Care for a seafan

[nrbelk]

I was given a frag of some type of seafan from a person that said "hey, try this, lets see how it does in your tank."

Of course I was excited for a free frag! But now I'm confused as to how to best locate it in my tank.

I tried gluing it to a frag rock I used but it would get knocked off easily by snails or just fall out.

I then read that they are creatures that live in the sand, so I tried sticking it into my sand bed but it would just get blown away by the current (or knocked over by creatures).

It still is alive and when it is upright off the sandbed, it extends its polyps and I do see new growth when I'm able to get it to stay in the same spot for longer than a few days.

My question then is how to anchor a seafan. They don't seem to encrust like sps or grow onto the rock like softies.

Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[SDguy]

Can you narrow down the ID by doing a google picture search and posting what you find that looks like it?

Generally, seafans and gorgonians will entrust eventually, but it takes time. You have to glue it using exposed skeleton. If you simply glue the living tissue to a rock, the tissue will die, and detach from the skeleton, leaving your frag free floating again. Don't bury it in sand, they don't like that. Depending on if it's photosynthetic or not will determine more specific care guidelines.

hth

 

[nrbelk]

thanks for the reply.

The closest I could find (and it is because the polyps are only on the sides of the skeleton, not all over like some others I saw) is the purple whip gorgonian. But it isn't the same color and the branches aren't as packed together as what I saw on a vendor's website.

does that help?

 

[Paul B]

Seafans and gorgonians are completely different animals. Sea fans always grow perpendicular to the current. Also they don't usually survive in a tank because of their food requirements. Gorgonians are much easier.

 

[nrbelk]

which is which? when I search sea fan, lots of gorgonians show up and visa versa.

 

[SDguy]

I'm not sure which species Paul is specifically speaking of. In this hobby, at least AFAIK, the terms are pretty interchangeable, with seafan being used more for those of a certain shape (ie a fan ). Neither term, again, AFAIK denotes ease or difficulty of care.

WWM breaks it down pretty well:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/seafans.htm

 

[SDguy]

thanks for the reply.

The closest I could find (and it is because the polyps are only on the sides of the skeleton, not all over like some others I saw) is the purple whip gorgonian.

That's a pretty common one. Fairly easy to keep IMO/E. They are photosynthetic, so provide a good amount of current and light. Very very small particles of food will also be happily accepted.

Definitely glue it down to the rock. Glue exposed skeleton to rock... not living tissue.

 

[nrbelk]

hmm, I probably glued living tissue to the rock when I tried that. It was a frag off the top of his colony that he gave me.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Chris27]

You can peel a bit of the tissue away to expose the skeleton, then glue it. As far as requirements, they like the water a little bit dirty, but free of phosphate, with great flow and adequate light. I like to target feed mine 2-3 times a week with a very small amount of phyto or zoo plankton.

 

[Paul B]

As aquarium hobbiests we call anything that looks like a sea fan a sea fan and they are similar. But what I call a sea fan looks like a fan, it is stiff and flat and stays upright in the current. They always live in a swift current and don't usually live in a tank because most of them are non photosynthetic and need food passing by they all the time.
They are very common in the Caribbean and after a storm you will find them all over the beaches.
In this picture I am with a gorgonian, it is flexable and not flat. Arms of it come out in all directions, these are easy to keep as I have a bunch of them and they grow fast.
If it is purple, yellow or red it is probably non photosynthetic and needs food, a lot of food.
The names may be interchangable but the stiff, flat ones are much harder to heep in a tank because of the strong current needed along with the food. In the Caymans the current is so strong that a diver can't swim against it and there are sea fans all over the place. They vibrate the current is so strong.

These brown gorgonians in my tank grow wild and are photosynthetic.

 

[nrbelk]

Wow, I found this thread by looking for information on how to frag a seafan lol! I started laughing when I realized that I had just googled my own thread.

Anyways I'll have to update this with a picture of the gorgonian now. Its been over and year and its still doing really well. Its grown, not insanely fast, but a good amount.

I also can confirm that flow makes a huge difference. When I moved, I put it in an area that provided more room for it but didn't have as much flow. Its polyps never opened. I added some flow to the area and saw results in just a few hours.

I also have been dosing my tank with rotifers.

I'll also post the new seafan I bought. I'm still trying to figure out a good placement for it though.