big mistake - coral selection

L

luisedumuller

New member
Hi all,

It has been a long time since I don't post anything here"¦

I think I made a huge mistake"¦ I was in a local fish store just browsing for some easy coral to add to my tank, since I have been battling with high nitrates for a month now (between 20 and 40 ppm).
I was looking for something colorful and easy, like zoas, and some softies.
Then I found a beautiful coral, yellowish, quite huge colony looking similar to small flowers.
I ask the guy from LFS and he told me that it was a very easy coral, that likes "œdirty water" like mine tank.
I bought, once I has living I asked him the name of the coral "¦
He said GONIOPORA"¦
I did my late research and now I now that that bastard sold me an impossible coral to keep"¦
Any tip to try to maintain it ?
It is fully extended its polyps for now "¦
Thanks in advance for the help
Cheers ,
Luis.
 
they're not hard to keep ime. just target feed it with small particle food like nls micro feeder a couple of times a week and it'll do well. but those food will increase nutrient import to the system so you should figure out a way to export the nutrients out of the system like algae scrubber, gfo, water change, macro algae, carbon dosing,.etc.
 
I had red one that was thriving in my tank 10 years ago. It even produced babies. I used to feed my entire tank with Kent coral food, the yellowish stuff.
 
The same exact thing happened to me, mime shrunk back into its skeleton for about two months. I just knew it was dead, but over the last week little heads started to emerge from it.
 
My green Goni is just over a year old and tripled in size. Not very hard coral to care for, just give it intermediate lighting, and low flow, and I feed mine 3 times a week when I feed my other corals. Nothing special for food either. I feed a mix of mysis, LRS reef frenzy, and reef chilli all mixed together 3 times a week(I have a couple NPS corals).
 
Mine was the size of a football when extended. Not really hard to keep.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3OaRnUEl1HI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
amazing to hear everyone say they are easy. here is what I do. float for temp, remove from the bag and throw it on the floor. better that watching it do well for about six months only to see it whither away. must be me.
 
I'm still new, but I hadn't heard that they are hard to keep.

I've got a green one that is growing like crazy. I've never done anything special for it. I feed Reef Frenzy once a week to the tank, that's about it.

I've been looking for a red one locally because I like the look of them.

Where did you read that they are difficult? I'm curious.

Here is when I first got it. About two months ago. It's probably twice the size now, extended anyways.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/63c8MqorYEw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
I bought one recently and it only lasted about a month. The guy at the LFS neglected to tell me it needs to be fed. By the time I realized this and got some help on here it was too late.
 
The red ones are easier to keep than the greens but I wouldn't classify either as being easy.....at least not for me.
 
luisedumuller said:
Hi all,

It has been a long time since I don't post anything here"¦

I think I made a huge mistake"¦ I was in a local fish store just browsing for some easy coral to add to my tank, since I have been battling with high nitrates for a month now (between 20 and 40 ppm).
I was looking for something colorful and easy, like zoas, and some softies.
Then I found a beautiful coral, yellowish, quite huge colony looking similar to small flowers.
I ask the guy from LFS and he told me that it was a very easy coral, that likes "œdirty water" like mine tank.
I bought, once I has living I asked him the name of the coral "¦
He said GONIOPORA"¦
I did my late research and now I now that that bastard sold me an impossible coral to keep"¦
Any tip to try to maintain it ?
It is fully extended its polyps for now "¦
Thanks in advance for the help
Cheers ,
Luis.
Click to expand...


years ago, I made a similar mistake, buy first, then research when I got home. but nowadays with smartphone, you can do your research, price check etc right there and then.
 
In general they are harder to keep and not recommended for beginners/new tanks..
Most have them live for a few months to a year or so and say "oh mines doing fine".. rarely do they come back a few months later and put "oh..now its dead"..

As stated you need to ensure they get fed, avoid too much light and flow and don't move/mess with them once in a happy spot. Its possible..

But if you didn't even know what it was you should return it as you are likely to kill it.. :)
 
BrokenSpoke said:
Have you tried Aquatic Art off C470 and Santa Fe? They're only open Friday / Saturday from 11:00 AM - 6:0 PM but one heck of a great store

http://www.aquaticartinc.com/
9337 Commerce Center Cir #3, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
(720) 253-8660
Click to expand...


Yes, it's in my neighborhood. The gonipora I posted above is from the colony in their main display. I forgot the exact name they called it, but they got the colony from a friend of theirs up north that had died and is almost 20 years old. They named it after him. It's my go to store and I hate going in because I spend hundreds whenever I walk in! Chris actually opened up for me on a Sunday for a fish purchase I had them hold for me a few weeks ago. Of course I'll be stopping by omw home tomorrow. It was nice having some tax return cash in my pocket, guess that's over!

Anyways, sorry for the thread derail.

I didn't know they had such difficulty. I'll be giving mine more attention now. I already target feed a sun, a Duncan, and a brain, might as well add the flowerpot to the list.
 
I gave up trying to keep em. My advice don't touch or move it much and make sure it's secure if you put it on the rocks. All it takes is one tumble sometimes and that thing will not open up like it used to and slowly recede away.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
I have a red aquacultured one that's still thriving/growing after 1 year. Had a green/purple wild one that wilted away after a few months. Now I'm on the 4 month of a bright green aquacultured one that goes through phases of open and semi-closed. Never looks to be thriving like the red one, but also shows no sign of dying and has actually grown, so fingers crossed.

I don't target feed either, but do broadcast feed the whole tank twice a week.
 
I was at the store today looking for a red one. They had one, but it was gigantic and too much. I was just looking for a frag.

Found a purple one though and just couldn't help but bring it home. I like motion and color in the tank, so this fits the bill. Like I posted above, the green one we have is going gangbusters, hopefully this one will too.

Cameo appearance by Kevin the yellow tang.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AvhTnXaOx5A" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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