Anyone have any experience w/Flower Pot Coral? (goniopora)

snookhunter · #1 10/27/2007, 12:15 AM

Wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of coral? I heard that they are hard to keep for very long but was wondering if anyone has had any success.....If so pls share your tips!

Thx!

Rod Buehler · #2 10/27/2007, 08:00 AM

They used to be known as one of the hardest, or even impossible, but with some of the foods an the market these days, I believe that there are a lot more people having success. I believe that some of the newer foods on the market (DTs oyster eggs, and a few others

) are giving some success. Freshly hatched baby brine shrimp and rotifers will also be a good food source.

I have one that has been strong, healthy and doing will for nearly a year.. I know that Sara B has had a lot of success.. Kimoy ( I think) has one that is dropping buds.. There are many others out there as well.

Good luck

bigevill · #3 10/27/2007, 09:14 AM

I had one that was doing great till my powder blue tang started eating it.....

JPagliai · #4 10/27/2007, 10:26 AM

I had one for about 3 years before my clownfish killed it off. I don't know why I was successful with them while my friend, who had an identical tank setup, saw hers die in 6 months. I was running PC lights at the time, so I suspect they like a low-moderate light and a constant but gentle waterflow. One of the things I do differently than many aquarists, and it was the one differing factor in my friends tank, is that I supplement my tank with a capful of trace elements twice a week. I've been thinking of getting another one day, just never get around to it.

desdeej · #5 10/27/2007, 10:59 AM

Had them double size, mat over rocks(like an sps would) and drop buds. Had them for 1.5-2 years. Thats when I thought it would be a good idea to get a flame angel.....
At that time, I had them in my 125 with 4-96 watt PCs. Had a small fuge with a 800 GPH pump and a bunch of powerheads. So not alot of flow and not alot of light.
I'm sure some "special" food(

) wouldn't hurt either.

snookhunter · #6 10/27/2007, 01:08 PM

Thanks guys for all the info. I had my eye on one, but got a little scared off due to some of the stuff I'd read about them being difficult/near impossible to keep alive for very long. Maybe I'll pull the trigger and try it. Of course I'll be sure to feed it some special food!

irky · #7 10/27/2007, 02:37 PM

I have one and know of several people that do not have problems with them. I have PC lights and moderate flow. Mine is doing great. I add standard trace elements, reef bugs, and DT's. My meager knowledge is in my instanance it was fine. Kind of sucks in this hobby when something like this arises and everyone has a different opinion......

broke1 · #8 10/27/2007, 07:36 PM

I found out they were hard to kepp right after my wife purchased ours around 6 months ago. I have 1000w of MH and 600 w of T5 over a 240g sps tank with around 60x turnover. Mine seems to love getting beat up by the current, it is tucked in between some rocks but extends up until it looks like it's going to be torn apart.

snookhunter · #9 10/28/2007, 01:41 AM

broke1,

That's a great pic! It's looking VERY healthy.

desdeej · #10 10/28/2007, 10:37 AM

I love the red ones.

broke1 · #11 10/28/2007, 11:19 AM

From what I've read, everything I'm doing seems to be exactly what this thing should hate. You can see by the picture, it gets beat up constantly and the nutrients in my tank are pretty low, but it looks to be doing pretty well.

Quote:

Thats when I thought it would be a good idea to get a flame angel.....

There is Flame Angel in there also.

Pufferpunk · #12 10/28/2007, 02:35 PM

www.goniopora.org

Roman Ogee · #13 10/28/2007, 08:00 PM

Have'em, doin good. Also had problems with dwarf angels...

snookhunter · #14 10/28/2007, 10:32 PM

Puffer,

Thanks for the link.... There is some good info. there.

Pufferpunk · #15 10/28/2007, 11:09 PM

The author did a lecture on gonis at the '06 IMAC.