Sea Fan

Does anyone keep any Sea fans? I was looking on LiveAquaria and it looks like most of them are moderate to difficult to care for.. With the really cool ones being difficult of course..

Any thoughts?

 

they are VERY VERY difficult to care for! They require daily phyto and the right amount of flow to keep the algea off, but not too much to affect the polyps.

I have not really heard of many that have been able to keep them alive for a substantial amount of time. I tried my hand in a blueberry fan and it did not fare well.

They are non-photosynthetic

 

I had a sea fan for several months before I moved from Tampa to TN. I had a very nice purple one. I dosed my tank with plankton every day or two and it thrived. I really don't understand why they're labeled hard to keep. You just HAVE to dose with phytoplankton or other food for fine filter feeders. I unfortunately lost all corals I had in my move as I didn't get them in my new tank fast enough, but the next time I'm in Tampa and my old LFS has them in, I'll buy another. $15 is all it ran me there

 

Some people have had difficulty dosing enough phyto to keep the fan/gorgonian alive, and still keep their nutrient levels down enough so you don't run into algae outbreaks or high nitrates etc.

There are some photosynthetic gorgonians that you could maybe look into, they are much easier. Dunno which ones or if liveaquaria carries them though, you'd have to research that.

 

Any one have any other recomendations for corals that are similar. Right now I pretty much has soft corals..

 

SPS, acropora species or montipora digitate, or something are the only other stony branching coral I can think of off the top of my head. Those can be tough too depending on your setup.