About Goniopora

[ryduo]

I have two Goniopora now.But they aren't looked fine.Who can tell me which condition they like? Thanks!

 

[Len]

ryduo,

Unfortunately, no one knows what Goniopora likes. This type of coral has a very bad captive mortality records, and nearly all will die within the first year. I am sorry to bring you the bad news, but in the future, I recommend you do not try these corals again. It's not a beginner versus expert issue .... Gonioporas are simply impossible to keep alive. It's one of those corals LFS should stop selling.

 

[ryduo]

You are right.One of my friend trys several times,but no one can live one year or more.I will try my best for them. Although they seemed beautiful, I will never try again.Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Ryudo,

If you really want to give these corals a go, then there are a few things that might help.

Feeding may help (see this article: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php), as may having a large fishless refugium.

Unfortunately, as Len says, success with this coral is unlikely. Stories of success are not yet widespread enough for ordinary aquariusts to attempt keeping them.

Tom

 

[FalsePerc]

We're having a nice degree of success keeping them under strong T5 lighting with moderate flow and daily feedings. They seem to like it, and are doing well enough to be fragged and live to tell about it. Justin Credabel's wonderful article is a great read for anyone interested in keeping Goniopora. For all those interested, here are the system specs for the setup we have our Gonis in:

Lighting: 4x54w T5
Flow: Closed loop with a Dolphn Ampmaster 4700 servicing 8 tanks with 2 outlets per tank and equal flow through each outlet. Approximately 587 GPH in their tank, divided through two outlets. They are kept in a low flow area of the tank, giving them not enough to rip their polyps off, but just enoughto keep them swaying.
Feeding: Cyclops-Eeze added to the system daily. Goniopora actively catch the food when suspended. We also add our own cultured phytoplankton daily, not sure if it does any good, but we assume it does.

Hey, PM me and I'll send you a bit - you can see if it helps any.

You can view a webcam of our system here.

Best of luck,
Mike Giangrasso

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

Yea... read the AdvancedAquarists article. They are no longer an impossible coral. They are a "been there done that" coral now. It would still be classified as a "difficult" species though I would say. Maybe one day we'll get a good supply of maricultured specimens out there that are more hardy. But check out the article. You can keep yours alive and even growing.

NOW... all we need is the experts to research ELEGENCE CORAL. These are 10x more flourescent and a real beauty.

 

[FalsePerc]

Yea... read the AdvancedAquarists article. They are no longer an impossible coral. They are a "been there done that" coral now. It would still be classified as a "difficult" species though I would say.

Yes, yes. Now basically an "experts-only" coral.

Maybe one day we'll get a good supply of maricultured specimens out there that are more hardy.

But check out the article. You can keep yours alive and even growing.

NOW... all we need is the experts to research ELEGENCE CORAL. These are 10x more flourescent and a real beauty.

Eric Borneman is currently conducting a study... "The Elegance Coral Project".

 

[John Kelly]

Yea... read the AdvancedAquarists article. They are no longer an impossible coral. They are a "been there done that" coral now. It would still be classified as a "difficult" species though I would say.

It is hardly a "been there done that" coral. The real Goniopora "Mystery" has not been solved yet and feeding is NOT the magical solution. Feeding does solve the slow wasting from starvation, as seen in many Goniopora, but the Wasting Condition seen primarily in the green goniopora (stokesi, etc..) as described by J. Sprung, E. Borneman (labeled as Goniopora Condition I), and others still persists.

I am documenting my own experiences with Goniopora here: http://www.goniopora.org/

 

[Len]

I think success with these corals are very hit and miss, and it's still not a coral that anyone (regardless of how experienced) can keep on a consistent basis. I theorize it has a lot more to do with the hardiness of the collected specimen then it does with us knowing how to raise these. I also theorize that "success" is often defined by how long one has kept a Goniopora alive .... that is, how long you can stave off death. There are a few colonies out there that have done superbly well in captivity. RichK, for example, has one that is long lived and actively being fragged. Mike's colony may be of similiar robustness as well. But by in large, I think trying to keep Goniopora is still an unacceptable gamble with something that in all probability will not live. If you want a Goniopora, my opinion is to buy one of these captive fragged variety which have proven their suitability for captive living.

 

[John Kelly]

I theorize it has a lot more to do with the hardiness of the collected specimen then it does with us knowing how to raise these. I also theorize that "success" is often defined by how long one has kept a Goniopora alive .... that is, how long you can stave off death.

I believe just the opposite. Generally speaking, Goniopora are incredibly hardy when they are given the proper care; maybe even one of the most hardy corals. The only way Goniopora will ever survive on a regular basis in captivity is by us knowing how to care for them properly and raise them. If someone has kept a goniopora coral for 5 or 10 years and doesn't know how or why it has lived that long, that is not considered success; it is considered luck. Success would be to place that same Goni in a variety of systems and be able to grow it by knowing its requirements.

 

[scifi_3d_zoo]

From the article they talk about the murky, high nutrient, waters these corals are in. So it shouldn't be surprising this is a tough coral. Most of our tanks are nutrient poor, skimmed to hell, and brightly lit. I read about how GONI use to be an EASY coral. In the early days. They said it's these new highly efficient skimmers, and more powerful lights out there that have tipped the scales on this coral. It's funny to hear them say this use to be a staple in tanks like a Yellow Tang or something. It seems so impossible now. Again... we are just going through an adjustment period with this coral b/c our equipment has changed so much in the past 5-10 years. But people are having them live for years, fragging them, etc. If they can do it anybody can. I'm slowly nursing mine back to health. I'm so confident I'm gonna go buy another elegence and use some of the same methods and give it another go.

Thanks for the Elegence link. I absolutely frickin love these corals.

 

[John Kelly]

I'm so confident I'm gonna go buy another elegence and use some of the same methods and give it another go.
Thanks for the Elegence link.

LOL!
Maybe you should read that Elegance link. It is a totally different situation than with Goniopora; much different, much worse.
To each his own though.......you may be The ONE. :mrgreen:

 

[FalsePerc]

Many good points raised here. I must note that we didn't have success right off the bat: we started out by asking local reefers for Gonis that were faring poorly, or just they were willing to give up. We purchased a total of around 11 Gonis on the brink of death, and only 1 survived. After a few months, we fragged it, and now we have 2 colonies: the original one and a smaller one. We put a lot of thought into our system beforehand, and we recommend anyone thinking of keeping a Goni should do the same. We also made a point to purchase only Gonis that would not impact wild populations in any way, so if we failed in keeping them, it's not AS bad a hit to wild populations. Our big Goni is slated for another fragging provided nobody buys it before the end of the week, so I'll keep you guys updated.

sci - I've not read any references to Gonis being easy to keep in "the old days." I know they were kept, and THOUGHT to be easy, but only beacuse they took longer to die than therest of the corals kept at that time.

Happy Thanksgiving-Eve, all.

Mike

 

[John Kelly]

The real Goniopora "Mystery" has not been solved yet and feeding is NOT the magical solution. Feeding does solve the slow wasting from starvation, as seen in many Goniopora, but the Wasting Condition seen primarily in the green goniopora (stokesi, etc..) as described by J. Sprung, E. Borneman (labeled as Goniopora Condition I), and others still persists.

I need to correct part of what I said. I re-read the description of "Goniopora Condition I" in the Aquarium Corals book. Feeding does solve the problem of the slow tissue recession or "wasting" as described in the book.
Feeding does not solve the "Wasting Condition" as described by Julian Sprung in his AA 2002 article.
J.S. and E.B. are describing two different Goniopora wasting syndromes. I wonder if anyone has ever realized this? I have experienced both types and they are totally different.