Enticing sun coral to open using Piscene Energetics Calanus

Hello all,

Getting Tubastrea sp. (sun coral), a non-photosynthetic coral, to open up can sometimes be tricky in the beginning. These corals really need to be fed daily as they are not photosynthetic like most of the corals we keep. I think part of the reason they seem reluctant to open when you first acquire them is they have likely starved since being pulled from the ocean. Not many wholesalers or retailers are going to take the time to feed these corals like they need to be. Kudos to the ones who do. I’ve had a fist sized colony in a 150 gallon holding system for the last several months that wasn’t fully opening like I wanted it to until I added 7 firefish gobies that I was feeding Piscene Energetics Calanus to daily. The Calanus made the sun coral respond vigorously. Once I got it to open up so hardcore, it allowed me to feed it more Calanus or many different other foods at that point.

Once I noticed a specific connection between how fully it opened after feeding PE Calanus, I took to social media to point it out and to see if others had the same experience. Many others had and two particular friends of mine, Matt Wandell and Joe Yaiullo, who have both had massive success with this coral, told me they had similar experiences.

I do not know what about Calanus sets them off but it sure worked for me. Just be patient with them and realize that they are often more used to opening up at night when the lights are off. Check on them after hours with a flashlight. If you are having trouble getting them to open during the day, just feed them at night at least and eventually, as they regain their strength back, you should be able to get them to start opening up in the daytime. I prefer to shut my tank’s main pump and water circulation pumps off for several minutes while the sun coral takes in it’s food. Otherwise the water flow in my system makes it difficult by blowing some of the food in it’s clutches away.

To the left is what a package of Piscene Energetics frozen Calanus looks like. If you can’t find it at your local aquarium store, order it from Bulk Reef Supply or any other online retailer.

This is not an ad for Piscene Energetics. They did not pay me to say this in any way. It is something that worked very well for me and I just want to help spread this info as it may help others have success with this gorgeous coral. Thanks for reading and I hope this information helps you out.