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Goniopora Foods and Feeding:
The ocean habitats,
in which Goniopora corals live, provide an abundance
of small foods for them to eat. In an unpublished
study performed by Meredith Peach on Goniopora tenuidens,
she found that they had consumed a large variety of
tiny crustaceans, including many copepods, and other
kinds of invertebrate larvae and eggs. She also found
phytoplankton in many of the gut samples taken. I
asked Dr. Peach if the corals seemed to feed on a
"favorite" food. Her response was that she
didn’t find any evidence of a “favorite”
food, but that she couldn’t necessarily draw
a conclusion about this given the data she was working
with at the time. She added, “It seemed to me
that all of the things they ate were relatively small
items that could fit easily in their mouths.”
“My impression is that they are opportunistic
feeders that can survive on a wide variety of foods.”
Her study also found evidence that suggests G. tenuidens,
the species she was working with, may rely extensively
on feeding for its nutrition rather than living on
the products of photosynthesis by the zooxanthellae.
This means that light by itself probably cannot provide
enough nourishment for the maintenance of the coral's
long term health.*
The uniqueness and
beauty of Goniopora corals attracts a large number
of saltwater hobbyists to purchase them. A vast majority
of these admirers, such as myself, attempt to keep
them in tanks that can never naturally generate the
concentration, diversity, or correct size of planktonic
foods that the coral's ocean habitats can. These small
foods, which are lacking in a reef aquarium, are the
same foods required to fulfill the coral's nutritional
needs. Because of this current paradox within almost
all reef aquariums, Goniopora will ultimately need
to be target fed, to some extent, on a regular basis.
Although there are a few exceptions where they have
been successfully kept in large and very established
aquariums, the majority of purchased Goniopora die
within a year in captivity. A refugium that provides
a haven for the reproduction of small fauna may help
to minimize the need for target feeding, but is not
a guarantee for the elimination of it.
Below, I have made
a list of commercially available foods that I use
to help mimic the approximate size and type of foods
that Goniopora corals consume in their ocean habitats.
These foods should also provide enough nutrients to
maintain the coral's health and to promote growth
in a captive environment such as a reef aquarium.
Please refer to the Food Chart at the right for a
visual comparison of the different sizes. You can
also see a larger version of the Food Chart by clicking
on the image itself. Each food was photographed under
16x magnification. The food descriptions will help
to give an idea of their nutritional value.
 1.
GP Rotifer II Larval Diet: 100-200 microns
in size. Analysis: Protein, 60%; Lipids, 8%; Ash,
15%; Moisture, 8%.
Ingredients: Fish meal, crustacean meal, fish oil,
phospho-lipids, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Astaxanthin. Available from
brineshrimpdirect.com. Keep in the freezer (not frozen
though).
2. GP Artemia Diet: 200-300 microns
in size. All other ingredients are the same as the
GP Rotifer Diet. The Rotifer Diet and the Artemia
Diet are like micro-pellet foods. They are very uniform
in size and shape. Available from brineshrimpdirect.com.
Keep in the freezer (not frozen though).
3. Freeze Dried Copepods: Apocyclops
royl copepod species. Approximately 100-250 microns
in size(?). Analysis: 45% protein. Available from
brineshrimpdirect.com. Keep at room temperature.
4. Concentrated Zooplankton: Anywhere
between 50 and 800 microns, depending on type of zooplankton.
Available from your local fish store or various online
vendors; can be home cultured. Keep in refrigerator
or at room temperature depending on product.
5. Cyclopeeze: A larger zooplankton
around 800 microns average size. Analysis: Protein,
62%; Lipid, 36%; Ash, 3%; Carbohydrate, 3%; Astaxanthene,
Canthaxanthene, High in Omega 3 fatty acids. Comes
as a frozen chunk or freeze dried. Available from
your local fish store or various online vendors under
the name of Cyclop-eeze.
6. Oyster Eggs: 40-50 microns in
size. Analysis: Crude Protein (Min.) 7%, Crude Fat
(Min.) 2.5%, Crude Fiber (Max.) .2%, Ash 2%, Moisture
(Max) 80%. Available from your local fish store or
various online vendors under the name of DT's Natural
Reef Diet Oyster Eggs. Keep in freezer; product is
frozen.
7. Powdered Flake Food: Ideal size
would be similar to very small dust. Rub regular flake
food between fingers until it is a fine powder. I
use a non-herbivore flake food that is high in protein.
Available from your local fish store or various online
vendors.
8. Raw Shrimp (Shaved): Ideal size
would be similar to very small dust. I use frozen
raw shrimp. Frozen Brine Shrimp and Frozen Mysis Shrimp
also work well. Use a kitchen knife and shave fine
particles off while the shrimp is still frozen. The
particles form a sticky semi-liquid mass once they
thaw. Available from a local grocery store where seafood
is sold. Keep in freezer.
9. Concentrated Phytoplankton: 2-15
microns in size. Nannochloropsis, Tetraselmis, and
Isochrysis species. Available from your local fish
store, or various online vendors; can be home cultured.
Kept in the freezer, refrigerator, or at room temperature
depending on the product.
10. Cod Liver Oil: (not pictured)
Liquid. High in Omega 3 fatty acids, Vitamin A, Vitamin
D. Available at pharmacies, health food stores, or
just about anywhere you can purchase vitamins. Keep
in refrigerator.
The different species
of Goniopora will vary in the length of their tentacles
and size of their mouths. Those with longer tentacles
and larger mouths are able to hold, maneuver, and
consume prepared foods more easily than those with
shorter tentacles and smaller mouths. The diet must
be slightly adjusted to accommodate these differences.
You will get a better idea of the limitations of each
coral after you first begin to feed it and witness
it trying to eat. If a goniopora is bleached, receding
or has tissue damage, please refer to the Recovery
section for additional recipe and feeding suggestions.
RECIPE:
--> Take a small
chunk of Cyclopeeze and mash it in a bowl with the
back of a spoon to get some extra juices out; this
is your main ingredient and probably the only thing
you need for the coral to be happy. Frozen cyclopeeze
works the best, but freeze dried can also be used
once it is re-hydrated with a small amount of tank
water. Cyclopeeze is a large and very nutritious copepod.
Goniopora consume various copepods in their natural
habitats and I have yet to see one that will not or
can not consume cyclopeeze. Even the smallest mouths
don't
seem to have a problem with it. Cyclopeeze also contains
a high amount of the amino acid Betaine, which is
a natural fish attractant used in various fish foods
as an organoleptic (sensory organ) stimulator. I firmly
believe that by mashing the cyclopeeze, the juices/oils
produced help to heighten Goniopora's feeding response.
-->After you mash the cyclopeeze, you can go ahead
and feed your mix OR you can do what I often do and
add in other small foods, such as the ones listed
in the food chart. Since there are various sizes of
foods with different nutritional profiles, I prefer
to feed a variety of them. My favorite recipe, which
delivers the most concentrated amount of food, is
this:
 -
Frozen cyclopeeze mashed in a bowl.
- Finely shaven Raw Shrimp or Brine Shrimp. When I
use shrimp, I shave the shrimp while it is still frozen.
It shaves off like fine dust.
- A small chunk of DT's Oyster Eggs. DT's Oyster Eggs
will heighten the feeding response and can be used
to help moisten the small freeze dried foods.
- A small pinch of freeze dried copepods.
- A small pinch of GP Rotifer Diet.
- A very small pinch of flake food, which is rubbed
between my fingers into a fine powder.
- A drop of concentrated zooplankton.
- A drop of cod liver oil (used occasionally as an
extra boost)
- Mash everything together again. The addition of
the shrimp helps to create a thick mucous of small
foods that are held together by its slimy viscosity.
It makes it very easy to blob food out of the target
feeding device and onto the Goni mouths without it
all blowing away. Click on the image at the right
to see the mixture under 16x magnification.
- I usually do not add phytoplankton directly to my
mixture. Instead, I dose the tank with it about once
a week. At the moment, I personally do not see from
my observations that it directly benefits the coral
as much as the zooplankton types of foods, but further
experiments need to be performed.
If your Goniopora
is newly purchased, you may want to wait until you
see your coral eating cyclopeeze first before including
additional foods; especially before using the shrimp.
If you find that the mouths on your particular species
are extremely small, it will be somewhat difficult
to use shrimp no matter how finely you shave it. The
goal when mixing a recipe to use for target feeding
is to keep the food as concentrated as possible and
use small amounts so you can provide a nourishing
habitat for Goniopora without having to turn your
"Reef" tank into a "Lagoon" tank.
page 1,
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*Paragraph reviewed
and used with permission by Dr. Meredith Peach.
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