[sihaya]

Yeah, seriously.... you should see the sweepers my relatively small-polyped favidae, "Medusa" can put out (hence her name). It's just wild. And they even come out during the day!

[vtec si]

Originally Posted by sihaya

Yeah, seriously.... you should see the sweepers my relatively small-polyped favidae, "Medusa" can put out (hence her name). It's just wild. And they even come out during the day!

Mine will come out during the day only if I feed, otherwise they only come out at night. Is this when yours come out?

Martin

[cichlidfort]

i noticed mine were coming out at night. I am going to feed my hammer for the first time today. I will let you know if they come out when I feed it today.

[sihaya]

Originally Posted by vtec si

Mine will come out during the day only if I feed, otherwise they only come out at night. Is this when yours come out?

Martin

Well, the sweepers don't come out as much now as they did before I moved her to her own space. She used to be closer to some other corals, so I think that's why they used to come out so much (day and night).

The feeder tentacles on the other hand, they come out whenever I put food in the water (but are usually out at night no matter what). Oddly enough, they also come out whenever I accidently stir up any sand.

[BubbaWPB]

Originally Posted by sihaya

Yeah, seriously.... you should see the sweepers my relatively small-polyped favidae, "Medusa" can put out (hence her name). It's just wild. And they even come out during the day!

My Goniastrea is named "Kirby" because of his many sweepers.... and he only comes out at night... although I can urge him out with smelly fishy stuff during the day...

[sihaya]

Wait... are we talking about sweepers or feeders here? Because most my corals have both. But the sweepers are a lot longer than the feeders.

And MIke has been really confusing me lately... telling me that there's evidence that corals might be feeding with their sweepers.

So I'm lost. I thought sweepers were for stinging neighbors and feeders were for... well, feeding.

[cichlidfort]

How can you tell the difference between sweepers and feeders?

[BubbaWPB]

Some species clearly have two different types of tentacles others have one type that is multifunctional. For example, my goniastrea has about 1/2 inch long "feeders" that come out at night all over the entire surface; there are hundreds/thousands of them. It also has 6-8 inch long "sweepers" that only come out when it is irritated - they are different in shape and size and I've only seen a couple of the sweepers out at one time.

On the other hand, on the torch coral, all the tentacles look the same, only some of them get longer and would be considered "sweepers".

My hydnophora has only one type of tentacle - small white ones...and there are bazillions of them that rarely come out only when something else is near - irritating or edible. I think one could call them either "sweepers" or "feeders" depending on whether it is defending its territory or snacking. They are the same tentacles and look exactly alike.

Clear as mud yet?

[cichlidfort]

So do Hammer coral sweepers look all alike?

[kevinpo]

Yes, except for being longer they look the same.

Regards,
Kevin