Yellow Gorgonian & Chili Coral

[jbleacher]

I got a Yellow Gorgonian for free from swf.com in addition to my order and I'm having a hard time finding the best place for it in my 30gal @ the office. It is about a foot in diameter. I don'y have alot of shaded areas. Whats the best thing to do?
It's in high flow right now but in bright light also (150w 20K MH)

Also got a red chili coral (aka Strawberry) thats almost limp and deflated but under a ledge in med-hi flow. Is this normal in the first few days in a new tank?

[bertoni]

The yellow gorgonian probably has no photosynthetic symbionts, so it won't need lighting, although high light might induce algal growth on it. I'd just watch it carefully for signs of trouble.

Many corals take a few days to adjust to a new tank. I don't know anything about chili corals specifically, though.

[jbleacher]

That's funny, almost no one has a lot of info on the chili.

Thanks for your input on the gorg, I just don't want it to be too bright, if thats a valid issue.

If needed I can unload stuff into my friends system.

[zoomfish1]

Chili corals are also non-photosynthic, but do require a moderate amount of flow. They also need to be target fed several times a week. I use a feeding dome for mine and feed only when the feeding flowers are exposed. Have to get up like 5:00 AM to do this. It should probably look something like this:

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a16/Tholsted/th_100_0022-1.jpg (http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a16/Tholsted/100_0022-1.jpg)

Mine does lay over on one side all the time. You can move it to stand it up but it will lay over again. Been thinking about mounting it under an overhang to see if it hangs straight down.

You can do a search and read a lot on them.

[jbleacher]

Yeah it looks like a roosters comb hanging down on 1 side.

Thanks alot for your info.

[Herpervet]

I have had a group of chili corals for several months and they seem to be fairly bullet proof. Even the first one that I neglected and never fed is still alive.

A friend of mine who owns a lfs recently copper treated a tank and later found a chili under a rock still alive....

Anyway mine seem to like 200-300 micron sized foods. Otohime larval diet from reed mariculture is what I have been feeding (otohime A and B1) and you can see the particles in the body cavity of the polyps as they are ingested.

I have golden pearls on order and suspect they will work just as well.

They will eat cyclopeez but it doesn't seem to adhere to the polyps as well so the process is more sloppy and most of the "cloud" is lost and many polyps go hungry.....(insert sad music here).

Seriously though I think this coral will be a staple for non-photosynthetic tanks for years to come they are so hardy. I wonder what limits their growth though. It would be nice to get an analysis of their tissues to see what their spicules are comprised of so it can be dosed.