Feeding Gorgonians ?

[MIKE NY1]

I just got a couple of Gorgonians(Diodogoria
Nodulifera) an orange and a red branch types. I have them in a low light medium- strong current areas. It took them a few days to acclimate and their polyps to fully open. My question is besides DT's can I feed them any small meaty foods like Prime Reef and Invert food and if so how many times a week?

Thanks
Mike

 

[Anonymous]

I don't answer too many coral questions but adding DT's certainly doesn't hurt. It's debatable whether corals consume phytoplankton directly the phyto is mainly to feed the other planktonic critters in your tank which in turn reproduce and feed the corals. Gorgonians feed mostly on zooplankton, fish excrement and other smaller foods it can capture. Continue what your doing, feeding the fish, adding DT's, maybe add some ornamental shrimp that'll spawn regularly and you can try smaller rotifers.

Regards,
David Mohr

 

[DKKA]

Mike, I think you're on the right track with the meaty foods. Dosing Phyto may help improve the plankton, but diodogorgia need larger prey. I feed mine frozen brine and it readily consumes them. It also takes flake, and other commercial meaty foods I've tried. Some of the foods may need to be minced before feeding, but they don't seem to be to picky.

The thing is, they are ravenous. You asked how many times a week you should feed it, when you should be asking how many times a day. I feed pulverized flake 2-3 times a day, plus something meaty a couple times a week. I try to make sure that every polyp captures some food each time. I've got mine in an unlit sump, where it recieves almost the full flow from two refugiums. So it should be getting as much plankton from the tank as possible.

Even with all this, I've only seen 1/2" growth over the past 4 months.
hth, Dan

 

[MIKE NY1]

Thanks for the info guys.

 

[Len]

I stir up the top layer of my substrate a bit every week. The particulate organic matter is a great source of nutrient for detrivores and bacteriavores. I'd also guess quite a few microfauna gets suspended for filter feeding too.