purple frilly gorgonia
 

anyone having success on keeping this type of gorgonia? if yes, pls share your experience placement, feeding, light etc tnx!

I have two bunches of it, I keep it in my 24 gal nano, on the bottom in the sand, in a soft current, I don't feed anything special to it. It does very well in this tank, I have a 175 watt MH running on the tank.

Most of what are called "Purple Frilly" are Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata, although there's a Muriceopsis sp. that's also called that...as long as it has brown(ish) polyps, you're golden.

Both types have zooxanthellae, so need light. IME P. bipinnatta doesn't need target feeding, but like most gorgonians, will probably take some food. Probably the same for Muriceopsis......

I wouldn't put it in the sand. Gorgonians grow attached to rocks, and if their tissue is buried in the sand, it may die back.

HTH,
-R

tnx to the reply, i placed it on a rock, after two days, theres a polyps expansion. heres a pic

also tnx to jdiek and smiller for the replies on my pms

[IMG][IMG]http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc131/junedelle/reeftank/13-a.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][IMG]http://i216.photobucket.com/albums/cc131/junedelle/reeftank/1.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

wow manila those are breathtaking. did you get them online or at LFS I have several gorgonians but not near as colorful as yours..

That's almost certainly Pseudopterogorgia, and IMO is one of the most beautiful gorgonians.

Based on your pics, it is very happy....look forward to the day when you have to prune it!

-R

tnx lancer for the info.

tangafish, i bought it at my lfs, they say it is locally harvested here at fl. i saw some online stores that sell it too. go and treat yourself and buy one! :)

manila i think i will just have to do that, i am planning on placing an order with sealifeinc, never ordered from them before but they have some nice rics and gorgonian's i want.. is the one you got also known as the purple feather gorgonian? if it is that is what they carry and i think i will order me a couple

Thanks for the pics and inspiring me to get one for my little reef :)

What minimal light is sufficient for its growth, may be in comparison with common corals, like gsp, frogspawn, xenia?

I also acquired yesterday this coral, huge one. Will it grow, where corals, listed above, are growing well?

My apologies for the intrusion, ManilaMan - same topic and people are already here :p

i dont have this one but will be ordering but i do have other gorgonians under my vho's and they are doing great. maybe manila can tell us what he has his under..

no prob dendro. i think i talked to you before in some other thread here. softie tank - i use 260w pc over 45 g tall tank ( 18W X 24H X 30 L) and i placed it on the top.medium to high flow, if it retracts it polyps then the flow may be too direct.

oh and one other unique experience i got from these frilly is that minutes after i placed it in the tank, it produced a white liquid into its polyps pores. white like a milk, i see it unique because its not like zoos/shrroms/xenias/lethers that produces clear mucuos like stuff when stressed. im thinking its nasty coz i see the other corals react to it. i have a carbon in the system right now and everything is ok. so i suggest to monitor closely the tank after introducing these gorgs

tangafish, thanks for the nice comments, ok do that, get ourself one, early xmas gift to yourself :) goodluck!

post a pics when you got yours!

Thank you, ManilaMan, will remember. My tank has quarter of your light (intentional 110W PC for a lionfish, 90g, 48"L x 18"W x 24"D), so I put it up - almost touching the surface of water.

And this gorgonian really is like milkweed - and nobody call it sensitive and requiring special handling! Much more sensitive, than non-photosynthetic gorgonians - no such troubles with them ever.

First day in tank there were on exudate, not after introduction, not after may be 15 min of keeping in hands (at the base, upside down in the tank), waiting, until epoxy putty hardens (it came unattached). Tired to wait, and had to leave gorgonian on the bottom for a night, and only next day, after being under flow and after touching yesterday abused base - it started to bleed a little. New carbon was already in the sump - for a new tube anemone.

BTW, how are you feeding it - it should open at the night, when skimmer and filtration is on.
Just add some cyclop eeze or baby brine?