jgpico Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I just picked up an awesome orange plate coral from the lfs and was wondering if anyone had any advice or tips on keeping it happy and alive. What do you feed yours and all that good stuff. Also if you have one I'd like to see pictures of what yours looks like. Also if you have any pictures of it feeding or with its sweeper tentacles out id enjoy seeing that as well. Thanks Link to comment
cdr5y7 Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 not the best photo but there was mine. and i fed mine every once in a while a small piece of silversides. you might have to make a lid for him and cover him to allow him to eat. they take a while to get everything in there. i just used a pot bottle cup in half and made holes for flow. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 I have one in my tank and love it. Check my thread in my sig. He eats mysis, although I don't know if this is necessary. I have a 20" NEP over my BC29 and he is in the sand at the bottom. Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 17, 2011 Author Share Posted February 17, 2011 Thats an awesome looking plate coral and awesome looking tank btw. When did you feed yours....night with lights out or during the day with lights on? the owner of my lfs said that its probably better to feed at night when the feeder tentacles are out. Also yours looks like a long tentacled species, do you know if there is any different care for a short tentacled plate? Link to comment
GiantBen Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Thanks. Mine's tentacles are pretty much always out. I feed when it is convienient for me. Mine can grab the food pretty good when the pumps are off and hold it when they come back on. Link to comment
Urchinhead Posted February 17, 2011 Share Posted February 17, 2011 Keep it on the sand. Its skeleton doesn't do well on rocks and can break. Feed it weekly with bits of silverside or PE Mysid Be prepared to loose fish and/or inverts if it gets hold of them. Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Keep it on the sand. Its skeleton doesn't do well on rocks and can break. Feed it weekly with bits of silverside or PE Mysid Be prepared to loose fish and/or inverts if it gets hold of them. Yeah lol I'm hoping my hi fin is smart enough to stay away. I do plan on putting some sexy shrimp in the tank soon should i be worried about loosing them if they wander onto the plate? Link to comment
the_gats Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 My orange plate sitting on the sand Eating Mysis. Just shoot the mysis at the tentacles they will stick. The just fight of nass. and hermits. Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Those are some sweet shots gats, especially the one of it eating the mysis. I can see my nass snail trying to steal the mysis since he crawls up the walls of the tank to practically attack the pipette that i use to feed lol and now my hermit has started to do the same thing. Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Anyone else have any pictures? I dont care if they are of orange plates or not. I didnt think I would love this coral this much but it is awesome. Lets get some pics and best practices going! Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 My orange plate when I had it in my 3g pico: I feed it with silversides once a week and shrimp pellets every other day. It pretty much eats anything that falls on it and it can hold on to although it never ate any of my fish or inverts including sexy shrimps. Great coral, peaceful, easy to care for, definitely one of my favorites if not my most favorite. Link to comment
menancy Posted February 18, 2011 Share Posted February 18, 2011 My orange plate when I had it in my 3g pico: I feed it with silversides once a week and shrimp pellets every other day. It pretty much eats anything that falls on it and it can hold on to although it never ate any of my fish or inverts including sexy shrimps. Great coral, peaceful, easy to care for, definitely one of my favorites if not my most favorite. That is a great picture. I did not know Plate Corals next to Zoas can touch each other. How about Acans. I have a Green Plate that moves itself to nestle with my Open Brain no issues there I hope. Link to comment
jgpico Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 Fab that is a great picture. I didnt think you could have it that close to zoas or other coral like that either. It looks right at home in the sea of zoas. I would agree that this is one of if not my favorite coral now. Menancy lets see some pics of your plate! Link to comment
menancy Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Fab that is a great picture. I didnt think you could have it that close to zoas or other coral like that either. It looks right at home in the sea of zoas. I would agree that this is one of if not my favorite coral now. Menancy lets see some pics of your plate! Here's my Green Plate Link to comment
el fabuloso Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 Fab that is a great picture. I didnt think you could have it that close to zoas or other coral like that either. It looks right at home in the sea of zoas. I would agree that this is one of if not my favorite coral now. Menancy lets see some pics of your plate! Thanks. IME plate corals aren't really that aggressive unless they feel threatened. And if they come in contact with a more aggressive coral, they have the ability to move which is what mine did when my galaxea started sending sweeper tentacles towards it. The zoas and the blue cloves grew around it over time and they didn't seem to bother the plate coral at all. After a while I got the feeling that it liked being surrounded by them. Probably made it feel cozy. At night it would inflate and let out its sweeper tentacles but it never harmed the zoas and the cloves. Link to comment
GoingPostal Posted February 19, 2011 Share Posted February 19, 2011 My favorite out of the plates I've owned, miss this coral a lot but got too big for a nano, I can't imagine losing a fish to one, I had to remove a yellow clown goby because it would go sit on this plate and piss it off nonstop. My clown used to try to host it as well. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Just added this guy yesterday.. seems to enjoy mysis and cyclopeeze. Also caught a few flakes. I can get a pic under the white lights tomorrow, its a nice purple. Link to comment
Rays-Reef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Here's mine, I have a few others some with yellow tips. I don't direct feed any of my corals, but do twice a week feeding of reef snow + any excess fish feedings. Link to comment
Rays-Reef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Sand bed area is typically best for them or any sort of flat shelf rock. Low to Med *indirect* flow is best. Treat them similiar to a welso/trachy type coral. Link to comment
GokesReef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Sand bed area is typically best for them or any sort of flat shelf rock. Low to Med *indirect* flow is best. Treat them similiar to a welso/trachy type coral. Flat live rock is not acceptable. Substrate ONLY (doesn't have to be sand). Different types of plates prefer a coarser or finer substrate.. you can tell by looking at its underside and the ridges on the top. Research. Link to comment
Rays-Reef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Flat live rock is not acceptable. Substrate ONLY (doesn't have to be sand). Different types of plates prefer a coarser or finer substrate.. you can tell by looking at its underside and the ridges on the top. Research. I have a few of mine on frag racks/egg crates and flat shelf rocks...All is doing fine for the past 5 yrs Link to comment
lohitha Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 My plate has a spike on the bottom side which I believe is to anchor itself in substrate. So, keeping it on hard surface wont work. Link to comment
arwndsh Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=177997 Thread for plate corals Link to comment
Rays-Reef Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 My plate has a spike on the bottom side which I believe is to anchor itself in substrate. So, keeping it on hard surface wont work. obviously a sand bed is preferred as I mentioned...A flat shelf rock will work as well as long as its placed correctly and facing up and not at a angle. Some plates have a point at the bottom and some are flat or dome shaped underneath. Link to comment
arwndsh Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 The shape of the bottom of the plate depends on how it was on the growing site. Domed would indicate that it didn't have alot of room on its growing site, where as a flat bottom would indicate a short growing site and plenty of room. The spike on the bottom is the bit of growing site that broke off with the plate. Link to comment
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