Hi ya uurt
New polyps on a colonial animal might better be descruibed as growth, rather than reproduction --the latter in
Goniopora's case involving either sexual broadcast (the polyps releasing stuff into the water), or asexual 'fragmentation' which involves the
mother colony developing globular bumps of skeleton covered with live tissue that eventually separate from the parent as 'polyp balls'.
Gonio's are a tricky animal to be keeping --their nutritional requirements are poorly undrstood, and so we have many, many reports of specimens doing fine for several months, then suddenly dying, with all symptoms pointing to malutrition.
The few analyses of Gonio polyp gut contents suggest it chows on both zooplankton and phytoplankton, with the former including tunicate, ascidian, even sponge larvae. A refugium designed and stocked to regularly produce such bounty would probably help. If your live rock is biodiverse and remains so, that might be enough.
But keep in mind, the odds are HEAVILY against successful husbandry exceeding 6 months. To others thinking about purchasing a
stony coral, until
Goniopora's dietary and metabolic requirements are better understood, I'd recommend trying other coral species instead.
hth
