Non-photosynthetic gorgonians

juaninsac

In Memoriam
Hello all,
A while back a member of MARS had a tiny frag of a non-photosynthetic gorgonian that he was having great success with on a mixture of planktonic foods. I can't find the thread, or remember the user. Any help? It was a tiny reddish gorgonian.
 
I've got deep-sea yellow and purple fan gorgs. I feed mine (very sparingly) a mixture of Freeze-Dried Copepods, Freeze-Dried Rotifers, Spray-Dried Marine Phytoplankton, 5 - 50 Micron Reef Nutrition (Golden Pearls), 300 - 500 Micron Artemia Replacement (Golden Pearls), with some frozen mysid shrimp thrown in the mix for good measure.

Hard to say if they are actually capturing and consuming any of this. I find that I get the best feeding response just by turkey-basting all the nooks and cranies of the live rock, the polyp extension of my gorgs is incredible after a good basting...
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9917001#post9917001 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shiveley
I've got deep-sea yellow and purple fan gorgs. I feed mine (very sparingly) a mixture of Freeze-Dried Copepods, Freeze-Dried Rotifers, Spray-Dried Marine Phytoplankton, 5 - 50 Micron Reef Nutrition (Golden Pearls), 300 - 500 Micron Artemia Replacement (Golden Pearls), with some frozen mysid shrimp thrown in the mix for good measure.

Hard to say if they are actually capturing and consuming any of this. I find that I get the best feeding response just by turkey-basting all the nooks and cranies of the live rock, the polyp extension of my gorgs is incredible after a good basting...

Hmmm, I remember the guy I was thinking of was crushing fish food pellets as well. Anyhow...

How are yours doing? How long have you had them? Noticeable growth? What kind of flow regime are you subjecting them to?

Most importantly, would you be willing to frag one or both of them for me? :D I would pay you any reasonable asking price, and assuming I can propagate them they might one day be on display at the Steinhart Aquarium.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9917001#post9917001 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shiveley
Hard to say if they are actually capturing and consuming any of this. I find that I get the best feeding response just by turkey-basting all the nooks and cranies of the live rock, the polyp extension of my gorgs is incredible after a good basting...

I've noticed a feeding response from this as well. I think keeping a sand bed that you can constantly stir will help a lot too.

FWIW I'm feeding Cyclop-eeze, live baby brine, phytoplankton, microworms, daphnia, capelin eggs, and rotifers.
 
Well, mine are relatively new, so it's really too early to tell how well they will do. The non-photo gorgs have a really poor track record in terms of long-term survival. Most end up slowly starving within 4 to 6 months. My previous yellow gorg was doing very well at first, and exhibited substantial new growth within the fist couple of months, then it suddenly darkened in color and began to wither away.
The two latest specimens have only been with me for a week or so and were fresh collected in Florida. They are between 6 - 8 inches long. Both have exhibited a strong feeding response when direct fed, but I have not been able to discern whether or not food has actually been consumed. They are in relatively low light sections of my tank under medium flow (to assist in preventing algae over-growth). I try to place them where a decent amount of flow passes over and around them, but not so strong that it disrupts full polyp extension and prey capture... I've been attempting to direct feed them every couple of days (with a very small, but concentrated mixture of the previously mentioned items).

As far as fragging goes, these are both so new that I am hesitant to frag them as of yet. And I already owe someone here a frag of both specimens as it is (and they've been waiting very patiently). If I can get them stabilized and get some new growth going, I have no problem giving you frags of both when available. Just for reference, what size frags are you looking for?
 
Aw, shucks, if they were collected in Florida I can't use them anyhow. These will (possibly) be part of a deep reef exhibit, but it's strictly Indo-Pac. Thanks for all your info!
 
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