alveopora/goniopora

[illal]

just about everything ive read/heard about both alveopora and goniopora say they are just about impossible to keep long term in the home aquirium and die a slow ugly death ....what are your guys thoughts??? do any of you keep either with success??? its just always so tempting for the price and size piece you get for such a low price

 

[jeffbrig]

Funny you should ask. I just posted an update on our goni in my tank thread this morning.

I gave Christy a lot of grief for buying it, thinking it would be hard to keep alive. At first, it wasn't very happy in our tank. Polyps were open, but not extended. I noticed some recession around the edge, and I didn't know if that happened before or after we bought it.

I moved it to a lower flow location in the tank, where detritus has a tendency to swirl and settle. The goni seems to absolutely love it here. Polyps are now extending out from the base on their stalks, and tiny new polyps are starting to appear between the large ones. It even appears that the tissue recession has reversed. Here's a closeup I snapped this morning:

I don't target feed, and the water in our tank is about as clean as you will find (our tank is BB, high flow, has a fairly light bioload, and is skimmed heavily). I don't target feed, but the goni seems to be finding plenty of food. We've only had this one for about two months, so I can't claim long term success, but things are looking pretty good at the moment.

Also, I've been told that red goni's are the easiest to keep.

 

[LouPhoenix]

Those are non-photosynthetic corals, right?

 

[jessp]

i think the red goniopora are supposed to be one of the exceptions, don't ask me why but i've been told they do better.

 

[jeffbrig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9436249#post9436249 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LouPhoenix
Those are non-photosynthetic corals, right?

They're photosynthetic, but they require more food than they can produce from light alone. From what I understand, they're usually pretty finicky about tank conditions, and for most people, they survive just a few to several months in captivity. Recently, people have started having more success with them.

Also, alvaeopora is supposed to be easier to keep than goniopora, but I don't have any firsthand experience with them.

 

[gasman059]

Alveopora easier than Goni

Alveopora easier than Goni

Mine has been in my tank for 8 months and all is well and very happy .

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[ReefWreak]

Funny that your clowns host them. In Eric Borneman's Aquarium Corals book, he says that clowns will host them, but it'll cause them to never open, and perish quickly. It looks like yours are doing fine being hosted. That's really cool. Good luck to all of you with gonioporas! They're so nice, but I hate to bring home a coral that I don't feel comfortable with taking care of.

 

[gasman059]

ALVEOPORA

ALVEOPORA

Also, alvaeopora is supposed to be easier to keep than goniopora, but I don't have any firsthand experience with them.

Mine is an alveopora difference is the amount of polyps. Anyways mine are in the only area of my tank with less flow wich seems to help in terms of food supply. As i said previously ive kept mine succesfully for 8 months now.

 

[Rogger Castells]

My thought on Goni's, they are very fragile, if their tissue gets thorn they will develop brown slime infections, they will not recuperate from infections easily. Avoid pieces that have been cut on the flesh but rather choose one that has been cut on the dead skeleton, avoid pieces that has visible cuts or scrapes on the flesh, this cuts usually happen during shipping or at the LFS.
And last, I have had one for 3 years now and have not target feed it once, I do feed the tank daily.

Good Luck

 

[illal]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9439386#post9439386 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rogger Castells
I do feed the tank daily.

what are u feeding the tank?

 

[Rogger Castells]

I made my own food, with all kinds of seafoods Cyclops and misys

 

[jeffbrig]

Rogger, what color is yours?

 

[Rogger Castells]

I have a blue/purple gonipora

 

[Miamireefer]

I had a green stokesi that I kept with great success up to 1 year and then it began to recess going through a slow death.

these corals love a low to medium flow and prefer a more dirty water as it's surroundings. They tend to not work well in aquariums with pristine conditions. They may do well for months on it but at areound a 1 year to 1.5 years they will die. the green stokesi is one of the easier corals to maintain. The red and purple gonio's are actually more finicky.

One of the most beautiful corals for an LPS but it just doesn't last for the long run.

Good luck,

Nick