elegance questions

[jadeguppy]

I just put my first elegance into the tank. I tried to clean an area of 4-6" on the sand. The closest thing to it in any direction is my feather duster. Will it sting the "feathers" and cause a problem? Are there any corals that it is "safe" near? The next closest is a colony of zoa about 4" above it. Advise is welcome, but please no flaming about elegances. BTW, I don't know where it originates from. I received this one from a fellow reefer.

 

[elegance coral]

No body gets flamed in the LPS forum but me .
4" above the elegance is probably not enough room. The only coral I know them to be safe near is other Elegance corals. I have had them near feather dusters with no problem. In fact they will grow on the corals skeleton.

 

[jadeguppy]

Okay, thanks. I'll keep the feather duster where it is and move the zoa. How far should I expect this guy to expand? It is open and I count about 5-6 mouths, but it hasn't expanded out like I see in pictures. Also, I plan to change my lights to T5. The coral will be about 14" below water level (shallow tank, 40g). Will that be okay for it? Right now I have it between cp and mh lights so that it isn't getting hit directly by the mh.

 

[victor escobar]

My experience is different. I know there are some worms living on the skeleton but my sabella has lost its head in contact with the elegance. So it will depend on the especies and I would not risk

 

[Sandeep]

Alternatively you could put it on a rocky base higher up in your tank so that it can expand upwards without touching anything. That's what I've done with mine and he's happy and so are all the other corals.

Interestingly I've got a blue mushroom living on the rock under one of the elegance corals and it's been growing over time. Maybe being under the tenticles allows it not to be stung?

 

[jadeguppy]

How long should I give it to open up like the picture above shows? It has been a day and it is less than 1/2 that open. The picture I have of it in another tank shows it 3x's what it is now. Also, how/ what are you guys feeding yours? Is doseing the tank with phyto every day or two sufficiant? My fuge supplies a steady steam of pods. I'm using reef bugs for phyto most days, some days I use marine snow. As I understand it, the reef bugs hatch and are live after about 1/2 an hour. Thanks for the help, I really want it to do well.

 

[Aquarist007]

mine took a month and eventually move on its own to the substrate below
when I first got it::

just recently(2 mon)

 

[elegance coral]

Victor Escobar brings up a very good point. There are many many different species of feather duster worms. Some may be much more sensitive to Elegance corals than others. I keep my corals on top of the reef like Sandeep does. You just need to make sure you don't blast them with flow up there. Can you post a pic of your coral? Elegance corals are not filter feeders. Plankton type foods do very little for these corals. They feed on larger prey animals like small fish and shrimp.

 

[cloak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11662562#post11662562 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sandeep
Alternatively you could put it on a rocky base higher up in your tank so that it can expand upwards without touching anything. That's what I've done with mine and he's happy and so are all the other corals.

Interestingly I've got a blue mushroom living on the rock under one of the elegance corals and it's been growing over time. Maybe being under the tenticles allows it not to be stung?

Whoa!

Thought it was a reflection at first. Very nice.

 

[jadeguppy]

That is an awesome picture. I can't post a pic yet. I hope to get the camera situation fixed soon. Can they eat things bigger than mysis? The mouths look small. Do they snack on pods? I have frozen mysis I can feed it. I also have some cyclopeeze that I can mix in. Is this a good food? What and how often do you guys feed yours? Also, those of you that have yours up high, what lighting are you usings? What I have read says they are low to medium light corals that do best on a sandbed.

 

[jadeguppy]

p.s. elegance coral your pm box is full

 

[Mental1]

I feed mine small chunks of krill twice a week ....

 

[Sandeep]

I feed mine a combo of mysis shrimp and cyclopeeze once a week.

 

[Aquarist007]

mysis and cyclopeeze twice a week. I started off spot feeding the elegance small pieces of raw fish when I fed the anenome but with my refugium well established I stopped and I don't notice any difference

 

[jadeguppy]

I fed it some mysis and cyclopeeze last night. It looked like it was eatting it. Is it normal for white streaks to appear in the tissue when it does this?

 

[elegance coral]

I cleaned out my PM box.

Yes it is very normal for white streaks to show up inside the tissues of these corals. They appear as straight lines that run from the center out towards the tentacles. Nothing to worry about.

 

[jadeguppy]

Picture

Picture

Okay, it have been six days and although it is bigger, I don't think it has fully opened. Any suggestions?

 

[Aquarist007]

Glad this thread popped up again

My elegance has been slowly expanding towards my rose tip anenome---today they were touchin
At the same time the rose anenome has taken on a growth spurt and is now within reach of one of my gonoporia.

Are these guys all kissing cousins or should I put a little distance between them.

 

[Aquarist007]

Re: Picture

Re: Picture

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11693905#post11693905 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jadeguppy
Okay, it have been six days and although it is bigger, I don't think it has fully opened. Any suggestions?

look at my before and after that I posted above--it took almost a month before it started to really expand and the polyps expand.

 

[jadeguppy]

Wow, that long! I'll give it time. What about how short the tenticles are? Both your pictures look much longer.
Also, I'll add to your kissing cousins q-ton... elegance vs. galaxia, how concerned should I be? I know galaxia have a reputation for a long reach, by mine never have gone more than about 2", however I don't want to find out the deadly way.