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how to keep a flowerpot (goniopora) coral?


RonTheGuy

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Have some frog spawn doing fine. I have a toadstool growing big. I have green star polyp doing great. But I have some flower pot coral which is ok but clearly sensitive. So anybody have flower pot doing well? I purchased the flower pot from river city aquatic on an impulse and I didn't realize it is a difficult one. So now I figure it is my tank water early I warning device and my goal is to have it.thrive. in reading about flower pot I have.read it likes moderate light and.moderate water.flow? I have.read it likes feedings? I haven't been doing feedings (no other coral I have needs feedings) I did try mushing up some brine shrimp and using a turkey baster to gently see if.the polyps would show any sign of feeding but nothing. So I have read.these corals slowly fade.away ... what say.you?

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Part of the reason Flower Pot, Goniastria Goniopora sp. (oooops, my bad!), corals have such a confusing reputation is there are over 2 dozen species with very different requrements. Some are found in caves and under overhangs some are cosmopolitan and found in a variety of environemnts. Not knowing if your's is a captive raised or wild collected or where it was collected from you're going to have to experiment and just hope for the best. By the way, Veron's "Corals of Australia and the Indo-Pacific is a good book to learn the basic marine reef environments and gives basic environmental conditions for many species we keep. Of course best choices for beginners are corals locally grown. (Keep Austin Weird!)

Edited by Timfish
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Thanks ... it is a daisy flower pot with greenish polyps that extend out about 2.5 inches. When retracted the head is about 3.5 inches across in a near perfect dome shape. I doubt it was raised. I do not know how one would cut a piece.off it seems.so rocky and dense. No sign of dead or.dying polyps I have had it.for about 2 months now. Been playing with differently lighting and placement to realize what it likes best .... if you move.it takes 24 to 48 hours.to fully extend again.

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they r filter feeder and beuatiful piece of corals for sure, low light low flow and required phytoplanton feeds 2-3 times a week to keep it grow and thrive.

if u can keep up with maintenant like water change, keep ur N&P in check or having a skimmer rated 2-3 times as ur tank size, cause phytoplanton will increase nutrients (phosphate & nitrate) that leads to bacteria blooms (cyano) and algaes .

thats just my experience from the past...good luck

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they r filter feeder and beuatiful piece of corals for sure, low light low flow and required phytoplanton feeds 2-3 times a week to keep it grow and thrive.

if u can keep up with maintenant like water change, keep ur N&P in check or having a skimmer rated 2-3 times as ur tank size, cause phytoplanton will increase nutrients (phosphate & nitrate) that leads to bacteria blooms (cyano) and algaes .

thats just my experience from the past...good luck

Where do you buy the phytoplankton? Can one dose live phytoplankton to maintain in tank? Would my wet dry filter pull out the phytoplankton?

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You may want to make sure to run carbon with them as well. They are one of the outright leaders in chemical warfare, and from what I've read it's something other than the terpenoids that soft coral use to destroy their neighbors.

There was an article about the ORA goniopora operation, and the people that worked with the coral all became extremely sensitive to them and couldn't even put their hands in the water after working with them for just a few weeks.

You can buy phytoplankton or start your own culture. You would want to disable any mechanical filtration while feeding phyto or other suspended foods.

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Put up a pic if you can, please?

You can sort of see it in my avatar lower right-center a green mound on the gravel.

The good way at the moment to post a picture.

this has a video, just found that, need to listen the feeding rap there!

Edited by mFrame (Mike)
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  • 2 weeks later...

I tried.spot.feeding.with Kent's phytoplankton the polyps quickly retract I see.it.as.a.defensive.response not.a.feeding response. So seems that isn't what it wants.to eat. Also I tried in a tank with a nice led light array with blues and whites does seem to favor.that vs. A metal hydride light.

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