Purple Gorgonian

Does anyone have Purple Gorgonian in their tank, or knowledge with regards to bright colored Gorgonians? I know that most of the brightly colored fans/whips are asymbiotic requiring target feeding as appossed to Intense lighting. I have tried Rotifers, Cyclops, zoo and phytoplankton. However, the brilliant purple polyps don't seem to come out. For some reason, I can't entice the polyps to come out. The other two species of Gorgonian are always out, of course due to the fact that they are symbiotic in nature. Thanks in advance!

 

Hi Tom, try squirting clam juice from upstream so that it flows over the gorg. You can also try a flow change. It just may be in it's shedding phase though. But either way it's going to be an extremely tough animal to keep long term.

HTH and good luck!

 

Hey CR i have a Pterogorgia(purple sea blade) and it responds well to my pc lighting and good water movement. i use phytofeast live to feed and it has been doing well for over 4 months now. i also aquired a purple brushy gorgonian, but its polyps only come out at night. it is still way pretty though with a bumpy lavender day time texture. hope you have luck with yours, what exactly do you have?

 

Gorgonia is hard to keep coral_reefer.

 

I keep mine at the bottom of the tank and the polyps stay open all day. I noticed with mine that if the water flow is to strong the polyps wont come out. They also shed, so if it looks like the skin is coming off don't worry.

 

I believe it is a Leptogorgia virgulata(violet sea whip). I know that it is aposymbiotic, so I placed it in my tank with the power compact lighting as appossed to my smaller tank with metal halides. At any rate i've tried clam juice(thanks JP) and different types of zooplankton as (marine snow) is their main staple. I have a good current to bring them foos and other nutrients. I guess i'll have to watch and see what happens. It is beautiful! with a reddish rind and purple small polyps. Thanks guys