I have found that the red daisy type is hard to keep. I had one before but it slowly died. It was on the same rock as the light green type and it just died while the green one still survives today. It would slowly retract its polyps and would waste away. There was no jelly infection at all. It was an expensive piece too.
Ive read lots of articles about Gonioporas, Alveoporas and Porites in general. This is an article extracted from a reef database i found somewhere i cant remember now:
"Poritidae corals(gonioporas, alveoporas, etc...) are polytrophic. They gain their energy from their zooxanthellae (dinoflagellate algae) and from capturing prey such as zooplankton and phytoplankton. They cannot survive on photosynthesis alone. However, that being said, you should not need to directly feed these corals if there is a healthy planktonic population. Then it will be enough to sustain your Poritidae coral. Most agree that brine shrimp and pureed meaty aquarium supplements are still too large for them. Many aquarists have success with a refugium/sump to encourage the growth of plankton. Poritidae corals can then feed on microplankton and nanoplankton, such as phytoplankton and dinoflagellates. If your skimmer or filtration system is too efficient, there are commercial foods available to supplement their diet."
It seems like it is a matter of time until these corals perish unless you feed them. This is a known fact, and anyone that has kept them long term(+3 years) will support feeding as a way to keep them growing. Most reefers have kept them until the 2-3 year mark and without notice lost their corals not understanding why. I believe these corals, unlike other corals dont have the majority of their nutrition coming from Zooxanthellae, and therefore depend more on feedings. Of course some that had these corals grow and live longer can say "i never fed mine, and ive had it for a long time..." But how long is a long time varies to many hobbyists.
Could the red daisy be more delicate in nature and more dependent in feedings?
Some of us would only know until having that coral, but there has been lots of successful hobbyists keeping gonis and alveoporas due to great foods out there for them.
I have kept mine happy feeding them, and kind of started to enjoy feeding them more now, sort of like watering the flowers in my yard, lol.
I would rather not have to feed, but that would be too easy i guess. Still if feeding asures their health, i think it is a small price to pay for such cool corals.
