Does anyone keep the impossible?

[calishark]

Everywhere I read about Goniopora sp. it seems that it can't be kept in the aquarium.

I have a large mixed reef / fish aquarium that I am successfully keeping many soft corals and some LPS corals and would like to add a Flower Pot Coral (Goniopora sp.)

Anyone have luck with this coral? Anyone have any pointers or gotchas I should look out for.

Tanks specs:

360 gallon
Nitrates 5ppm
Nitrite/Ammonia 0ppm
salinity 1.024

Thanks for the help

 

[DeepBlueZoas]

If you can keep your nitrates Down that low and have all your water parameters in check such as calcium, magnesium and keep your PH from fluctuating you should be fine, They would however benefit from adding different phyto planktons to your tank.
I had a pink goniopora in my 220gl tank and it actually grew quite a bit. They are most sensitive than most corals but certaintly not impossible to keep.

 

[calishark]

Thanks for the reply!

I have a 150 gallon refugium full of all kinds of live rock and live plants and that has been working really well for me. Over a 2 year period the highest level of nitrates that I have found was 10, so between 5-10 is my norm.

I only add reef supplements (calcium, etc.) twice a week with feshwater top-offs...I have to admit that I don't monitor it closely. All my soft corals are doing great, but they may not be too sensitive to calcium levles.

Where did you place your Goniopora coral? How much lighting and water flow do you have?

 

[doublejhunter]

Maybe consider an alveopora. They are almost identical to goniopora but are supposed to be a little more forgiving.

 

[swanny]

If you can try to get a ORA strain of Goni. I have two, a red and yellow, and they are very hardy. Both of mine are very healthy and growing at a very fast rate.

 

[sponger0]

I keep my water perfect, yet the one I purchased recently is dying. I have tried everything I can think of and still not getting better. Dont know what else to do

 

[calishark]

If you can try to get a ORA strain of Goni. I have two, a red and yellow, and they are very hardy. Both of mine are very healthy and growing at a very fast rate.

Those are the exact colors I am looking to add to my tank. Do you know a place online that has the ORA strains for sale?

 

[JohnniG]

I keep my water perfect, yet the one I purchased recently is dying. I have tried everything I can think of and still not getting better. Dont know what else to do

Too bad. Know the feeling.

 

[gbru316]

The Care and Propagation of Goniopora

 

[DeepBlueZoas]

Where did you place your Goniopora coral? How much lighting and water flow do you have?[/QUOTE]

I had it about eight inches from the bottom of the tank and I have 3 450w 20k metal halides, and the water flow was not super strong but when the polys were all the way out they would move with the current.

I also had a green goniopora and it did not last very long and so I would not recommend the neon green ones.

 

[swanny]

Those are the exact colors I am looking to add to my tank. Do you know a place online that has the ORA strains for sale?

You can have a lfs order it for you or search some of the bigger retailers like liveaquaria. ORA has had their mother colony for years and they don't feed it anything or do anything special. Some info. for people who are interested. I keep mine on the sandbed in my 120g 4x2x2 tank. I have good flow and the lights are three ai sols and three t5's. I have never fed any of my goni's and they are growing like crazy.

 

[swanny]

Pics or it didnt happen right. This is an old one and it is quite bigger now.

 

[bolling]

Everywhere I read about Goniopora sp. it seems that it can't be kept in the aquarium.

I have a large mixed reef / fish aquarium that I am successfully keeping many soft corals and some LPS corals and would like to add a Flower Pot Coral (Goniopora sp.)

Anyone have luck with this coral? Anyone have any pointers or gotchas I should look out for.

Tanks specs:

360 gallon
Nitrates 5ppm
Nitrite/Ammonia 0ppm
salinity 1.024

I have a red ORA Goniopora and a Alveopora, my Nitrates are never 0 and both of these have done very well and are beautiful. My Alveopora is on the bottom and the Goniopora is about 2/3 down. I do fee Phyto Feast about three times a week now but they seemed fine before I started doing that.

Thanks for the help

 

[o2manyfish]

Over the years I have had much more luck keeping the Gonis that are not green. I have had Reds and purples that lasted for years.

At the moment I have a yellow with purple heads for about a years and a blue goni for the past 6+ months.

Also the recommendation for an Alveapora is good recommendation. Very similar coral, but has a much better success rate, and has better growth rate.

Dave B

 

[beachbreak]

I have the ORA red, blue and green gonis. Out of all three of the ORA products, the red is the one you want. It has that classic long polyp look of the stokesi but deep crimson instead of green. The green and blue gonis have much shorter polyps and arent (IMO) as nice as the red. For care - I have them in an SPS based system and just set them in an area with moderate flow, moderate lighting and leave them alone. Keep your chemistry stable and all should be good to go. That simple. I don't feed them anything other than what they capture when i feed the tank. The red grows really quickly while the blue and green are a little slower. The red had a skeleton the size of half a golf ball when i bought it a year and a half ago. It's now the size of half a base ball and probably 8" across when fully expanded.

I've also got a 4" piece of wild alveopora and it is just as easy as the ORA gonis. I actually like the fat polyp tips of the alveopora better than the skinny threads of the gonis.

Stick with the aquacultured gonis or alveopora and you should have a positive experience with it.