Open Brain Corals, Trachyphyllia Sp.

[Rambo]

Hiya,

been keeping softies for a while and want to try some hard corals, i really like the look of the open brains, but struggling to find out much about them, mainly what to feed them and how often/when etc, also, would they be ok on a rock ledge? how much do they move? what supplements do they need? i currently just use salifert all in one


i have an established 24g nano tank with t5s, (1x 36W blue actinic, 1 36W white light) about 20kg+ LR, loads of mushrooms, both actinodiscus/discoma, and rhodactis, xenia, zoanthids, star polys (clavularia violacea), been running about 5 months, but most of the stuff in it is much older, sand bed mix of 2 year old stuff and new etc.

Livestock:
1 small occelaris clown
1 yellow belly damsel (c. hemicyanea) the peaceful (ish) type b4 any1 points out, been going for months no problems so far
1 small cherub angelfish (c. argi)
1 carpenters flasher wrasse
1 royal gramma
1 clown citron goby
1 cleaner shrimp (soon to be 2)
2 peppermints
3 red leg hermits

lots of bristleworms (including an 14" monster), tiny brittle stars, and a few hitchhiker crabs

reckon its ok to try an open brain? i don't have much open sand bed, but i can always rearrange rcks i suppose. also, any other suggestions?


thanks in advance

 

[Colin_T]

They are pretty hardy. I have a couple in my tank under fluoros and they sit on coral rubble. I don't feed them anything and they are doing fine. You can offer them small amounts of plankton or little pieces of marine food if you like. Some produce sweeper tentacles at night so they should not be kept too close to other corals. Depending on how tall your tanks is you might want to add another light. But see how they go, if they start to fade then give them more light. If they hold their colour then they are obviously fine and happy.

 

[Rambo]

thanx colin,

i use a load of different frozen foods for my fish anyways, from cyclps, to brine to mysis, plus mussel, mixes etc, so should be good. and i reckon the new gamma nutraplus stuff will be great for them, seems to work with most things


thanx for the advice

 

[Musho3210]

I must add that that is slightly over stocked for a 24 gallon IMO.

 

[SkiFletch]

1 small cherub angelfish (c. argi)

Centropyge genus angels have a well known track record for nipping Open Brain corals. Not a good mix if you ask me

 

[Dorkhedeos]

1 small cherub angelfish (c. argi)

Centropyge genus angels have a well known track record for nipping Open Brain corals. Not a good mix if you ask me

Perfect for the angel though