Goniopora

Greetings all!

Well our tank has reached its six month old birthday ;D and is doing really good. The 4 fish in it (55 gallon) are growing and eating like pigs, and our small 3 head hammer, 2 head torch and two small zoa colonies are growing well too. We want to start adding additional corals to the tank and have come across the Flower Pot Goniopora however, as usual while doing research I get 400 different stories on these :-/. Some say aggressive, some say hard to keep alive, some say easy as long as your waters not to clean, some say needs to be in sand, etc etc etc

So questions for those that have them! Do you think they are good additions for tanks? Are they fairly simple to maintain? I do have phyto for the feedings, tank params stay stable at ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate usually around 5-10, temp steady at 78, good flow (I guess, no cyano or anything) Our fish are reef safe, our future fish will be as well...we do have a pair of clowns and they are mean little buggers but only to me they don't bother fish but they do not have an anemone, so will they possible love this flower pot to death, should we get them an anemone first??

Lots of questions I know but I want to thank you all for your time and answers ahead of time, I've found this board to be the best for questions so I started here!

 

That is one of the most difficult corals to keep alive. I'd skip it.

 

just my experience , i bought a goniapora about 2 months after my tank was all finished cycling. that was a wrong move, whether it was because of me or one of those things , it devoloped rtn and was gone in no time. but being stubborn and irish , i tried again , with a flower pot goni . that was alsmot 4 months ago , and its doing great. ive got it on my sand with just a little flow going by it. lovely coral but as amcarrig said, they can be tough .

 

Alrighty thanks you both. Going to stick to Ricorida mushrooms and regular mushrooms for now and maybe some xenia, heard those were all fairly simple so we'll start there and try the harder stuff later.

1 more question and sorry to bother, our powerheads are covered and we would like to get a anemone....heard long tentacled were the "easiest" way to go, any advice from people that have em?

 

I have a Goniopora, i never feed it. Its doing great.

 

I put a flowerpot in the tank I am taking care of and found they need to be feed regularly. They are very attractive but also very hard to keep. If you are fairly new I would pass on it.

 

I am sorry but it is not doing great if it isnt feed regularly. It is just surviving

 

We actually passed on the goniopora and grabbed a 3 head Ricordia Mushroom tonight, pretty green and yellow and the guy let us buy it at $26 so it was a great deal to boot ;D Thanks again for the advice all, although I have to say I wouldn't have a coral in the tank I didn't feed but that's just me I guess! Thanks again guys