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canmike

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Does the amount of time a gorgonian has its polyps out give you an indication as to its health? Should I be worried that, more often than not, my gorgonian has only a few, if any, polyps out at any given time. The only way it puts them all out is if I the couple that are out, and then keep feeding any newly opened ones until they are all out.
 

SPC

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Mike, your gorgonian is non photosynthetic and is most likley in the Genus Diodogorgia. I have never kept this type of gorgonian due to their poor track record in aquariums. What I have read says that they need frequent feeding and strong current (the current is to try and keep them free of algae).
Steve
 

canmike

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I took someone else's advice on this board and rub all the algae off of them every couple weeks. It seems to stay under control that way. I also feed it at least three times a week.

Does anyone out there have experience with these guys? Are their polyps usually out, even when not being fed?
 

lawndoctor

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I've kept the red form of Diodogorgia. (BTW I think I'm the one who suggested rubbing the algae off.) Their polyps were closed at least as often as they were open. When they did open, a few polyps would open first. Then, usually the rest would open too, but sometimes not and then they would just close up again. It didn't seem to me like they opened in response to food in the water, but rather that they just opened at random times. But maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. There are some threads from this board about how to take care of them. Delbeek & Sprung Volume Two has lots of information about them too. I have a Caribbean tank and would love to have gorgonians again, but I found the non-photosynthetic ones difficult to keep. Sea Critters sells aqua-cultured gorgonians which they call "Eco Gorgs," including a number of photosynthetic species from the Caribbean. I have heard only good things about them so far, but I haven't ordered any yet.
 

AF Founder

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<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by SPC:
<strong>Mike, your gorgonian is non photosynthetic and is most likley in the Genus Diodogorgia. I have never kept this type of gorgonian due to their poor track record in aquariums. What I have read says that they need frequent feeding and strong current (the current is to try and keep them free of algae).
Steve</strong><hr></blockquote>

This will not be of immediate help, but in March our Advanced Aquarist Online Magazine will have an article by Rob Toonen, Ph.D. on feeding nonphotosynthetic gorgonians.

Terry
 

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