Gorg id, any care tips

[GoingPostal]

I need id and any care tips on these two gorgs, first one I ordered as a purple plume and the second was a rescue case, bag said purple blade. I've had the first one about three months now, it has large tan polyps and seems to be doing great, the second one has much smaller polyps and is fairly new, about a month in the tank now, it's since been fragged as my high light tanks are short, most is in a 12" 33 gallon with two 150 halides over it, two other frags are in my Aquapod in lower flow with only 70 watts which I realize is less than ideal but I had no room and wanted to try and save as much as possible.

1st gorg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/TiffanysPics025.jpg

closer bad shot though
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/tank2007dec014.jpg

2nd gorg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/tank2007dec011.jpg

[cloak]

No skimmer maybe?

[GoingPostal]

Right now most of it in my 33 which has a remora skimmer so not a great one but I was thinking about removing it. The rest is in an unskimmed tank. I'm not really sure how to tell if they are doing well or not.

[lancer99]

Postal,
The first one is almost certainly a Pterogorgia sp. "sea whip," needs high light & medium flow. Some people consider them touchy, but not IME...and yours looks very healthy.

Second one...no idea. Do you have a pic with the polyps out?

HTH,
-R

[SuperNerd]

I think I used to have that. If I remember correctly the polyps actually caught bits of food. Beautiful coral. I wish I came across it around my neck of the woods.

Aren't both unknowns really the same gorgonian...just two different shots with the polyps retracted and the polyps out? Only the edges have protruding polyps, correct? The "flat part" of each blade is smooth, right?

If you decide to stick them to a rock, I believe the proper way is to remove the flesh of the area you plan to glue (otherwise something bad may happen to the rest of the coral I think).

[GoingPostal]

Lancer, I'll get a pic of the 2nd gorg open, those are right when I brought it home and was frantically trying to find out any info. I was told on another forum that they were the same but the first one has polyps easily twice the size of the other so I don't know.

Supernerd, the first two pics are one I've had for a while and the last two are the newer one. At the pet store they had it sitting with the top part out of the water for who knows how long. When I noticed it I submerged it again and then checked it out closer and took it home, they don't know squat about sw, I set up their tank and it stood no chance in there, way too new and still had some algea then.
I ended up fragging a ton of it and having to throw some out due to lack of space. I learned how to frag gorgs really quick with some internet searching and snipped off a couple ends that were too tall, they have regrown flesh over fragged areas.

[MarkusII]

Hello,

Pterogorgia anceps?

regards

Markus

[SuperNerd]

Wow...at least one does kind of look like Pterogorgia anceps: http://striweb.si.edu/bocas_database/details.php?id=259#Pterogorgiaanceps1(closeup).jpg

[GoingPostal]

Yep, that's the newer of the two gorgs. Thanks! I wish I could have left it as that nice colony, it was really beautiful.

[SuperNerd]

Oh man! You could have traded/sold them!! :lol:

[GoingPostal]

To who exactly? :lol: I'm the only person in my town of 6,000 I know of who does saltwater with the exception of the tank at the pet store that I set up and maintain. Nearest hobbyist to me is a couple hours away and nearest with a tank with high lighting and flow is three hours and overtaken with algea at the moment. I hated throwing any out but was not prepared to take this at all. Now if I can just convince the pet store to not order anything without first consulting me, they already have a mandarin the supplier told them ate algea! Lovely, huh?
Hopefully it can hang on long enough for my new tank to be up and running past the algea blooms, that seems to be a big killer in these from what I've read. How do you tell if they are doing well? Hope they keep opening? What should I be feeding? Right now I have some dts phyto and oyster eggs, other than that I've been stirring up the sandbed (shallow, I keep it stirred as the tank gets moved frequently) and the tank hoping for some natural food, that was suggested to me, not sure if it helps or not.

[GoingPostal]

Ok, polyps out pics of the p. anceps gorg

http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/gorgid013.jpg
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/gorgid005.jpg

And one of the other unknown gorg (ptetogorgia sp?), this one has a much more "fuzzy" appearance, larger tan colored polyps
http://i129.photobucket.com/albums/p231/GoingPostalphotos/gorgid002.jpg

How the heck do you pronounce ptetogorgia? I don't want to sound like a fool if I ever talk about these in public. :lol:

[lancer99]

This is from Sven & Fossa's "The Modern Coral Reef Aquarium volume 2":

In Pterogorgia citrina (Yellow Sea Whip), the polyps grow individually along the edges of the branches. This distinguishes it from P. guadalupensis (Grooved-Blade Sea Whip) and P. anceps (Angular Sea Whip), where the polyps grow from a lengthways depression along the edge of the branches. In contrast to the other two species, P. citrina grows in rather small colonies and is the most common of the three, not only on the reef, but also in aquaria. The cross-section of the branches of P. guadalupensis is rather flat, and the wide and flat branches taper towards their tips. In P. anceps, the cross-section of the branches has the shape of an "X" or a "Y." In P. citrina the branches also taper towards their tips, but they are often twisted as well so that they look like a spiral."


No idea about "Ptetogorgia," but "Pterogorgia" is pronounced tare oh GORE jee uh. :)

-R

[SuperNerd]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11567320#post11567320 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GoingPostal
How do you tell if they are doing well? Hope they keep opening? What should I be feeding? Right now I have some dts phyto and oyster eggs, other than that I've been stirring up the sandbed (shallow, I keep it stirred as the tank gets moved frequently) and the tank hoping for some natural food, that was suggested to me, not sure if it helps or not.

Open polyps and new encrusting growth are usually the cues I look for.

Feeding the tank what you listed is probably a good thing- if (as some say) you can manage to balance the amount of nutrients you put IN the tank with the amount of nutrients being taken OUT of the tank. I have read that some species of gargonian may actually NEED the addition of phytoplankton. Apparently light with high PAR values and a tank with very good flow) all help.

When I had the gargonian in the pic, I do remember it responding well to a high nutrient tank- it was very bushy but I didn't know how to correctly attach them to the rock back then.

I have another type of purple gargonian now under high PAR light and strong flow and I do notice it growing/encrusting on the rock. I have noticed also, however, that since I stopped religiously adding a lot of "invertebrate food" into the tank its polyps are not as bushy as they were before. :)

[GoingPostal]

The one in my main tank is still doing great, not quite so good in my Aquapod but there's less light and way less flow in there. I rearranged it yesterday hoping to give it a better chance, bled it's goo all over the tank from being touched. :eek2: They're not overly pretty gorgs but I'm growing to like them. There should be plenty of nutrients in the water for it, it's tap and not heavily filtered.