Goniopora

[fjr]

just got my first goniopora would like to know more about them.tank placement, lighting needs and about feeding needs

[seapug]

check out goniopora.org

[mille239]

I would have researched tank placement, lighting needs and feeding needs prior to obtaining the coral, but since you have it already, the link above is a good place to start.

[Zaita]

In a nutshell, medium flow. Not too heavy, a high amount of light, the more light you can offer the less extra-feeding it should require. They tend to open up VERY large (one of mine is almost 1ft) so they need a lot of space.

Mine are fed frozens they can catch when I feed the fish (3cubes/day) and Phytoplankton (about 50-100ml/day into sump by return pump).

[Gdevine]

I call goniopora the "rent a coral" as you'll have almost no chance in keeping it alive. Yea sure, there are a very rare few who can make them survive...but it's rare and usually the normal hobbyist just can't make these guys live for more the a few to 6 months. Too bad as they are beautiful and really add great motion to a tank.

[blunoser]

i disagree, unless you consider 3 years renting, i have had mine that long, plus after first placing it i moved it 6 months later, it had grown past its base onto my rock formation, leaving behind 3 heads and this one now is 20 heads at least, i dont feed other than what they get from feeding my fish and what comes from my refug, but they are high up on the reef

[Zaita]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12767164#post12767164 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gdevine
I call goniopora the "rent a coral" as you'll have almost no chance in keeping it alive. Yea sure, there are a very rare few who can make them survive...but it's rare and usually the normal hobbyist just can't make these guys live for more the a few to 6 months. Too bad as they are beautiful and really add great motion to a tank.

That used to be the case. But not so anymore. The knowledge of caring for a goniopora has increased dramatically in the last few years.

[cloak]

Check this out.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php

[GreshamH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12767407#post12767407 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zaita
That used to be the case. But not so anymore. The knowledge of caring for a goniopora has increased dramatically in the last few years.

Ditto :D

[ccloveraz]

I found the key to these corals is random flow patterns. I use several hydor flos, wavemakers set on random woud accomplish the same.

I have has mine for over a year and have babies dropping off all the time, as well as substantial growth of the mother colony.

As far as lights, I use a moderately sized PC system

[Gdevine]

Hey I am not responding to bust any ones chops; but this coral is well known by many reefers as a coral almost impossible it keep alive for sustained periods of time. There have been many many posts on RC on just this topic!

I did say some can keep this corals alive and I'm not sure any one really knows why. Some speculate that there nutrients in the sea water that is not plentiful enough for them in a closed tank to sustain life over a period of time. Know one really knows.

Sure you can feed them, and many have, and the same result...they die.

This is not just my opinion it's most of us who have either had them one time in their tank or did the research to see that their longevity is not a long one for most in the hobby...for the most part.

I wish him and all of you the best and keep doing what you're doing if it's working.

[Peter Eichler]

Congrats to those that have had some success with Goniopora, but I've seen nothing to suggest that the survival rate of Goniopora is still anything but dismal. 10-15 years ago was no different, there was always someone claiming thaqt things have changed and they had figured out Goiniopora, and much like today it seems like a bunch of nonsense. If you've kept a Goniopora stokesi for more than a year, it's probably dumb luck more than anything.

[Playa-1]

I've got one thriving in my tank. I stuck it in the sandbed and it's happy.

[Sealifefinatics]

you'll probably get 6-8mo out of it .. they are known to kick the bucket.. and its not really known what exactly they eat. I've seen most people do well with them (18mo) with floor placement but with a heavy fish load.. they seem to like lots and lots of nutrients

[davocean]

Mine didn't last long, and I have a pretty established tank w/ many sensitive/hard to care for sps corals that are thriving.
Our local reef site has a thread on special care for them, and trying to bring back ones that aren't doing well, so I also agree they are difficult to keep.

[ricks]

Here is a picture of my dumb luck.. This is 5 years in the making from a golfball size frag to over the size of a basketball. I keep this in my SPS system, never target feed it anything...

I do agree for most they are hard to keep, maybe I'm just lucky...



http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj20/ricksprinting/DSCN2083.jpg


Happy Reefing

[Sealifefinatics]

yeah.. it seems that some can do really well. .its probably some random thing that is feeding it in the tank .. that we'll never pinpoint. looks great though

[bobt2]

theres a picture of mine on the web site. it.s on the sand bed at the bottom of a 75. lighting is 6x54 t-5s. no direct feeding. it's comming up on 3 yrs old and i'm going to frag it for the second time

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12771832#post12771832 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ricks
Here is a picture of my dumb luck.. This is 5 years in the making from a golfball size frag to over the size of a basketball. I keep this in my SPS system, never target feed it anything...

I do agree for most they are hard to keep, maybe I'm just lucky...



Happy Reefing

Very nice piece and it does seem that species other than the run of the mill Goniopora stokesi will sometimes fare a little better. At least I'm assuming that's a red Goniopora and it's not just lighting or photography making a brown one look more colorful. I had a similar experience with one Goniopora, I had it for 7 years. And yes, I consider my success with that one Goniopora little more than dumb luck. I killed more than my fair share trying to get another one to do well during and after that time. I'm not proud of that and I will probably never try another one again. There are plenty of other beautiful corals to fill a tank with that have far better survival rates.

[95accord]

there's a nice goniopora thread in the LPS section. cant find it right now but its there.

[fierceseaman]

Do ones that have been propagated tend to do better than ones brought home from the LFS? It seems that this is the case in Elegance coral.

[Peter Eichler]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12772026#post12772026 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fierceseaman
Do ones that have been propagated tend to do better than ones brought home from the LFS? It seems that this is the case in Elegance coral.

Common sense says yes... There aren't many propagated gonioporas out there though. Even some that are said to be propagated are just frags from a colony that is newer to captivity, and I don't see that helping with survival much.

[bobt2]

i might be willing to sell a few frags, but it would be local p/u only on long island n.y.

[Playa-1]

I never feed mine either and it just get bigger and bigger.
:) That's the way I like it.

[Zaita]

I still feel that it's entirely possible to keep a goniopora alive. I have 2 in my current tank. 1 will be about 10months old, the other is 6months old. Both are going well.

My fish are fed once a day, 3 cubes of frozen and spiralina. I also dose about 50-100mls of Live Phytoplankton (Nano, Iso, Chaeto, Tet). The tank has random flow and sufficient lighting. One of the gonioporas is almost size of basketball.

As I said earlier, Previously these corals (like mandarins) have had a very poor rate of survival in the home aquarium. But sites like goniopora.org that give clear detailed instructions on the care of your gonioporas can change that. There is no reason why your goniopora shouldn't survive in your tank.

Note: While they like random flow, they do not like high flow. Low/Medium is better for them.

[ccloveraz]

SWEET!




<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12771832#post12771832 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by ricks
Here is a picture of my dumb luck.. This is 5 years in the making from a golfball size frag to over the size of a basketball. I keep this in my SPS system, never target feed it anything...

I do agree for most they are hard to keep, maybe I'm just lucky...



http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj20/ricksprinting/DSCN2083.jpg


Happy Reefing

[Slakker]

That is awesome ricks. Absolutely beautiful specimen! Gonipora's almost seem to be the Gigantea or Magnifica of the coral world...half the battle is probably finding one that is truly healthy to begin with, the other half is meeting their ridiculous care demands.

There are plenty of corals that you can add to just about any tank and they'll do just fine...goniopora is NOT one of these, yet everyone seems to want one. I don't get it...most of the specimens I see at the LFS around me are brown and green...they're kinda cool, but not that exciting.

[ccloveraz]

Someone on RC recently posted a pic of a blue one, dont remember where I saw it though.

[bobt2]

i agree on the low flow!

[JAMDivers]

Here's my little hot pink goni with it's purple mouths! It too is about golfball size and it's an encrusting Goniopora pearsoni.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/192326Before_Pics_VC_Experiment_14_June_08_Pink_Goniopora_1.jpg

I have been researching on goniopora.org too and it is a wonderful website with tons of great info and suggestions on how to keep these beautiful corals.

I do target feed mine and have seen it swallow cyclopeez but they can be slow eaters when it comes to meaty foods. I mix up Phyto-Feast, mashed frozen cyclopeez, reef roids and selcon and turn off all the pumps/powerheads for a couple of hours 3 days/week.

It has already shown growth so much that I had to mount it on a flat piece of live rock (not shown here) and get it up out of the sandbed.

Plus the red goni's are a little easier to keep in general than the green ones-which is unfortunate as the green goni's are the most often offered.

Best thing to do now is find out what species you have, do a little research on that site to see how to care for yours. It would be a place to start and remember, it's in your charge now, do your best to care for it.

Good luck and take care, :)