ribbon gorgonian...mmmmm.......

[alans22]

i recently have gotten addicted to gorgonians, my LFS has been recieving beautiful well expanded photosynthetic, locally propogated gorgonians, i have just picked up a Pseudopterogogia elisabethae (purple frilly bush), and a plexaura flexuosa that may also be a Muriceopsis sulphurea. now i want to try a non-photosynthetic gorgonian. I am willing to feed it as much as needed and at whatever cost and maintenance (within reason of course) but i want to try a Diodogorgia nodulifera (ribbon or finger sea fan or whatever). Anyone tried this guy, anyone had success, my photosynthetic ones are growing like gang busters. white polyps...mmmm....

[fgarvine]

I feed cyclop-eeze and DT's among a suppliment regiment from Kent..weekly

[alans22]

with a weekly regiment like this do the polyps expand often, and does it grow well, also what condition was it in when you bought it i have never seen these completely expanded at any LFS.

[louist]

Mine will extend polyps fully when I give the glass a scraping. However, my tank is small, so the algae stays in the vaccinity much longer.

Mine will also extend polyps after it senses Golden Pearls in the water column.

I can not comment on success or longevity since I haven't had it for long enough. However, if you look at GARF's website, they have soe good info on Gorgonia.

[rustybucket145]

Had my Yellow Finger for almost Two Years now. I dose 'Home Brew' Phyto on a regular basis and feed a mix of frozen foods. There is a close-up pic of him in my avatar. It has full polyp extension on a daily basis. Usually opens up about an hour before dark (MH darkness, VHO actinics still on) and stays open all night and into the mid morning. Usually closing about an hour after my MH's come back on.

[petstoreguy]

I have a gorg just like the one in your avitar except it has blood red polyps. Really pretty and grows really freakin fast.

[rustybucket145]

petstoreguy: you got pm

[petstoreguy]

I don't think so, what's up?

[therealw00]

I feed mine DT oyster eggs, it seems happy. Back in the day when products like that weren't as readily available I feed finely ground up flake food soaked in seachem reef plus.

[petstoreguy]

I use oyster eggs and DT's live phytoplancton. pretty much all of my corals go crazy when i feed. I'm currently looking for a blueberry gorg.

[Fredfish]

Rustybucket. You are one of the few people I know that have had long term success with this type of gorgonian. What sort of frozen (type and size) are you feeding?

Oyster Eggs seem almost like a miracle food. They seem to elicit a strong feeding response in a number of hard to feed corals. I want to try them on a chili coral I have in one of my tanks.

Fred

[petstoreguy]

I use DT's phyto and oyster eggs. I usually combine a little more though. I recently started using Kent zooplex and micro-vert in addition to the other two. BEWARE you can over feed very easy. I only spot feed once or twice a week. In the past I used Marine Snow with the phyto. I'll keep you informed on the switch to zoo-plex and micro vert.
But pretty much anything i throw at it, it thrives. It's the fastest growing gorg I've seen.

[Fredfish]

Petstoreguy. Thanks for the details. I have a chili coral that came into my tank as a hitchiker on some rock from another tank. I have had the chili for 1.5 years now and it neither grows nor shrinks so it is getting some food from my unskimmed tank but...

I have started adding golden pearls to my tank to feed other filter feeders and my pods. I will probably do only this for a few months to see how the tank reacts and if it has any effect on the chili coral. After that I will try spot feeding the oyster eggs.

Fred

[petstoreguy]

I'm pretty sure that's a kind of carnation. make sure it's out of direct light with current. Spot feeding will get good results. I have a (orange) carnation and I've been spot feeding the same thing to it (as well as all my other corals) and it's shown good growth within the last 2 weeks. It's open most of the time and in the shade with a constant but mild current.
Hope that helps.

[Melissa123]

crushed up fish food is perfect for gorgs. If you ever stop feeding though they begin to disinagrate. At that point it is positively essestial to feed every time you see polyps.

[rustybucket145]

Fredfish: Thanks for the compliment, A roomate purchased the coral for me so he had no clue what it was or what to feed it. So I did some research and came to the conclusion that it would probably die relatively fast. So I decided to do the best I could and see what happened. I dose phyto, seachem Reef Plus, and a homemade seafood blend every other day or so (careful not to overfeed). Other than that I don't really do anything. I just let it do its thing. I do have a pretty well established refugium with pods (ami and cope) out the yin-yang. It literally grosses people out when they look close at it. They look like thousands of little ants/roaches crawling around. So in essence I have no idea what I have done different than everyone else to make this coral live. I guess I would attribute most of it to the refugium and the live homegrown phyto. I have even propagated it several times for friends and family. The propagated pieces do great in my aquarium but as soon as I transfer them they start heading downhill. And the only difference that I can tell is the fact that they do not have refugiums.

Don't know if this matters or helps much. They are definately beautiful when they open. I just wish I knew how I did it so I could share it here. But then again I guess not knowing what you are doing right is better than knowing what you are doing wrong. Right?

[Fredfish]

Interesting information rustybucket. Do your friends also feed the gorg. the homemade seafood blend? If they do then it is definately the refugium.

One way or another I am sure the refugium helps. If I had the space, I would set up a huge refugium for my tank.

Fred