Chili Coral (Alcyonium sp.)

Nick James

Nick James

New member
Does anyone have any experience they can share with the chili coral? It has caught my eye but I want to hear from experienced reefers. I tried to put a link to some info but it would not work..
 
There is a good thread on Ultimate Reef (uk), several reefres posted their experiences. All are in different conditions, I couldn't trace the basic common requirements, like very high flow and continuous feeding for dendro/sclero kind of corals.

If you can resist - try anything else, if not - post what you tried and how it worked. :)
 
my buddie has 1. its a slow grower but it does well as far as polyp extention and the intense red color. he keeps it low on the sandbed and kinda under an overhang. before placing it under the overhang the polyps only came out at night to feed while the lights were off but now theyre always out and it looks great. low to medium flow if im not mistaken
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13987388#post13987388 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Mr.Dee08
my buddie has 1. its a slow grower but it does well as far as polyp extention and the intense red color. he keeps it low on the sandbed and kinda under an overhang. before placing it under the overhang the polyps only came out at night to feed while the lights were off but now theyre always out and it looks great. low to medium flow if im not mistaken
Click to expand...

Thanks.. I have an overhang I would likely place it under. My lighting isn't too intense tho.. which is why I was considering this coral.
 
I have 4 of them and although they havn't grown from what I can tell I have had them for at least 2 years plus. I will have to try to figure out exactly how long.

They like being fed small golden pearls and otohime diet but I probably havn't intentionally fed in over a year due to my overzealous feeding regimen that lead to a nutrient problem.

I can tell you this much, we might have a ways to go in figuring out what it takes to grow this coral but it does seem to be tough as nails in my system.
 
Last edited:
Herpervet:
1. Was your open for a feeding:
a) all this time
b) nights only
c) had long periods of being contracted (months)
d) was contracted last year?

2. Your tank setup:
a) refugium type, planted with a lot of pods
b) unskimmed DSB mixed reef
c) skimmed BB
d) add your description

3. Water flow near chili corals:
a) slow
b) medium
c) high laminar, how high
d) high turbulent?

4. Which otohime diet and golden pearls ( microns)?
What did you do with the rest of 1 kg bag?

5. Daily food tank receives, amount x times a day

6. Filtration, capable to process this food.
Water quality: temperature, alkalinity, nitrates, phosphates, diatoms, red cyano, dinoflagellates, aiptasia?

7. What kinds of chili do you have?

Thanks!

I'm trying to understand chili coral requirements, still have problems with mine, when diodogorgia and dendronephthya have no such problems in the same tank.

I would like to make mine tough as nails too :D
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14012839#post14012839 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dendro982
Herpervet:
1. Was your open for a feeding:
a) all this time
b) nights only
c) had long periods of being contracted (months)
d) was contracted last year?

Mostly open at night although some of them will be open during the day when I feed the fish and corals.

2. Your tank setup:
a) refugium type, planted with a lot of pods
b) unskimmed DSB mixed reef
c) skimmed BB
d) add your description


At first it was unskimmed, miracle mud bare bottom, with chaeto and various macro's. This is why I got into trouble with the heavy feedings. The fuge was an oceanic 58 show tank converted using acrylic baffles. I removed the mud recently and went more conventional. I still have macro's growing in the baffle chambers but not nearly the volume I had before.

I have avoided a chiller like the plague so during the summer the tank has a reduced light cycle. I usually run 2X 250 HQI bulbs in the morning then the other 2 come on for a couple of hours before the first two turn off.

Temp reaches 83F during the summer.

I added a cheap Aquaeuro skimmer about a year ago and recently upgraded to a large Warner Marine skimmer.
3. Water flow near chili corals:
a) slow
b) medium
c) high laminar, how high
d) high turbulent?

Moderate flow, they are mounted under overhangs. One had been in the mud refugium for several months. It is the oldest one I have and still alive.

The tank has a Sedra 9000 to return water from the sump split into two outlets. One Large Tunze stream for circulation.


4. Which otohime diet and golden pearls ( microns)?
What did you do with the rest of 1 kg bag?

I bought a sampler package of something like 5 different sizes. Each came in a 30 or 60ml bottle I think. They like the smaller sizes and readily ingest it. You can see the food inside the polyps after they eat.

5. Daily food tank receives, amount x times a day.

I feed the fish once to twice daily. Usually hufa enriched brine, mysis. When I run out of frozen food I feed minced cocktail shrimp.

6. Filtration, capable to process this food.
Water quality: temperature, alkalinity, nitrates, phosphates, diatoms, red cyano, dinoflagellates, aiptasia?

When I fed the otohime and golden pearls I had some nasty derbesia (hair algae). The only thing that beat it was a very high alkalinity (16 DKH) and that killed it without any problems with the inhabitants that I could appreciate.

7. What kinds of chili do you have?

I have two types I think. One with white polyps and red stripes on them and another with more cream/yellow polyps.

P.S. I have a friend at a LFS that copper treated a fish tank. Later he found a chili under a rock alive and well! Survived the copper. Amazing.

Thanks!

I'm trying to understand chili coral requirements, still have problems with mine, when diodogorgia and dendronephthya have no such problems in the same tank.

I would like to make mine tough as nails too :D
Click to expand...
 
One more thing: I have really neglected this tank and there has been a thick layer of detritus on the bottom and coating alot of the rocks.

LOTS of particulate in suspension. Recently I did a major cleaning and re-aquascaping and a series of water changes. It will be interesting to see if they survive my "better" husbandry.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14013084#post14013084 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Herpervet
One more thing: I have really neglected this tank and there has been a thick layer of detritus on the bottom and coating alot of the rocks.

LOTS of particulate in suspension. Recently I did a major cleaning and re-aquascaping and a series of water changes. It will be interesting to see if they survive my "better" husbandry.
Click to expand...
I've had an Alcyonium in my reef aquarium for about a year now.
There is little particulate matter or detritus. The coral is surrounded by Aiptasia. I don't target feed the coral.
It would appear very difficult to kill.
 
Gary, can you provide more details, in addition to article, please? Maybe even photo of chili coral at arrival and now, positioning it in the tank in relation to the flow sources.

As I understand, the tank is well fed.

I feed a variety of good foods daily. Some of the "meaty" foods listed here are specifically for anemones: nori, VibraGro (Saltwater Staple) pellets, frozen HUFA enriched mysid shrimp, frozen HUFA enriched Artemia, scallops, silversides, smelt, Cyclop-eeze, frozen broccoli florets, frozen orange sections, ProGreen (by Pro Salt) and Ocean Nutrition flakes. A small "snowstorm" of food is fed daily.
Click to expand...
link

You also have much cleaner water, than I will ever have (compare Mercedes and bicycle) :D
Beckett skimmer (oversized how many times to the system volume?), likely very high flow - for sps (how many times tank volume per hr, how many times from it goes through the sump?). Is chili in strong turbulent flow?

Not that I would be ever able to set similar system :rollface:

Thanks.
 
this is the aquarium my Alcyonium is in:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=819275

Christmas_08fish.jpg


in addition to a large Beckett skimmer I've been running 10 micron filters on the system. My Alcyonium receives none of the foods I feed because it's completely closed up during the day- it's polyps open at night. (I'm sure it must be catching some kind of planktonic foods at night.)
My Alcyonium is located in heavy turbulent water flow and located (unshaded) directly 18" below a 10,000k 250 watt halide. The coral hasn't grown much or lost any mass the entire time that I've had it, although I was awake to see it fully stretched out this morning and it appears to be doing fine. Once in a great while I suspect my Emperor Angelfish nibbles on it (a chunk will be missing!)- and this JUST MIGHT be the main reason my Alcyonium doesn't appear to be growing larger because it's obviously thriving.
 
I have one I received as a frag from a fellow club member, its been months but have yet to see polyps. Have in in a cave that gets good flow. it is still bright red. fellow reefer said that if it was a gonner it would lose its color. I guess I just have to wait longer.
 
it seems like the chili coral likes to go dormant for some reason. Mine was dormant for 2 months before i saw feeder polyps.
 
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