Goniopora....oh, oh?

O.k. guys and gals, I broke down and bought a real nice colony today. I know, I know...they are supposed to be hard to keep. I had always heard/read that but I took the challenge. I have now found conflicting reports on the net. So......have any of you had success with them? I put them mid way up in the 55 gal. under 4 T5s (2-10K and 2-actinic HO) one of the actinic is an Actinic plus. Good flow, arms waving around, not excessive though. I read their longevity is 1-1 1/2 years if fed properly. When I read that, I don't know, sounds o.k. for $40.00. Give me your experience if you would.

 

Unclejed.... Haven't seen many posts from you lately.....

There is a site, I wanna say goniopora.org or something that is a site produced by a guy who is having fantastic luck-if you want to call it that-keeping and actually reproducing goni's. The trick is feeding them alot, and feeding them a WIDE variety of foods.

The problem with them is that they aren't always accustomed to our nutrient poor reef tanks, they are typically lagoonal like caulastreas and euphyllias.

As much as I am a fan of keeping hard to keep species in the ocean, if people wouldn't take risks on them and experimental husbandry we all would be keeping a tank of bleached coral skeletons and damselfish. Heck it wasn't long ago that people thought SPS would NEVER be kept in a glass box in a house.

So your research, ask people on boards, check out that site and experiment. Who knows jed, you might be the one to unlock the secret of the goniopora.

Good luck!

EDIT-Whoops I forgot to mention that they are VERY sensitive to brown jelly disease. If you see any sign of it, try to remove the affected portion and try a lugols dip coupled with Vitamin C additions to the tank!

 

Very well said. Without experimentation or trying anything different, we would all be stuck with a stale hobby

 

Bummer.... I guess its been that long since I accessed it. I personally don't keep goni's as my flow would shred them....There must be others out there that are experimenting with it.

 

that was a exallent site. When I had a gonaporia I was there all the time.

when I first got mine it had gotten a case of brown jelly, I soak it in tank water with lugals solution (per advice from the guy who ran that site) and was able to tackle the brown jelly. it had lost about half the polyps on the skeleton, after that it lasted about a year and was doing really well. I was target feeding it every three days. but when they start to go they go fast.
One of the things that he mentions on the goniporia site was allot of them starve to death due to lack of food. its important to feed as many as the polyps as you can and you have to do it slowly or the polyp will retract and not take food.
they are a awsome coral but are very demading of care.

 

Could your goni possible be an alveopora (not sure on spelling) the difference is that the goni gas 24 tenticles and the alve. has 12 and they are suppose to be easier to take care of. I had an alve. for a while and was feeding it cyclopeez with shredded brine shrimp and flake food all mashed up into a paste. But got a bad case of gha and lost it.

 

Hey Unclejed!
Glad to hear you decided to give the gonni a try. I've had mine for about 4 months now, in a 6 month old tank, and it's doing great so far (knock on wood). I have mine about midway up in my tank as well, under similar lighting, with a gentle current hitting it. I did buy an Iron/Manganese supplement just for the gonni that I add weekly, and I feed Coral Frenzy to it once a week. Not sure if either of those make a difference or not, but it's nearly doubled in size since I got it with most of the stalks 8-10 inches long now, so I'm just sticking to that routine. Good luck with yours and post a pic of it if you get a chance.

P

 

What color do u guys have? I have a pink Bali and have heard it's easier to maintain than green n browns. I'll be bummed if it dies ... It's my favorite thing in the tank.