Gorgonian ID Please

[GrandPa_J]

Not sure what this is and if it is NPS or PS?

TIA

J

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[Nick_Northern]

Looks like a blueberry gorg, NPS. Difficult to keep and requires frequent feedings, several times per day or ideally constant drip of plankton into tank. I think you will have water quality problems fairly quickly trying to keep it alive in a small tank

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[GrandPa_J]

Thanks Nick,

That's the closest that I've come to identifying, just wanted to be sure. Seems like you know a little bit about these gorgs, since Im new at corals but not new to the hobby, I have a few questions hopefully you or others on the forum may be able to answer.

1) The tank the Gorg is in is 15g, but it is plumbed in to my 130g system so total volume of water around 140g combined. DT is 130g combined with Sump volume after subtracting the rock,sand, ect...

2) DT, filtration is ASM G3 Skimmer, Denitrator, Filter Socks, Refug, 36w UV Sterilizer and DCT 12,000 Return Pump.

3) Parameters for both tanks is the same since they are plumbed together. Both separately tested with Salifert test kits.
Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2ppm
PH - 8.23
SG - 1.024
Calc - 480
Mag - 1335
Phosph - .5 (Going to add GFO Reactor this week).
Water Change 25% once per month.

Questions:

1. Since BlueBerry is NPS, can they handle direct lighting. Current light is Par38 LED Bulb.

2. Can I use a doser to dose plankton drip?

3. How quickly does this grow if fed properly?

4. Will it encrust itself on to the rocks or will I have to epoxy or glue it to the rock?

5. Some people on here state that you can't expose Gorgs to air yet others state they do expose to air for no more than a minute or so without hurting it? Perplexing!

6. Most importantly and since I'm new at this, What if anything am I doing wrong or what should I be doing to make sure Im successful?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my post.

J

 

[garygonzales]

This is a nps...does not need light. ..low light coral

 

[JZinCO]

Questions:

1. Since BlueBerry is NPS, can they handle direct lighting. Current light is Par38 LED Bulb.

2. Can I use a doser to dose plankton drip?

3. How quickly does this grow if fed properly?

4. Will it encrust itself on to the rocks or will I have to epoxy or glue it to the rock?

5. Some people on here state that you can't expose Gorgs to air yet others state they do expose to air for no more than a minute or so without hurting it? Perplexing!

6. Most importantly and since I'm new at this, What if anything am I doing wrong or what should I be doing to make sure Im successful?

Thank you for taking the time to answer my post.

J

1.Unlike most corals, algae readily grows on gorgs. Less lighting is better to discourage algal growth on an NPS gorg.
2. I don't see why not.
3. I don't know. In your shoes I would be happy if it survived > 6 mo.
4. This is a matter of your preference. I have glued and also stuck into tight crevices. The best luck is when I glue. Many say to strip the bottom of the flesh like a wire cutter and, while I have done that, I don't find it necessary. Eventually it should grow onto its base whether it is glued or just touching the rock. Some of my gorgs are more apt to encrust than others.
5. Gorgonians are an octocoral. Would you pull a Xenia out of the water? Sorry for the facetiousness. It's just that this dumb myth gets propagated around and noone has ever gave me good reasoning. Sponges sure, I can buy that but how does exposure to air physiologically impact one order of corals in a way that all other orders are not. My best guess it that when others only experience some corals second-hand and never keep them themself, that's when myths build. And gorgs are severely overlooked for some reason.

There are my opinions. I have a dozen gorgs and have fragged them many times out of the water. Each species has very different growth habits or ways of expressing themself in a tank. I have never tried NPS gorgs but understand blueberry to be one of the more difficult. Reefers I know have kept other NPS gorgs healthy but I don't know any successes with blueberry gorg.
See here for another's experience: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1748502

 

[GrandPa_J]

JZinCO,

Thanks for the link to the thread, boy seems like I'm in for a fight (losing battle) if you will.

So you can lead a horse to water but ya can't make'm drink.

Guess I'll just document my fight best I can and see if I can get beyond 6 mo. Seems like depth (Water Pressure) and temperature may play a pretty big factor in trying to keep these successfully, as one said in the article, these are best left in the oceans.

My bad, guess I need to do more research before impulse buys.

Thanks again

J

 

[Nick_Northern]

Best of luck with it, as others have said the lower light the better. I only have experience with Diodogorgia nodulifera which although still NPS have large polyps and I believe are easier to keep. I rescued 2 from a friends tank whose bicolor angel got a taste for them and kept them for 6 months in my 90 with multiple daily target feedings of coral food (feeding for several minutes at a time). I would say they survived but certainly did not thrive whilst I had them, eventually my LFS helped me find them a new home in a dedicated low light NPS tank with a constant drip feeding of phyto etc. I believe some people do use a doser for this. I have several PS gorgs too and all have been exposed to air at some point, albeit only for fairly brief periods and they are still all thriving.

Nick

 

[JZinCO]

J,
There are so many threads like yours that pop up because blueberry gorgs are common in the trade and often cheap.
It would be really helpful for posterity if you keep us updated on how it goes.

 

[GrandPa_J]

They look so cool in the LFS but store help didn't have much knowledge about it, should have been my 1st red flag, when I asked about light requirements and if it was PS or NPS, she had no clue, just stated it need moderate lighting. Food, yeah right also no clue.

I'll try to post updates if anything changes, so far the Gorg opens up just before sun down and is fully open before the lights come on at 7am, once the lights come on it closes up, I'm trying to shade it with over hanging flat live rock. Not much change just doesn't like the light, I changed my lighting to T5's today, the war coral, kenya tree and xenias seem to like the change the Gorg not so much. Waiting for my doser to get here, Snail mail. Ughh.

Thanks for the replies, if anyone has further suggestions I'm all ears.

J