Green Goniopora Question

[jims47]

I have a green Goniopora, it is about the size of a tennis ball(cut in half) it extends it's stalks quite frequently. My question is how do these reproduce? This morning looking at my substrate I saw a tiny spec of lime green. Since I'm 53 I got out the magnifying glass. It is about the sze of a small pea, with 4 stalks and an exact match of the big one. Geeze, just found another a 1/f foot away it is same size but with 2 stalks visable and extended. Same lime green as big one. How should I protect these? Are they from the big one in the tank? Thanks for any info/help!
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry I can't help jim.. - Goni's don't usually fare very well, especially as a beginner coral..

Out of curiousity where do you get this?

 

[jims47]

I posted a question in the General Forum, instead of the beginners last Fri. It was titled moving a 30 gal. Sat. Then I posted a update. I think if you read that it will explain everything. I am not new to fish keeping , only salt/reef. I have been lurking here for over siz months and reading,reading,and more reading, as I wanted to go this route, that is Saltwater FO then LR then some basic easy corals. I had all this dumped into my lap by a couple that split up. I had 3 hrs on Sat to tear down and move the tank+inhabinates to my house. I was tolde this on Thur. They said , actually she said if I didn't make it Sat the house would be locked up and the tank would be let go. The move went better than I expected, I did lose a shrimp. The tank is a 30gal. with CPR bakpack 2. It has 68lbs of live rock(yes I weighed them,lol) and cc substrate. Their is flower mushrooms, already spreading, the Goniopora, a tan seabe anemone, and a lot of purple coraline, oh, and a few others I am still trying to identify. The fish are a yellow tang,pajama cardinal, yellow tail damsel, fireball angel, orange skunk clown,neon gobi and a phys mandarin. I would not have chosen some of these tank mates but they are all healthy and eating really well, except the Mandarin. I bought some copepods and put them in the tank, and now have him eating some brine shrimp I hatched. He is very active but I can see his lines on the side indicating he is starving(got that from a site with pics). The tank parameters are:
PH/Alkalinity: 8.2----normal
Calcium: 400
Specific Grav. 1.023
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 2.0
Phosphate: 0.03
Ammonia: 0
Temp: 77

 

[Len]

Gonis can reproduce sexually and assexually. What you might be seeing is what is polyp bail-out. It is one mode of asexual reproduction; sheltered, these will grow to full size colonies.

Usually, Goniopora fares very poorly in captivity (I'd say 99+%). Every now and then, someone finds one that is exceptionally hardy and reproduces constantly. Hopefully you got very lucky

 

[jims47]

Yes I read about their difficulty. I did not purchase it. This one has lived for 9 1/2 mo. And I do not see any die off near the base . I saw the example of it on WetWebMedia. I see two of the polyp's. 1 has extended it's very tiny stalks and the other's is partially extended. Do you have any suggestion as to how I could shelter them? They look very delicate. Maybe go the the LFS and get a small in tank breeder box? On 2nd thought I think I will just leave them be. When I clean the substrate I'll invert a shot glass over them to protect them, empty ofcourse ;-) Thanks for answering my questions and thank goodness for this site and people!
Jim

 

[Len]

The problem with a shot glass is it'll stagant the water. When I have small frags or colonies, I usually put them in a breeder box like you were thinking. Sometimes I will also simply put it in plastic "eggcrate" to make sure it doesn't slide around too much on the substrate. Just make sure you don't have strong current directed in that area that might carry the little guys away.

I'd like to see what an intoxicated coral looks like

 

[SpicyBalls]

read an article by julian sprung that he is hypothesizing iron and manganese to be a big ingredient to successful keeping of the gonipora sp and alveopora corals.. he's trying his hypothesis on the harder to keep goniopora stokesi now..
_________________
NCPA

 

[jims47]

The problem with a shot glass is it'll stagant the water. When I have small frags or colonies, I usually put them in a breeder box like you were thinking. Sometimes I will also simply put it in plastic "eggcrate" to make sure it doesn't slide around too much on the substrate. Just make sure you don't have strong current directed in that area that might carry the little guys away.

I'd like to see what an intoxicated coral looks like

LOL, I didn't mean to leave the shot glass on for any length fo time, only while I was cleaning the substrate,etc. This specimen, for no reason of my own, seems to be doing well, and the little ones got that way on their own so I have decided to let them be, watch them, but not disturb them. Also found a baby feather duster, grown from a 1/4 to about silver dollar size in a week and a half. I triple checked and then triple checked again to make sure it wasn't an Aiptasia, whew. The eggcrate idea is great, I have some and will cut sections and place over them, thanks for that tip!
Jim

 

[Anonymous]

I'd like to see what an intoxicated coral looks like [/quote]

Don't a lot of European reefers pour vodka in their aquariums when they dose calcium?
Maybe they could post a picture!

 

[jims47]

I found out quite a bit about this.

"Asexual reproduction takes place by little buds forming on the coral and then detaching themselves. These buds grow slowly and should be affixed to a rock after a short period of time to ensure their survival

The only thing is he does'nt state how to secure them, super glue? I am surmising they must be attached somehow. The buds are growing and I feed it DT's Phytoplankton. Dose Strontium twice a week and iodine once a week. I feed the plankton at night after lights out. Mine does not like strong light/current. Now if I could keep the anemone(Sebea) away from it ;-)
http://www.dets.com/Gonio/atg1.htm