GONIOPORA

[jervismun]

Hi bros

I bought 2 pieces of Gonio and have NO experience in keeping Gonio prior to this... please help me keep these frags happy (and alive).

My Red Gonio, bought 2 days ago, still not opening much

Pix taken last night, now opens a little more.

[jervismun]

Appreciate if any kind bro can help me reconfirm this specimen... it is a Branched Green Goniopora right?

Bought this specimen 4 days ago, still not opening well.

According to Liveaquaria... Gonio needs strong light and medium to strong flow. Hence the current placement... how true is that?

[iantoh]

hi there bro jervis,

the first gonio you have there looks like a goniopora palmensis, whilst the second branching colony is probably a goniopora pandoraensis.

in my experience, ive found that the palmensis type (not sure if thats a definitive ID) prefer moderate flow around it, whilst being exposed to light from all directions, whilst the pandoraensis prefers low to stagnant flow rates in the areas around it (meaning the water in its close vicinity moves slowly, but outside of that area, water is at least still moderately moving, such that theres still adequate gaseous and waste exchange).

gonios are generally found in pretty turbid conditions, excluding the occasional varieties found in reef flat habitats, so these areas usually contain high nutrient levels (by nutrients, i mean organic particulates which the coral can feed on, rather than high nitrates or such), so feeding is paramount to its long term health as gonioporas are not able to meet their carbon budget solely through photosynthesis- they can get enough nutrition from light no matter how much light you provide), so feeding is essential. i used to feed about 30-50ml of DTs and cultured pure strain nannochloropsis to pretty good effect, as my gonios were with me for more than a year and a half before i wound down the tank about half a year ago.

the oyster eggs werent so readily available then, neither was reefroids, but i think both would be super foods to feed. in fact, reefroids was formulated to feed gonioporas, so if you get the chance, do try that out ya.

well, sorry if i got too wordy, but gonios are my favourites, so thought id try to tell you as much as i can.

cheers,

ian

[Qxnviolet]

Hrmz, whats reefroids? Some kind of coral food?

[Gorgonia850]

Hi Ian,

Possible to advise whether Blue Gonioporas are dyed or original coloured ones??

Saw a few pieces sometimes back at a lfs but dare not buy as never come across such colour b4 & also at websites.

Yellow Gonioporas are also dyed ones ???

[Qxnviolet]

Accordingly to a LFS owner i've spoken to, there are true blue and yellow gonios. And he claims that his are real and im inclined to believe him. Where did you see them and how much did they cost?

[jervismun]

Hrmz, whats reefroids? Some kind of coral food?

Time for advertisement...

IMO Reefroid is a much superior version of Argent Cyclopeeze. They are very very fine, my Blue Gorgonia reacts to Reefroid a lot faster than any other food form. In comparison, if Reefroid is Grade 0 sand, Cyclopeeze is at least Grade 2. When I feed Cyclopeeze to my Sea Fan, usually they don't react as fast as the particles are a lot larger.

Price wise, Reefroid is at least 3 times more expensive compared to Cyclopeeze.

This product is distributed by Aqua Mart (Jalan Besar), created by a Canadian company called Polyp Lab (www.polyplab.com)... they also created the Reef-resh™ that I am currently using.

Hehe

[jacobus]

my green gonios are like ur red ones... since my whole tank is high flow ... the open anywhere i place them ... i place them around the center where the light is stronger and they extend alot ... see my pics at my thread later.. i'll show u ..

[jervismun]

hi there bro jervis,

the first gonio you have there looks like a goniopora palmensis, whilst the second branching colony is probably a goniopora pandoraensis.

in my experience, ive found that the palmensis type (not sure if thats a definitive ID) prefer moderate flow around it, whilst being exposed to light from all directions, whilst the pandoraensis prefers low to stagnant flow rates in the areas around it (meaning the water in its close vicinity moves slowly, but outside of that area, water is at least still moderately moving, such that theres still adequate gaseous and waste exchange).

gonios are generally found in pretty turbid conditions, excluding the occasional varieties found in reef flat habitats, so these areas usually contain high nutrient levels (by nutrients, i mean organic particulates which the coral can feed on, rather than high nitrates or such), so feeding is paramount to its long term health as gonioporas are not able to meet their carbon budget solely through photosynthesis- they can get enough nutrition from light no matter how much light you provide), so feeding is essential. i used to feed about 30-50ml of DTs and cultured pure strain nannochloropsis to pretty good effect, as my gonios were with me for more than a year and a half before i wound down the tank about half a year ago.

the oyster eggs werent so readily available then, neither was reefroids, but i think both would be super foods to feed. in fact, reefroids was formulated to feed gonioporas, so if you get the chance, do try that out ya.

well, sorry if i got too wordy, but gonios are my favourites, so thought id try to tell you as much as i can.

cheers,

ian

No, not lengthy at all!!! I will place the Gonios based on your experience. Will feed them Reefroid later

[jervismun]

No I will feed now!!!

[hammy]

heard DT's oyster egg is great stuff for gonio

[jervismun]

heard DT's oyster egg is great stuff for gonio

And I heard it's bloody $$$ Of course lah... oyster egg leh... now when was the last time I had oyster? Can't remember

[jervismun]

my green gonios are like ur red ones... since my whole tank is high flow ... the open anywhere i place them ... i place them around the center where the light is stronger and they extend alot ... see my pics at my thread later.. i'll show u ..

So confirm (as recommended by Liveaquaria), they need strong light (which I have ) and medium to strong flow... and occasional feeding... how often we need to target feed em?

[Qxnviolet]

Hrmz, where can we get the reefroids besides aquamart?

[jervismun]

Em... I am not too sure bro...

[iantoh]

hi there bros,

gorgonia850, i have seen photos of yellow gonioporas in a book and video series of the great barrier reef, as well as on wetwebmedia that supposedly came from indonesia, but theyre rare, and probably occur at deeper depths than the more common green ones. likewise, ive seen pics of blue colonies, but ive never been able to ascertain if those were real or dyed. i know they exist though, just as there are bright blue squamosa clams brighter than blue maximas, but ive not had the privilege of witnessing.

problem is so many corals are dyed. the pink gonios often occur dyed. the bright pink ones used to come up quite often when there used to be more freshwater converted to marine lfs. sometimes, i think the lfs owners here might not really know if its dyed too, so its not necessarily something they condone in the sense that theyre trying to cheat us. its just a regrettable aspect of things.

but considering theres no coral anywhere that we can confirm we can keep forever, the prices are quite over the top. if im not wrong, golden octo had a blue piece that sold for $380 or something like that, and thats like worth 250 normal gonios.

you know, there are gonios along the tuas shoreline at places, near the raffles lighthouse there, but not blue of course.

jervis, i think gonios need good lightings, but do be careful to acclimate them to the elevated lightings ya, as im sure in the past few weeks, theyve been receiving far less light than youre providing them with now. in particular, when gonios are quite susceptible to bleaching.

actually, i think its hard to stereotype the flow requirements of any coral, not just gonios. even sps occur in all types of flow and nutrient conditions, though of course, there is a general preference, which goes against our stereotyping. i think for most corals, in the end, the best guage is polyp extension. if you look in my old tank thread, the gonio columna (or stokesii) at left bottom opens very big, till its almost five times the size of the skeleton, with the very lowest polyps near the base extending fully, but thats because its in low flow. before, when it received slightly higher flow, it didnt expand that much, so i guess the key is experimenting a little to see where the coral responds best as thats all we can do.

gonios, even if kept in an unlit tank with no feedings, but at least decent water quality, will survive for a rather long time, which is why gonioporas are considered such difficult corals on RC as their short term seeming health doesnt mean theyre doing well, so the key is to observe for growth. take pictures if you can, and compare over a few months, and importantly, pay attention to the base area of the coral. if the coral is healthy, its tissue should not recede from near the base. most gonios, over time, starve, and slowly recede, polyp by polyp from the base.

actually, when i first began keeping gonios, they didnt do well, and some actually began receding. it was only after researching further in the hope of saving things, and observing some reef videos from my old school's library that i observed the kind of conditions gonios occur in, where phytoplankton is bountiful (and where phyto abounds, pods and larvae also thrive). so i began up-ing my phyto dosages, and reading thereafter that scientific studies showed that gonios were unable to meet their carbon budget through photosynthesis, i increased my feedings even more, and which was when i began to see improvements, and eventually growth. one of my colonies grew a bud in that period too, so feedings help. id love to try reefroids on gonios, but sadly, no point now. oyster eggs are great too. some bros also use the very fine raw shrimp or crab eggs that you find on sushi for feedings, which might be a convenient food.

of course, with my nano, all that feeding came at a cost. everyday after school i cleaned the glass sides like mad, and when i began working, it proved too much to handle.

but sigh.. my sps tank now is even worse in terms of maintenance, so i probably made a bad decision to switch. plus my wallets alot emptier.

well, gonios rock man!

haahah...

cheers all,

ian

[jervismun]

Thanks bro Iantoh... I will also try to increase my Phyto dosage... perhaps lay my hands on a bottle of Oyster Eggs