then I generally cut flow a bit, drop food down onto the polyps or put it in the flow so that it's blown onto the tentacles. Direct turkey-basting can make some corals retract, so I try to do it slightly indirectly - yet while getting 95% of the targeted food on target.
Cutting flow can be helpful, or not ... depending.

But generally, mine seem `more fleshy' the day after feeding, and seem to split more often when fed. IMO they also split more often when kept in great water conditions, with good stable Ca/Alk levels, with good light and flow - as always ... but provided you don't cause nutrient issues with feeding, IMO when it takes food readily like these do, why not?

But I do have some I don't feed regularly, some I do ... IMO with good conditions both `work'.

02/13/2006, 10:12 AM	#1
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Feeding candy cane My wife just got me a frag of candy cane from the lfs ("Happy Valentines") Pretty cool, huh!? Anyway, does anyone have any of this? I want to make sure that it gets the food it needs... does anyone target feed, just let it feed on it's own...? Please help. Thanks. __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 10:23 AM	#3
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Does yours have good color? Do you supplement anything like strontium or molybdenum? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 10:44 AM	#5
vinstr Premium Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Murrysville, PA Posts: 468	I don't feed mine at all and it grows like crazy...I started out about 2 years ago with about 3 buds on it and now have (after fragging it many times 3 large blocks of it with at least 30 buds on each...I have also sold/traded many other frags of it... 2 175K MH 10k lights and 2 110 w VHO actinics for lighting and Korallin Calc reactor...thats it __________________ "A Righteous Man Cares for the Needs of His Animal" -Proverbs 12:10 Current Tank Info: 120g reef

02/13/2006, 10:58 AM	#7
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	I'm only running pcs... should I feed? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 11:08 AM	#9
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Hey geek, you said earlier mysis... ever just tried brine shrimp? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 10:21 AM	#2
saltygeek Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 644	I feed it pieces of mysis about once a week at night after the lights go out. About 15 minutes after lights out the polyps will put out little feeding tenticles. I just place a piece on each one. I think they can survive with just light but they definately spread faster when you feed them.

02/13/2006, 10:27 AM	#4
saltygeek Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 644	I dont does anything except calcium and alk, but I only have a 24 gal so I'm propably the wrong person to ask that. They did have good color before I had an incident I just described it in the post "candy cane problems"

02/13/2006, 10:54 AM	#6
saltygeek Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 644	Yeah I guess it really depends on your lighting, I only have PCs so that may be why they grow better when I feed them.

02/13/2006, 11:07 AM	#8
saltygeek Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 644	wouldn't hurt to feed them once in awhile

02/13/2006, 11:11 AM	#10
TANGBOY5000 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 2,130	Mysis after lights out is good, but I've also gotten a feeding response during the day when feeding cyclopeeze.

02/13/2006, 11:13 AM	#11
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	This may be a dumb question, but what is cyclopeeze? And, HOW do you feed? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 12:04 PM	#13
saltygeek Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: NJ Posts: 644	yeah they take brine too but mysid is better for them.

02/13/2006, 12:14 PM	#14
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	I may see if they take some food later. Meanwhile, I'm hoping the color improves... I do drip lime water. I don't think my lighting would be an issue, running pcs, came from a mh tank at lfs. Anyway, maybe feeding will help color too?? Will take any advice. (With a grain of salt... Reef Crystals) __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 12:22 PM	#15
TANGBOY5000 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 2,130	LOL, I think crack is putting it mildly. For those of you who also keep FW fish, elephant noses love cyclopeeze, which is great because they usually starve to death.

02/13/2006, 01:26 PM	#16
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Does anyone think that cyclopeeze or anything else will do anything to improve color? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 01:32 PM	#17
clutch Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Canada Posts: 672	lol CRACK good one.........mine love coral munch and high lighting __________________ Dave Current Tank Info: In wall 240, Deltec AP851, Tunze wavebox,Geo618

02/13/2006, 02:17 PM	#18
TANGBOY5000 Premium Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Cincinnati Posts: 2,130	I have not seen a direct link between cyclopeeze and coral color. Red and orange fish should pop a little more if fed cyclopeeze on a regular basis due to the high amounts of Beta Carrotene.

02/13/2006, 02:20 PM	#19
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Okay, so basically the consensus is feed or don't feed a variety of different things... why is everything in this hobby like that!?! More things should be right or wrong! Black or white! I quit! (for an hour or so...) __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 02:45 PM	#20
PRC Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2003 Location: Miami, FL Posts: 708	lol, right or wrong, black or white, hehe. This hobby drove me crazy for awhile til I learned to accept that there is no one right way for most anything, just lots of opinions. I feed my Caulastrea Formula One small pellets with a turkey baster about once or twice a week after lights out or before lights come on in the morning. Either way just as long as the feeding tentacles are out. It sits near the bottom of a 30" deep tank with T5 lighting. Seems to be doing fairly well.

02/13/2006, 03:23 PM	#21
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Okay, that was a long hour. lol I have some formula one... PRC, do you ever feed meaty foods? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 03:33 PM	#22
MiddletonMark Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 14,441	I feed mine, provided I don't end up causing nutrient issues from the feeding [missing the candy cane's mouth] ... I can't see that target feeding could hurt the coral. I've also not fed, and they seem to do fine. Then again, I can eat junk food and `do fine', though that doesn't mean it's good for me __________________ read a lot, think for yourself Current Tank Info: 58g stony reef [250w10k, 250w 20k MH, 2x vho act, Octopus150, 6060 + 6000] ; 60g mixed tub

02/13/2006, 03:37 PM	#23
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Hey Mark, when you do feed, what do you feed? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 07:10 PM	#24
REV Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Alabama Posts: 394	Anyone else have any feeding advice?? __________________ John Doe Current Tank Info: 72 reef

02/13/2006, 07:17 PM	#25
MiddletonMark Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 14,441	I feed PE mysis a fair bit. Sometimes squid, sometimes my fish-mush/DIY food. For the one in my SPS tank, I don't feed. If I fed too much, I might have to frag it often. I do direct feed my maze brain, fungia, acanastrea in that tank, though. The one in my coral tub downstairs I feed every week or so, when I feed my brain and bubble that also live there. Mine normally open for food after lights-out [or not long after I feed the fish] ... and then I generally cut flow a bit, drop food down onto the polyps or put it in the flow so that it's blown onto the tentacles. Direct turkey-basting can make some corals retract, so I try to do it slightly indirectly - yet while getting 95% of the targeted food on target. Cutting flow can be helpful, or not ... depending. But generally, mine seem `more fleshy' the day after feeding, and seem to split more often when fed. IMO they also split more often when kept in great water conditions, with good stable Ca/Alk levels, with good light and flow - as always ... but provided you don't cause nutrient issues with feeding, IMO when it takes food readily like these do, why not? But I do have some I don't feed regularly, some I do ... IMO with good conditions both `work'. __________________ read a lot, think for yourself Current Tank Info: 58g stony reef [250w10k, 250w 20k MH, 2x vho act, Octopus150, 6060 + 6000] ; 60g mixed tub