[Caesar Augustus]

Have any of you had success with the species? Do you have any tips for me? Special needs?
Keep the reef,
Napoleon

[calypso]

I have had a red flowerpot (goniopora) since last August, and it's doing quite well. No dead areas, and has shown modest growth. The flowerpot sits on the fine aragonite substrate.

I have a 75g reef lit by 6 - 48" NO flourescents - 2 actinic, 2 50/50, and 2 white (all URI bulbs). I was told by a knowledgeable LFS clerk that they prefer plenty of actinic light, as well as white. I had been using Tropic Marin bio-calcium, and now C-Balance to supplement calcium on an as-needed basis. In future, I plan to replace the normal flourescents with power compacts, so hopefully the extra light will not have a detrimental affect on the flowerpot.

Good luck!

------------------
"The first rule of
intelligent tinkering is
to save all the pieces."

[Elmo18]

I have two different varieties in my tank. The goniopora green that i received about 3 months ago is doing quite well. It has budded twice. I have a branching goniopora which is also doing well. You will need to put the regular flower pot on the sand bed, as they are found in lagoons in their natural habitat. Think of the coral as a semicircular ball, say like cut a basketball in half. Use this as a space measurement, because when mine has all it's polyps/tentacles out, it is literally the size of a hemisphere of a basketball. Keep moderate flow on it, so it's tentacles will sway in all directiosn, not just one. Light usually depends on the particular specimen. If it is taken out from a low lighted place, then it would do fine in a not so lighted place. However, if it came from a plaec where sunlight was on it for most of the day, then it would do well in a higher lighted area. As for me, I would keep regular flower pot (green metallic/red) on the sand bed, while putting branchign varieties on the rocks, in between crevices, or such. One more important aspect that I now believe in is that the goniopora will do better in a more nutrient rich tank. I know others here are keeping them in a skimmerless tank, meaning more natural elements and nutrients, using a refugium for export. I think their tentacles feed on these things (im not positive) and somehow do better. These are just my experiences.

Regards,
Ilham

[Mikeman]

anybody have a pic of one?

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Mikeman

Heros are like muffins when things get hot, they rise to the top.

[Elmo18]

Mikeman,

Here's my two baby buddings:

[scubadude]

Originally posted by Mikeman:
anybody have a pic of one?

Mine didnt make it that long but here it is on the left.



Hey Elmo, do you have that link for the gonoporia research team? Post it here if you do....I lost it [img]/ubb/tongue.gif[/img]

[SPasse]

Napoleon,

I have kept “Green Goniopora” of and on for about the last 10 years or so.

Here is a current specimen:

I have had good long-term success, with them, to the point that they out grew their surroundings, but I have not had one reproduce – yet.

Interestingly, the systems that I have successfully kept Goniopora in have been no or low skimmed algae filtered tanks, with moderate flow, like my present system. The highly skimmed high flow “SPS” tanks that many of us keep are probably slow death for Goniopora.

Regards,

Scott

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The definition of an expert is a washed-up drip under pressure.
You can see my reeftank at http://www.homestead.com/spasse/

[Caesar Augustus]

Thanks for the input everyone!

[Elmo18]

Unfortunately Scuba, I also lost it [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Does anyone have that link? I think someone just posted about a meeting on the Reef board.

Regards,
Ilham

[skipm]

I have not had a chance to read it as yet but ther is an article in the current issue of FAMA on the Goniopora sp. FWIW, Skip

[Personifer]

Here's a macro shot of mine.



------------------
Jeff

Visit my website:
JeffsReef

[calypso]

Here's a goniopora link;
http://www.aquarium.net/1197/1197_3.shtml

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"The first rule of
intelligent tinkering is
to save all the pieces."

[jmick01]

According to some articles ive read in the wild gonipora are found in tidepools which allows pooling of massive amounts of algae and sediment which they feed off. This would coincide with why spasse has had success with skimmerless or low skimmed tanks.I have been hesitent to purchase these critters due to their needs which i feel I can not provide on my skimmed system. Hopefully i can go skimmerless in the next 6 months

JMM

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Remember Fish are alive when we get them, lets keep it that way!!!

[Baywatch Babe]

scubadude - is it the www.reefsource.com of MaryHM?


I can't say that I've had success with goniopora as I returned mine to the wild last month, but for the 8 months that I've had mine it was still doing fine and very healthy. My tank is skimmerless.

[Joe]

I've only had one for about 45 days. In that time it has split.



The baby??? was small enough that the current kept blowing it around so I put it up in the rocks. That didn't appear to work so
I super glued it to a snail shell which I buried in the sand and it is staying put and seems happier.

Joe

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"The President is aware of what is going on. That's not to say there is something going on."

[This message has been edited by Joe (edited 05-20-2001).]

[Baywatch Babe]

Napoleon - I returned it, and so with the other corals, for several reasons: the goniopora is too big when the tentacles are open, same thing with the elegance that almost half of my tank was occupied by these two; I don't want to wait to see the gonio to start its decline although it's still healthy the whole 8 months that i've had it; and, I'm gonna leave the country soon so I got rid of the goniopora. And because of the special treatment that it needs the new owner of my critters might not meet it.


Gia

[steveo]

I am currently reading Rob Toonens artical on Goniopora in this months FAMA.On the first page he states " Goniopora will, almost without exeption, fail to survive in the aquarium, regardless of the set-up or efforts of the aquarist. There are a variety of explanations for why that may be, ranging from the majority of such reports may be exaggerated in scope and time, to there is no single factor which can account for the success or failure of this coral in aquaria."
This is what I have read and heard before, then I read this thread and it seems like alot of people are able to keep this coral. Anyone care to comment?
Steve

[Elmo18]

Steveo,

About 3 and a half months ago, I bought my first coral for my reef tank, the 25 gallon Eclipse. At that time, I did not know of the difficulty and of the little success that aquarists have had with the goniopora. I bought mine because it looked "cool". One other thing, I purchased this coral from PetCo. I said to myself, "Hey, this is my first coral, so what the heck." It set me back $26 for a lone colony in the shape of an ellipsoid about 3 inch base. I take it home, give it my care from the experience I've had with an 80 gallon fish only tank I've had before. It has done well for about three months + in my 25 gallon, and I have just moved it to my new 80 gal. proposed reef. I believe that quote isn't wrong at all, if the term will eventually is defined. How many years/months, or timespan is it necessary before a "successful" caring of the coral can be said? I've had mine coming to 4 months now and all of the polyps are still intact, and has budded twice, leaving me three colonies of green goniopora. However, I can't say that mine will live for another month, or maybe a year.

I'm just speculating that the author believes long term care ( or most attempts at long term care and rearing) of this coral is very difficult. I know BayWatch Babe (Gia) has had hers for 8 months + before returning it to the wild and I think 8 months is somewhat long for this coral. I will also say that SPASSE who has had this coral of and on for the past 10 years have had some success (please quote me on this Spasse, I'm not definite).

If I had known that the goniopora was a difficult coral to take care of, I would not have acquired it. However, since I've acquired it, there has been much work. First, I barely had enough space in my 25 gallon for it. Apparently, it wasn't open all the way at PetCo when I bought it. When I took it home, I put it on the rocks near the top. When it opened all the way, the polyps almost touched from one width of the tank, to the back.

Right now, I am hoping mine will live and thrive for as long as I can keep it (hehe...that's prolly everybody's hope for their corals and livestock).

Again, this is just my opinion, and I will definitely post if anything drastic happens to my gonioporas.

Regards,

Ilham (Elmo1[img]/ubb/uhoh3.gif[/img] [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

[Caesar Augustus]

I too hope to go skimmerless very soon. Gia why did you return yours? Was it on the decline IYO?
Napoleon

[steveo]

Thanks for the response Elmo, anyone else?
Steve