Comments on: Polyp Nipping and SPS, It’s Only Natural

By: eric michael

eric michael — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 02:01:50 +0000

@anthony,

SPS corals do just fine with minimal day time polyp extension, as they do in the wild.

By: anthony Leung

anthony Leung — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 06:54:26 +0000

I have a declivis that i would say is not a coral eater but more like a nipper lol. Anyways it loves to nip on my becker colony and my oregon to the point i don’t have polyp extension does anyone know if the coral can survive without PE ?

By: Jeremy Maneyapanda

Jeremy Maneyapanda — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 13:01:29 +0000

Excellent post Eric. Agreed 1000 million %. Somewhere along the line, SPS keepers “decided” that shaggy, abnormally exposed polyps showed healthy and quality sps, whereas, wild SPS, show a mere fraction of the polyps during the day that our captive oens do. Because of REEF FISH.

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:43:22 +0000

Im constantly explaining this exact situation of nipping to a lot reef keepers. Ive kept many different butterflies that are always noted as .dangerous reef dwellers.

I think its easier to keep these butterflies with Sps and soft corals that usually are part of their natural diet in the wild. as a lot of butterfies can die from not accepting food.

This makes them happy meal times as there is less competition cuz all the food they need is in the tank. they eventually get an apetite for frozen food.

Just be clever about it. The only time Ive seen major tissue consumption on damaged tissue on an acan who had been moved away from a dangerous neighboring coral. My black back butterfly only at the damaged tissue.

By: eric michael

eric michael — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:36:05 +0000

More information on the tank will be shared in a couple months, some changes are currently being made.

By: Tim Morrissey

Tim Morrissey — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:12:17 +0000

Yes I want an update on the tank. A list of inhabitants would be nice. I believe the last update was when fish were getting sick, so I didn’t even know the tank was running or these fish were alive. Keep us posted!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:05:19 +0000

Wanted: FTS of the GB!

Very cool video, and I agree, it’s only natural.

By: Mike Clifford

Mike Clifford — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:04:32 +0000

Great post, it makes so much sense. So many times I see people freak out because of one nip, and yank a fish, with no long-term evidence it is actually harming a coral. That said, there are some LPS corals I just can’t keep because I have observed my angels kill them over time — but what would I rather have, acans or angels? No brainer.

One point I might debate just based on intuition (would be interesting to see a study done), is that the nipping doesn’t impede growth. To me it seems that having polyps retracted during the day means less feeding time for the corals, which might mean growth is a bit slower. But as we’ve talked about, sometimes a bit slower growth can be a good thing.

By: pavlo

pavlo — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:09:09 +0000

eric, a FULL TANK SHOT of your butterfly’s nipping on acros would be wonderful!