This is my first time in this forum. I am not a member of your club but I was asked to come here by Norman, AKA Mr.Ugly.
These corals are among some of the most endangered animals we keep in our aquariums today. They are already extinct throughout much of their natural habitat. It is my opinion that each individual Elegance coral is priceless at this point. Not just from a hobbiests point of view, but should be from anyones that cares for the animals we share this planet with. I can not explain what it does to me to hear stories like this. Truly, truly sad.
The link Mr. Ugly posted to my theory is a little out dated. I have done a great deal more research since I posted it. I didn't want to post anything at the time, but was talked into posting prematurely by some well meaning hobbiests. I have a much better understanding of what these corals are going through at this point.
Wayland, I am not here to come down on you or to flame you in any way. If its any consolation, I have killed 4 over the past year and a half or so myself. I was doing research into this problem and putting these corals in harms way on purpose. This didn't stop me from feeling like crap every time one of these corals died in my care. If your heart is set on owning an Elegance coral you will have to set up a different system for it. If you look at the pic posted by PV1191 you will see that the lighting is not all that strong. I don't know what kind of lights this person has on their tank, but judging from the health of the Elegance, the expansion of the shrooms above it, and the lack of algae growth I would assume that the lights are not all that strong. The lights on your system are most likely much stronger than this. This is why they can keep one healthy and you are having such a hard time with this. Please don't buy any more Elegance corals for your tank. If you bought 100 more and put them in that tank one by one they would all die. I can understand wanting an Elegance coral. If there were no Elegance corals I most likely would not be in this hobby. If you are serious about keeping one, I will do everything in my power to help you keep it alive and healthy. This would mean setting up a new system for the coral. I have people here on this sight and others that PM me to get help with their corals. You can feel free to do the same if you like. I would be more than happy to help.
. Now half a year later, I still see at least 2 to 3 large ones zooming around (bad news for my aptiasia). I believe larger ones have better chance to survive, especially if you have a large mystery wrasse and a mean six line.
I'll read up more about how to keep them before attemping to keep one again.Glad to see so many with out sin out there
