Blastomussa Wellsi
 

Ok, I was feeding my tank some bloodworms today and one happened to fall on the Blastomussa... It folded up and when reopened the bloodworm was gone. I did not know it did this.. So I was looking it up to see if I was suppose to be direct feeding.. but I found this.

"Blastomussa is photosynthetic and does not take any known foods"

Anyone out there experience this as well? I am gonna try again tomorrow and see if I can get a picture.

Chad

I used to turkey baste mine all the time. Usually when I was feeding any other LPS I had.

hth

Well I think some people need to re-do their writing then :biggrin: . I was truely amazed since when I researched this little guy I found no mention of it eating solid foods.

Chad

http://ozreef.org/directory/cnidaria...sa_wellsi.html
this site says that it does eat live food.

Good luck with this guy.

Yes, Chad they do eat live/prepared foods. I like what Delphinus's said some time ago "If it's got a mouth, it needs to be fed.". Also like DJ said use a Turkey Baster cause you are going to have to feed the Yellow Polyps when they are ready for you.

Its not a big deal.. I got the stuff needed to do it. I just never knew they needed it.. Especialy since my coral book here makes no mention of it.

Oh well.. find something new everyday :biggrin:

Chad

It's not that they need it, it's like a supplement. I have and open brain that I got from a LFS. The guy sold it to me for $25 because it didn't look healthy. I was feeding squid to other corals in the tank as well as the ricordia, the brain took all I could give it. When I stopped feeding it, it still doubled in size. I think they do well if you feed them but they can do fine living off their "zooanthellae" the symbiotic algae living within the coral. These algae feed the coral during their photosynthetic process.

Sorry, gotta disagree. If these animals could survive without food, they wouldn't have mouths. Photosynthesis only supplies carbohydrates in the form of sugars. Corals still need proteins to facilitate tissue repair, reproduction and growth. Eric Borneman has a great series on feeding corals in reefkeeping.com e-magazine.

You may be right to disagree but I don't feed my LPS's and they are doing great. Here is a quote from Marine Reef Aquarium Handbook by Dr. Robert J. Goldstein that supports my view, "Zooanthellae leak half their production of the sugar alcohol glycerol, the sugar glucose and the amino acid alanine to the host polyp" The amino acid alanine being a protein in it's broken down form. The coral does not have to expel the energy to break it down further.

My experience is different. I fed my hammer when I first got it and it grew well; then I decided I didn't need to. Ove the next year, it stopped growing and then started to shrink. I started feeding again, and the growth has since resumed. My brain (the one in the tank) exhibits the same behaviour, although I've only had it about a year.
I see no reason to withold food from something with a mouth.

P.S. Who the heck is Robert J. Goldstein?? :cool: