Mai i know....

[XiaoBaiTu]

May i know what is the name of this coral ?

what is requirement to make it grow healthy in the tank ? thanks

[veliferium]

WAh picture too big liao...

BTW,its a goniopora,a LPS...VERY FEW people have surviving specimens of these in their tanks mainly beacause they come from nutrient rich waters and our heavily skimmed tanks can't sustain these.....

[Alvin Tan]

bro...plz resize the pictures that you wan 2 post next time..

[diabolus]

WAh picture too big liao...

BTW,its a goniopora,a LPS...VERY FEW people have surviving specimens of these in their tanks mainly beacause they come from nutrient rich waters and our heavily skimmed tanks can't sustain these.....

i dun see why the gonio is as difficult as you mentioned?

[iantoh]

hi all,

the goniopora is a difficult species. it may survive fair enough for about 8 months or so, but it generally recedes and wastes away within a years time, so having a gonio specimen that extends its tentacles for half a year doesnt count as succeeding in their care. youll need to observe growth either by encrusting or budding inorder to ascertain good health.

gonioporas, at least the one in the pic above, the stokesi species, come from relatively slow moving lagoonal areas where water flow is gentle and nutrients are rich. phytoplankton, in particular, is rich in such areas. gut anaylsis from tissues excised from wild goniopora colonies reflect high phytoplankton ingestion and that their photosynthetic rate increases with feeding. that is, it cannot meet its carbon budget (nutritional needs) solely by photosynthesis so has to supplement it with some other source of food. and the foods it is able to ingest are below 50microns so primarily phyto and invertebrate larvae.

therein lies the explanation as to why gonioporas are difficult to maintain long term in captive tanks. they require more nutrient rich waters than is the case in most reefers tanks. often, as a result of over-skimming. if youd like to keep a goniopora, try to dose live phytoplankton daily at the start of the lighting cycle so the phyto will have the chance to reproduce and help reduce some nitrates and phosphates too. and try to leave the colony on the sandbed instead of upon rockwork as they are easily damaged should they fall and scratch against rocks, etc.

if youre new to the hobby, pls do wait till youve gotten the hang of water quality maintenance before setting out to get a goniopora. they'll require water with a ph of >8, >8dkh, and >350ppm calcium. if youre smitten with gonios, and must have one, pls try to look out for the branching species, "Goniopora pandoraensis", as these are easier to have thrive.

some great online articles for your reference:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/dec2002/invert.htm

http://www.amdareef.com/news_2001fall.htm

http://www.reefs.org/library/article/r_toonen20.html

i presently run a custom three feet goniopora system but its by no means perfect, and growth is really slow with only one new bud to show for almost a year of my care, but my branching one is doing great. if theres anything more i can help with pls feel free to pm. keen to hear of another gonio enthusiast ya!

cheers,

ian

ps: just a photo of my system: (the stokesi is the colony bottom left)

[cityofangels]

Is a Goniopora or Alveopora? Looks more like an Alveopora, with 12 tentacles.

Just my 2 cents.

[limbssg]

Alveopora Coral, 12 tentacles per polyp

Goniopora, 24 tentacles per polyp