Evening fellow reefers. I'd like to start by telling you a little about my large Goniopora. Roughly about six months ago, I was wandering around my LFS and an amazing Goniopora caught my eye. I did some research there on the spot and quickly learned that this coral is pretty difficult to keep long term. It was a beautiful specimen with a base about the size of a baseball and stalks measuring 4+ inches. The polyps were bright fluorescent green and overall it appeared very healthy. I figured, what the heck. I enjoy a challenge and I had some loose change burning a hole in my pocket, so I bought it and brought it home.
It remained closed for a few days, but then I started seeing some progress. It was opening up little by little and it was reacting well to target feeding. It took me a few tries to get the technique right, though. The only problem is, to this day, it has never opened up as fully as it was the day I saw it at the LFS, and I can't help but wonder why that was. I have two snowflake clowns that hosted it, but they're very gentle and after a week or so, it seemed to grow accustomed to their presence and no longer shrank at their contact. Since I've brought it home, it has reproduced twice. The first has a base size of a large marble already and its stalks are a little over an inch long, and the most recent one is about the size of a pea, still pretty small.
Well, I've recently upgraded to a larger tank and I've been ever so curious about my large Goni's predicament, so I decided to do a little experiment. I waited until my two clowns settled in and established their territory in the tank, which was right in the middle hosting the Goni. Today I removed the Goni from that spot and "hid" it from them on the other side of the tank. They found it of course, but didn't want to stay on that side so far from their comfort zone and they haven't bothered it yet.
Now, on this side of the tank, the sand bed is shadowed by my large Kenya Tree coral, and the flow is slightly less. I'm wondering if my Goni's polyps were extended so far at the LFS because of the lighting they were using. Kind of like an anemone will stretch its tentacles when the lighting is inadequate. Needless to say, my LEDs put off ample light compared to theirs and now I have a new set and these ones are the power houses of light fixtures. I'm conducting this experiment to see whether or not lower or indirect light with slightly less flow will coax my Goni to fully open, but is it even necessary for a Goni to open to the extent of it's abilities? I'm only going to keep this up for maybe a week unless I see some results, and I'll still target feed it Reef Chili so it doesn't starve. I just don't understand how it's healthy enough to reproduce, but not open the way I know it's capable of.
If anyone has some insight, research material, or personal experiences with these corals, I would appreciate if you shared with me.
It remained closed for a few days, but then I started seeing some progress. It was opening up little by little and it was reacting well to target feeding. It took me a few tries to get the technique right, though. The only problem is, to this day, it has never opened up as fully as it was the day I saw it at the LFS, and I can't help but wonder why that was. I have two snowflake clowns that hosted it, but they're very gentle and after a week or so, it seemed to grow accustomed to their presence and no longer shrank at their contact. Since I've brought it home, it has reproduced twice. The first has a base size of a large marble already and its stalks are a little over an inch long, and the most recent one is about the size of a pea, still pretty small.
Well, I've recently upgraded to a larger tank and I've been ever so curious about my large Goni's predicament, so I decided to do a little experiment. I waited until my two clowns settled in and established their territory in the tank, which was right in the middle hosting the Goni. Today I removed the Goni from that spot and "hid" it from them on the other side of the tank. They found it of course, but didn't want to stay on that side so far from their comfort zone and they haven't bothered it yet.
Now, on this side of the tank, the sand bed is shadowed by my large Kenya Tree coral, and the flow is slightly less. I'm wondering if my Goni's polyps were extended so far at the LFS because of the lighting they were using. Kind of like an anemone will stretch its tentacles when the lighting is inadequate. Needless to say, my LEDs put off ample light compared to theirs and now I have a new set and these ones are the power houses of light fixtures. I'm conducting this experiment to see whether or not lower or indirect light with slightly less flow will coax my Goni to fully open, but is it even necessary for a Goni to open to the extent of it's abilities? I'm only going to keep this up for maybe a week unless I see some results, and I'll still target feed it Reef Chili so it doesn't starve. I just don't understand how it's healthy enough to reproduce, but not open the way I know it's capable of.
If anyone has some insight, research material, or personal experiences with these corals, I would appreciate if you shared with me.
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