flower pot coral.... impossible?
- Thread starter Dionysius
- Start date
NeilFox
New member
It's a little hard to see in this pic but at times the tentacles get quite long. After a while, they turn dark and the Goni casts them off into the water column. I am not sure why, it seems to happen after it eats. It does some really weird stuff. I have some pics to upload showing the feeding response. I don't really have a great camera. Anyone know what he's doing?
NeilFox
New member
Here is a picture of the exposed skeleton. It was about 3x larger. You can see the smaller polyps on the right where new tissue has grown. They are a little whiter in colour. He was eating at this time. They like it when I stir up the sand. What is interesting is the exposed skeleton is pure white without algae growing on it. They normally receed from the bottom up. I heard it once suggested that algae may be the culprit in their demise, hence lighting often getting the blame. My system is by no means low nutrient, my N3 stays over 13ppm, at least with my test kits. I don't seem to have a big algae problem though. I seldom have to clean the glass. I am running T5 and MH 14K 150w x 2. The Goni's are upper mid level.
I am not claiming any success yet. I haven't had one over grow back tissue in over 25 years of owning them though. Keeping my fingers crossed.
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MedRed
Active member
I've got 2 that have been in my tank for 28 months. I have them in low light and lower flow. I don't feed them anything.
acesq
Premium Member
I have a red with blue center Ora goni that I put in my high-flow, low nutrient SPS system 24 months ago. It has doubled in size and seems to love the conditions. Only issue is that my emerald crabs enjoy snipping off small pieces of it every once in a while. Needless to say, I'm getting rid of the emeralds as quickly as I can catch them. (Of course, the bubble algae will surely raise its ugly head as soon as all the emeralds are gone!)
sczlars
Member
What is your feeding schedule like? --Lars
MiracleFish
New member
I beg to differ with this comment and to all who agree with this statement. I will admit that my goniopora has gone through a lot the past 6 months, Including brown jelly disease which I have to blame on myself for the lack of knowledge I had in saltwater aquariums at the time. I treated the gonio and has recovered. It of course cannot regrow what has died off, but the disease has certainly stopped spreading.
Back to my argument why I feel this statement is wrong.. I have never spot fed my gonio or any of my corals of the limited amount I have ever owned. I have feed my entire tank Invert foods and brine shrimp, but that's it. As for best results, Higher flow and to be placed lower to the sand bed as that is IMO the dirtiest part of the aquarium. My Gonio will not extent his tentacles unless he has high flow.
ReeferKimberly
Marley & Me
I have had one for about 8 months that has been in captivity almost 3 years. It is budding a baby as well. I do not spot feed but I also have no skimmer or other filtration, just water movement, carbon, xenia and chaeto. Mine has a hard lump about marble sized on the top that I suspect will break off one of these days and become a new goni frag without my doing anything. This is how they naturally reproduce.
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NeilFox
New member
I beg to differ with this comment and to all who agree with this statement. I will admit that my goniopora has gone through a lot the past 6 months, Including brown jelly disease which I have to blame on myself for the lack of knowledge I had in saltwater aquariums at the time. I treated the gonio and has recovered. It of course cannot regrow what has died off, but the disease has certainly stopped spreading.
Back to my argument why I feel this statement is wrong.. I have never spot fed my gonio or any of my corals of the limited amount I have ever owned. I have feed my entire tank Invert foods and brine shrimp, but that's it. As for best results, Higher flow and to be placed lower to the sand bed as that is IMO the dirtiest part of the aquarium. My Gonio will not extent his tentacles unless he has high flow.
You are correct. This is not a lagoon species. It will show a feeding response but it doesn't require food. It is normally found on the reef with other reef building corals, acropora and so on. any lagoon species would require huge amounts of light.
acesq
Premium Member
I don't attempt to spot feed it, but I do feed the fish fairly heavily.
SPotter
Active member
Here's a video of the two that I have. Powerheads are off and just the return pump is running. From my experience with them they like a higher, more chaotic level of flow.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UTBVsqfVXHM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/UTBVsqfVXHM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
After 4 Years With Frags
After 4 Years With Frags
Had to chime in on this one. I have had an ORA green and red goniopora for over four years. Two years ago I had the red one out of the tank and was going to try to cut some frags. I chickened out but two weeks ago I took a couple of pieces off the bottom. The big coral came right back and even looks bigger. The frags are starting to encrust and look good. I never feed them as ORA does. I have tried several different things and never saw any kind of feeding response. Maybe I was just lucky but these seem like they are now an easy coral to keep.
Paul
After 4 Years With Frags
Had to chime in on this one. I have had an ORA green and red goniopora for over four years. Two years ago I had the red one out of the tank and was going to try to cut some frags. I chickened out but two weeks ago I took a couple of pieces off the bottom. The big coral came right back and even looks bigger. The frags are starting to encrust and look good. I never feed them as ORA does. I have tried several different things and never saw any kind of feeding response. Maybe I was just lucky but these seem like they are now an easy coral to keep.
Paul
MedRed
Active member
A old timer runs a shop in town. He states that he has had much better luck with these type of corals when they are buried in the sand up till the edge of the skeleton so that only the flesh sticks out above the sand. Probably don't push sand into itHe says if you do not do this it is much more likely to die. I have had 2 flower pot corals and 1 elegance coral which seems to have similar issue. 2 of 3 slowly declined and died in my glass bottom tank which gives some weight to this advice.
my gonoiporas are attached to rock and have spread from there. I would not bury one as the flesh is easily damaged and will recede. They are also in a tank with zero phosphates or nitrates and I don't feed them. they are in moderate flow and 80 par of light.
michaellee64
New member
I have several Goni's.... The ORA Red is the easiest one to keep!
ReeferKimberly
Marley & Me
Can anyone tell me anything I might not know about the alveopora? Picked one up today that looks like this. I thought it was a goni until checkout when I learned it was an alve which I guess is very similar. I guess the difference is it has 12 tentacle things on each head instead of 24.
My goni is still going great and its baby bud is growing so now I have both. Still my favorite coral(s)
My goni is still going great and its baby bud is growing so now I have both. Still my favorite coral(s)
ReeferChris405
New member
Great info. I have a green one. It's a small drag, and just like everyone else, it started of extending great. Moves well with the water flow, colors were bright and then days later it extended less and less, and has been like that for going on the 3rd week. After reading the poses here on reefcentral I am going to try spot feeding it (and my frogspawn) and hope for better results. Thanks.
