New Deodronephthya sp. study group?

[graveyardworm]

I think a forum to cover non photosynthetic coral would be great, but I would hate to see alot of aquarists suddenly get the confidence to go out and start purchasing dendros and the like where most tend to perish. I think a better plce to start maybe to put together a small group with the ability to conduct proper research and experiments, and start a permanent sticky thread to report to. I can say that I really woudnt know where to start. Perhaps with guidance of someone such as Eric Borneman or another. From everything I've read corals such as dendros can be a touchy subject for some. Without the proper controls it may be hard to get expert help here. Plus I'm sure that people such as Eric are extremely busy and may feel that they just dont have the time to do this right.

I myself would love to be able to keep varios non photo corals because they are some of the most beautiful coral, but with my first Dendro attempt ending in failure and with knowledge I have now I just cant bring myself to purchase another one unless its going to be with specific purpose and with the possibility of having it survive. So if we can put together a plan I'm in, but if its going to be every man for himself I just cant do it.

 

[mcox33]

Another question- anyone have some good experience with fragging?

Chip

I tried cutting a piece that appeared to be dropping off anyway, when I first got mine didn't work. It didn't do anything just slowly got smaller and smaller then disappeared altogether. After that I let them do their own thing and when the pieces came off I put them on the sand and rubble in the bottom of my tank they attached themselves within days and I could then glue the rubble to a larger piece and put it where ever I want it in the tank.

 

[DonJasper]

I think a forum to cover non photosynthetic coral would be great, but I would hate to see alot of aquarists suddenly get the confidence to go out and start purchasing dendros and the like where most tend to perish.

Well any forum for non photosynthetic corals would read like an "agongy column" - to borrow and Sherlock Holmes term - and any confidence that these aquarists get will not be from reading the tales of woe from that forum. Given that humans have a remarkable ability to be both very foolish and blinding clever both at the same time - eventually there may be a glimmer of hope in the forum. But not at first.

 

[graveyardworm]

Thank you Don Jasper, very well said. I do believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel, hopefully closer than it seems. I think just reading this thread alone may give someone the confidence to go out and get one even though the people reporting here dont really seem to know what they're doing right. We are keeping corals now with ease which a decade ago were thought to be impossible.

By the way do know of any good P-shrimp recipes mine are ready to go.

 

[craab]

Even as mine was perishing it continued to split off babies.

craab, how long have you had it?

Mine looked great for probably 4 months maybe a little longer.

Had it for two months now, and I'm not sure if any others have witnessed this, but mine has actually begun to grow out and up from under the overhang I have it hanging from. Anybody else seen this happening?

 

[graveyardworm]

Hi craab, you probably allready realize this but 2 months is by no means success with a dendro. Like mine and countless others thay do look good for a while, and then the shrinking begins. Dendros can contract down to a small fraction of there full size like most softies. What was percieved as growth during the weeks at the LFS was probably just recovery from shipping and acclimation.

Have you been feeding anything other than the mysis and cyclopeeze? What type of cyclopeeze frozen or dried? Most reports indicate that dendros feed on much smaller stuff.

Charles I'm still relatively new to the hobby and reef central. How do go about getting a new forum?

The more that I think about it having a forum dedicated to non photosynthetic corals would probably be the biggest step towards successfully keeping them. Trying to gather good info from a thread here and there is time consuming and none of them ever seem to lead anywhere.

 

[mygreengoldfish]

I am very interested in dendros because of there incredible colors and shapes, but I can't ever get one because I know it would die. I would love to see a dedicated forum on non-photosynthetic corals. But unlike many non-photosyntetic creatures dendros have a horribly small survival rate in even the most specialized systems. I think they would be in a class of there own in terms of difficulty.

As for caring for them, I think a little more research should be done in there natural enviroment. There survival might depend only on a small change in salinity or insuring they are fed both phtyo and zooplankton. There are so many things we don't know about these corals that it is hard to find a place to start.

 

[mcox33]

My salinity is at about 1.024 to 1.025 at any given time and mine have been doing great for about 10 months now. I did see a yellow one at a pet shop recently but it is declining and they want 50 dollars for a tiny little piece. I told the owner he should just give it to me and let me nurse it back to health, no such luck and he has two of them. both are in very bad shape.

the 2 I have are pink and purple and mounted on top of the rock the last time I rearranged the rocks in the tank I turned these 2 on their sides with the top of the dendro towards the front of the tank. They too are growing out and standing up but some of the branches hang down. They appear to be growing finally as in when they retract the branches are much thicker than they were at first.

 

[graveyardworm]

Hi mcox, is there any chance you could get some better close up shots.

 

[graveyardworm]

I've been reading through alot of archive threads and thinking of how to modify my plans for my new setup to accommodate a dendro. I'll be picking the final piece for system today. Anyway my thoughts are to give it a tank of its own with LR and no sand bed connected into everything else.

Here's a brief description of my plan: 100 gal stock tank for sump with some LR in it and other equipment (skimmer heaters etc.. ), 90 gal soft coral display with LR and DSB, 100 gal 72"x18" with DSB planted with macro ( seagrass, turtle grass, havent quite decided), 35 gal for frag grow out, maybe a 20 or so gal for other macro.

For the Dendro tank I thought small ( I have a 29 gal kicking around). Flow though this would be on the slow side to keep food in the tank longer with alot of flow within the tank. Only ? is what to feed.

I havent been able to find any descriptions of what people have tried I thought this might work, be capable of providing continuous food supply without polluting entire system. I'm sure this has been tried but I cant find where other than GARF's setup I think is similar.

 

[MadTownMax]

newly purchased pink w/ purple/yellow specimen - same as Garf specimen posted earlier

Tank: 24-gallon Nano cube
Filtration: Activated Charcoal, Phosban, polyfilter (chem absorbant) No Skimmer
Temp 81-82
SG - 1.026
Lighting: Stock 2X36W PC, 10K/actinic & Actinic
Circulation - 2X 290gph powerheads in top back corners of tank aimed straight forward ~30X

Feeding - target w/ DT's Phytoplankton and DT's Oyster Eggs.

-Nick

 

[mcox33]

Hi mcox, is there any chance you could get some better close up shots.

I'll try in a few days right now my tank looks so bad I don't want a pic of anything everything seems okay but I got brown algea driving me crazy.

But I think it is on it's way out. That's what I get for over doing the redo my tank thing. to many changes to close together.

 

[graveyardworm]

Sorry to hear that, it seems as though this thread has lost its steam like most dendro threads. Havent seen any post from Charles lately I'm still wondering how to get a new forum and if help is needed in the form of support.

 

[mcox33]

For the Dendro tank I thought small ( I have a 29 gal kicking around). Flow though this would be on the slow side to keep food in the tank longer with alot of flow within the tank. Only ? is what to feed.

I wouldn't even think of putting a dendro in a tank smaller than a 55 gallon

 

[graveyardworm]

I wouldn't even think of putting a dendro in a tank smaller than a 55 gallon

Even if total sytem was almost 600 gals? 90 gal softie display with DSB, 100 gal planted DSB ( seagrass ), 35 gal fugewith DSB, 100 gal sump, 200-300 stony display with BB, lots of LR. My thought was I could create a seperate habitat with lots of food in the Dendro tank and not pollute the whole system, this food would slowly make its way out and benefit the whole system. Maybe a continuos phyto drip with live culture. Low flow through the Dendro tank but high water movement.

I think it would be easier to keep a high concentration of food in a smaller tank.

 

[MadTownMax]

I wouldn't even think of putting a dendro in a tank smaller than a 55 gallon

If no one knows how to keep them, how can you qualify this statement - if target feeding is necessary - a smaller system that will help keep the food near the coral would seem more benificial - as graveyardworm stated



On a side note, I've noticed over the last few days that when I'm target-feeding w/ the phyto/oyster egg mix when my dendro is partially "deflated" that it "inflates" - for those few who have had "some success" is this a good sign? I know this is very short term, but it does not seem to make a difference lights/no lights - it still shows this same response.

I can grab some pictures if anyone is interested.

I also noticed that the first day it was in my tank it dropped a few of it's yellow spicules (the outermost ones on the branches), but it has not now for a few days - I'm assuming this was a stress response?

-Thanks for anyone who can lend an ear and give some help w/ constructive criticizm

-Nick

 

[graveyardworm]

Pictures ? awesome.

My LFS has one that came in a couple weeks ago its not looking to good, Ive tried to get them lower prices on sickly corals in the past, but I guess they'd rather have it die there. I dont know about the spicules falling off. expansion when feeding is probably a good sign atleast short term, thetrick is to get it to stay inflated most of the time. I tried the no skimmer w/fuge thing on my first and only at dendro attempt and couldnt keep water quality up. Where did you get the oyster eggs? I've been trying since i first heard about them but cant seem to locate.

 

[MadTownMax]

DT's is the distributor for oyster eggs - they are very new to the market, but I'm sure if you ask at a good LFS that carries DT's phyto they can get some - most all places I have talked to are going to start carrying it b/c it is 40-50 microns, perfect for sps and other corals that need extremely small food particles - and it comes frozen, so unlike phytoplankton, it does not re-agglomerate and grow drastically in particle size - I know others in the past have stated that when phytoplankton is used that optimally it should be put into a blender or other high-shear apparatus to get it back down to a palettable size for the organisms we are feeding it to....

"food" for thought

 

[graveyardworm]

None of the LFS I go to are carrying it yet.

 

[Fredfish]

it does not re-agglomerate and grow drastically in particle size - I know others in the past have stated that when phytoplankton is used that optimally it should be put into a blender or other high-shear apparatus to get it back down to a palettable size for the organisms we are feeding it to....

MadTownMax, you probably already know this, but its worth re-stating. This is only for the freeze-dried phyto. I have never heard of any "clumping" issues with live phyto or frozen paste.

Fred.