goniopora coral

ZOOT098

ZOOT098

Reefing newb
well my LFS sold me what she called a Green Long Polyp Flower Pot and said it is hardy and would make a good addition to my tank

I couldnt find it under this name online...what i did find is the colored goniopora which apparently is a 9 out of 10 on the difficuty chart

any opinions????

its in the tank, its opened up, should i wait and see how it does???
 
Gonioporas are actually a very difficult coral.The green long tentacle(stokesi) are even more difficult then the red and purple variety.They are difficult but hobbyist understand their care needs better so things are getting better.

I hope this is a well matured(6 months and older)system.Moderate light,low flow and they really need to be spot fed a couple of times a week.Cyclopeeze,oyster eggs,prawn eggs,zooplankton,small mysis,Coral Frenzy and other very small meaty foods make good goni food.A turkey baster gently squirted on the tentacles with the pumps off generally works well.They are slow eaters so the pumps really need to be off for 15-30 minutes and maybe needs some protection from fish,crabs and shrimps that might try to steal the food and retract the polyps.

One other thing,if you are keeping it on the sand.Make sure none of the tentacles are getting buried.Avoid harassment from fish and handling the coral to much.Brown jelly disease,which is very,very common with goniopora is usually brought on by stress either from harassment from fish,shrimps,crabs,handling the coral and like I said earlier,from parts of the colony getting buried in the sand.

I would wait a couple more days before attempting to feed it.
Good luck.
 
im actually thinking about taking it back, my tank is only just under 2 months old, im not ready for a coral that i have to hand feed

kind of ticks me off though

maybe i will try to trade it in on some mushrooms
 
I agree with Reef, I wouldn't take there advice anymore. I would like to purchase a couple of books on corals and fish to take into the stores with me so i know what there needs are without relying on the LFS's advice. the LFS's here aren't to bad but they've all got there own opinions on corals and fish.
 
Gonioporas are in no way hardy. They are considered one of the more challenging corals to keep, and most do not live more than a couple months. Many people on here have had success with gonis (Doc, Freak come to mind), but like Freak pointed out, they need mature, established tanks and frequent hand feeding.
 
I love my goni, but here is the catch. I have killed three "flower pots" in my day. The one I have right now is an encrusting goni. they are much hardier.

-Doc
 
"Flower Pot" coral are probably one of the hardest coral to keep that you could buy. Very, very few people are able to keep them long term and the fact that your LFS sold you one shows you that the only thing they care about is your money. Take it back, it will die, its almost guaranteed.
 
im going to take it back and exchange it for a star polyp, i think they are much hardier and easier to take care of for a rookie

the funny thing is that my LFS is a small "snob" shop and knows me, my tank, how old it is , my experience etc.

i guess the only one you can trust in this hobby is yourself, your research and people who have nothing to gain by giving you advice
 
Snob shops are normally where you can find the best stuff, so I wouldnt make any ememies just let them know the situation.
 
Being able to know what you can and can't keep is invaluable. There are good shops that occasionally give bad advice and bad shops that occasionally give good advice, so it can be very hard to differentiate between good advice and bad advice regardless of the shop. But advising a flower pot coral is such bad advice that its almost inexcusable. If the person were very experienced and had a very large, very stable system than it may be understandable, but a person new to the hobby should be advised to start with the bread and butter of coral, mainly mushrooms, leathers, GSP, xenia and other easy to keep coral.
 
McCrary said:
Being able to know what you can and can't keep is invaluable. There are good shops that occasionally give bad advice and bad shops that occasionally give good advice, so it can be very hard to differentiate between good advice and bad advice regardless of the shop. But advising a flower pot coral is such bad advice that its almost inexcusable. If the person were very experienced and had a very large, very stable system than it may be understandable, but a person new to the hobby should be advised to start with the bread and butter of coral, mainly mushrooms, leathers, GSP, xenia and other easy to keep coral.
Click to expand...

I agree. Stick to the easy stuff at the start. Gsp and ysp are great starters as well as frogspawn. Good luck. Take a look at some metallic fuzzy mushrooms too. They are cool, even for a beginner.

-Doc
 
took it back
got a nice green star polyp

she still insisted it would have been fine

i will keep you guys updated

thanks for the advice

i did learn a good lesson though

research then buy
 
slot of us have tons of experience with fish and coral. We dont make money on advice. Dont be afraid to ask us opinions about desired purchases before spending money. Good luck.

-doc
 
I tried a goni once. I bought it totally bleached from a pet store that did not specialize in fish (or even saltwater) and had it under regular old fluorescent lights, and I figured it was going to die soon anyways if I didn't buy it, so what harm would it do to try and save it. Like I said, it was totally white, and I hand fed it religiously and it survived in my tank for about 4 or 5 months and slowly got some of its color back until my clowns decided to start hosting it and killed it :(. I wouldn't try one again unless A) it was given to me for free or B) I knew it would die anyways.

Anyways, good choice going with the GSPs. They spread very easily and if you find an LFS that takes them, you can trade frags in for other things once it starts to grow and spread more.
 

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