blue berry gorgonian success!!!

[fragginawsome]

i met a guy who works at aquatic warehouse who has kept one in his aquarium for a year and a half!its gone from 6''-12'' he feeds it 3 times a day with live baby brine soaked in live phyto. the trick is to find one that is open in the store beccause after being ripped off the reef and stored in damp newspaper they're
just not as durable

 

[ebacon]

Man that's a lot of upkeep.. Do you think that 3x a day feeding regimineis necessary?

 

[gordonj1]

That would be sweet if you could keep one

 

[cichlidsrcool]

Wish I had the answer feed mine when its open once a day baby brine shrimp

 

[MarineSniper]

An auto feeder is the best way, although still no word on long term success. It's bad when a year and a half is considered "success" with a coral. Hopefully that changes soon

I'm in the process of taking an old kalk reactor as an auto feeder. My gorgs, sponges and terrazoas will be positioned in the direct flow of the returns. Every 3-4 hours, the timer will turn the reactor on, dosing through a line that I'm going to place directly in front of the return pump intake. That should provide a stay source of food to them

My long term goal is actual live feeding. I'm setting up a mysid propagation system and 400g sump. The mysid require baby brine and the build model I'm following should produce 2k adult mysid per week. All excess shrimp, and brine, are going in the sump where I'm hoping they will become somewhat established. While not counting on that happening, I am hopeful.

The ultimate Reefer's Pipe Dream: a self sustaining system (I'm retired...need something to do)

 

[Bratyboy2]

I have to say it. Just because someone says its been in there tank for that long and it grew that much doesn't always make it true. Now if he is actually have some success with it right good for him I hope it continuous for him. But its still so iffy considering all the tried attempts from members

 

[SantaMonica]

I currently feed 0.5 ml liquid every 20 minutes, and it's not near enough. The water is clear within 30 seconds after feeding. I think blueberrys probably need more food compared to most nps, and that's why I'm not attempting a blueberry right now. My goal is to keep a constant swarm of food particles in the water at all times, which would probably require 100 times as much as I'm feeding now.

 

[MarineSniper]

My plan, before attempting blueberries and similar types is extensive. If it wouldn't benefit all tanks tied into the sump, it wouldn't be worth it!

I'm in the beginning stages of mysid propagation, using a model that will produce 2k per week. They require baby brine, which requires phyto and Selcon, yada yada

Once the mysid are maturing and reproducing on schedule, approximately half, along with enough adult and baby brine, will be added to my sump system. My hope is that a decent proportion of each will continue to reproduce there, resulting in a constant supply of food to all tanks. Any gorgs, I'll position directly in front of returns, to catch them

Most likely a pipe dream but I'm retired and have the time!

 

[Sharkey18]

I've had one for about 3 months. Not a big deal time wise, but it has full polyp extension every single day. I feed it a cocktail of coral / gorgonian foods at least 3 to 5 times a day. It has also grown a tiny little bit, measured by the appearance of new polyp at the tips of the branches. Not many, but a few.

It is in a 20g NPS tank. Water flow into and out of the tank is very slow, but the blueberry is in direct flow from a power head.

Hoping to report continued growth over the next year or so.