sea fans.

[penyu]

I've read about sea fans but none state on how to take care of them. Does anyone know how to take care of them and how to differentiate between a dead and a live one?

[alanseah]

well u need to place sea fan on a place where there is nothing to block them.. where strong enough current can pass throught them..

also sea fan need to be feed. It dont really photo much or not at all...

when it will open up with small small furly like stuff... when it's alive...

when dead it will slowly cover by coraline agle or other agle...

that also explain why strong currently is needed to prevent alge stuck to the fan..

[corrado]

hi my friend

sea fans classification

1) brightly coloreds = non-photosynthetic = requires constant feeding of phytoplanktons. they like to makan at night.

2) dully coloreds = light please.

Santa

[FuEl]

It's best to put them in the shade. I'm not keeping them already as they always end up being smothered by diatoms.

[blacknails]

I've kept my sea fans for some time now and I'd advise actually to put them in light as for my fans... The parts which are in the shade actually tend to die off leaving the healthy branches those in the open... Go figure...

[bawater]

If you do a search on the web for> gorgonians <- you will find pages of answers.

The brown ones are photosynthetic , but the rest are not fussy abt light. IMO it doesn't matter where u put them with regards to light (in the open or in shaded areas).

The important part is that you provide food and enough water current to bring them that food. a piece of normal fish food flowing past u at 10-12cm per sec is considered medium flow.(5-6cm per sec is considered low flow)

Food particle size: A mix of phytoplankton and rotifers or rotifer replacement(e.g golden pearls rotifer I & II size)will do fine.

There is research that shows that gorgonians will capture bbs but only to eject the complete package later(they seem too big).

Polyp extension shoes a healthy fan- by looking at a fan fully open.....think abt how many mouths there are to feed.

[bawater]

If you provide a good environment- they can be propagated easily.

[bawater]

A newly done mix frag - 2 days old. fingerprints on putty still fresh

:note the purple cutting already has polyps at the base repairing the damage done by me stripping the bottom 1cm of flesh by wire strippers and plugging into putty.

[bawater]

They will encrust the new base fast. Tissue recovery can be measured in days (in my tank). The pic shows a 7 day old mounting- already starting to encrust the putty.

[bawater]

note that there are a few kinds of sea fans-(i mostly play around with sea whips).

Deep water & shallow water gorgonians. they do have different care requirements with regards to water temp.

The research of the the specific one that you keep (or intend to keep) is up to you.

[Dinosaur]

gives then super strong current

I place mine inches away from the exit of the powehead

and feed them with DT lives

they will open like nobody business

[Dinosaur]

another one

[Dinosaur]

another one

[PornStar]

nice!

[FuEl]

Try feeding cyclops..they will eat that too..