What got you hooked on NPS?

[oldreefer76]

Well for me it was a local selling a 3 head Balanophyllia for $10 and when I went to get it he gave it to me for free, It did well, then when at Phishy Business they had a Scleronepthea with babies on a rock and some unidentified nps for $15 which is doing good, then my 5 head Tubeastrea from for $12 opened up 10 min after in my tank, oh and not to mention some of the NPS hitch hikers showing up on items from Phishy like a black sponge

 

[GoingPostal]

Boyfriend loved the look of rhizos and begged for one forever, bought a dendro instead as they were cheaper and liked it a ton so ended up buying a rhizo for him, than a balano for me. There are plenty of harder to keep NPS that are simply stunning in appearance, I would love to someday keep a non photo tank with gorgs and softies but for now I just admire.

 

[stunreefer]

I love their predatious nature. Although feeding can get redundant sometimes, I truly enjoy feeding individual polyps giant pieces of food

 

[oldreefer76]

Wow no other stories? something gave you the NPS bug

 

[velvetelvis]

Images of Dendronephthya, Scleronephthya, and other nephtheid corals in a reef DVD that I bought last year. They looked like they were made of blown glass. The sight of a school of anthias hovering over a steep dropoff covered in these corals is one of the most gorgeous things in nature. I've wanted to keep some nephtheid corals ever since, which is why I finally bit the bullet and bought 3 aquacultured, (at least partly) photosynthetic Stereonephthya recently. They seem to be doing very well so far (*fingers crossed*).

There is just nothing like the shapes and colors of NPS corals and gorgonians. To me, they epitomize the exoticness and diversity of the reef. Some of the NPS tanks I've seen on this forum and other sites are so beautiful and strange that they look almost otherworldly.

 

[Aquabacs]

I started out keeping marine aquariums over 30 years ago, the exact day I got hooked on non-photosynthetic corals, I could not tell you, but I still own the book that did it. The book that first exposed me to them was Marine Invertebrates by Friese (T.F.H. Publications). My first images of Dendronephthya, Dendrophyllia, Tubastrea, sea fans and Crinoids all came from there.

Mike

 

[mew]

For me, I've always loved gorgonians, but I started out with only the photosynthetic ones. The non-photosynthetic gorgonians were too gorgeous though, so I switched over the NPS world!

 

[slapshot]

Images of Dendronephthya, Scleronephthya and the Gorgs I saw while diving. That and I wanted a challenge, oh what a challenge.:fun5: