Gorgonians?

[icebear]

Should i even ask about them or are they way beyond my abilities?

What should i know about them if i would like to consider trying one?

Which ones are the most likely to be hardy if a beginner takes one on?

Which ones are "No Touchie" ?

this is kinda like asking about the seahorses, but i'm not totally sure what questions i should be asking- for expample the "Water Quality" questions, i'm sure there are more than a few things which thrive in perfect parameters, but can do well in tanks where there is a nitrate reading (like mine) and even some which may NOT thrive without at least a little bit of nitrate.... as in some cases water may even be "too clean", thats why i always

so, how do gorgonians stand on water quality?

Lighting?

Feeding schedule? (and how the heck do you feed a stick?)

Trace elements?

SG and Temp?


Behavior- do they send out stingy threads, do they only open their polyps at night?
Are they agressive?
Will they nuke a tank if they meltdown suddenly?
eg- if one appears in trouble can it recover with proper care or do they seem to 'suddenly' deteriorate before they can be rescued?

Rate of growth?

Substrate needs, CC, sand, BB, rock, other?


Thats all i can think of for now...

[icebear]

i must be typing in an alien language again

[adrianleewelch]

I dont have a good answer, but I got 2 of em with my live rock, one is dark maroon with white polyps, the other is grey with white polyps, both are 12 inshes tall with slender branches. when aquascaping I accidentally removed 4 inches of flesh from the maroon one, and It has completely regrown, and has gotten 1 inch taller, all in 4 weeks, both of these survived my cycle, so I would say that ther are very hardy, although they may be the exception. I wish I could tell you which ones they are exactly !! I have read that they dont tolerate exposere to air, but mine were shipped damp in a box from florida, also read that they dont like bright light, mine are under 400 watt mh's. Anyway I would have researched em more but they were a surprise, gulfview marine throws em in their liverock orders. Hopefully someone else will chime in here..

[CAT]

As I understand it, if the polyps are brown/tan then they're photosynthetic (relatively easy to keep). If they're bright colors like orange or yellow with white polyps, then they're filter feeders and more difficult to keep.

I have a purple ribbon gorgonian that has been doing well in my tank. They need a pretty good current for when they shed and decent lighting (I have 2, 65w p.c.'s on my tank). The polyps are out all day and mine is growing.

Some info on the type I have here...
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...=22&pCatId=608

HTH

[alaskaknucklehead]

Here is my fav coral in my tank. I had just fed my fish bout 30 mins before takin this pic 2nite. Ive had this critter about 4 weeks now, when I bought it was sold to me as a "creeping gorgonian" though after many hours of searching the net and all my books came to the conclusion there is no such name. I believe it is a purple finger gorgonian.
I had to include this pic to not only show it off but to show the brown polyps filter feeding, it eats flake too! I feed it plankton but it seems to eat about anything it can catch.
When I bought it it had been at my LFS for almost 2 months, one day I came in to check out the frag tank to find it completly closed up (however I never saw all its polyps open at the same time either) I was able to convince myself and the employee that it needed me, somthin of a rescue mission and got it for 20$ (they wanted 50$)
Brought it home and while acclimating it BAM! Polyps poppin out all over! It couldnt even wait to get outta the bag, I very rarley see it closed, even at night. Found out it is extremly sensitive to salinity when I had a top-off probs. Same with temp, one time my heater sensor went down, and it got all mad at me. Also discovered it loves a strong current. The bottom arrow is pointing to new branch it started growing bout 3 weeks ago and is now almost 2 inches long, the main stalk is also growing with cute little baby polyps on it so I figure I must be doin somethin right
well there is my gorgo story, hope mabye you can find somthin usefull outta it

[icebear]

Oh cool, they are neat looking..... i have no idea if i'd be a ble to keep up with one, but they would be cool to try

[m&m]

alaska,

that is a briarium if im not mistaken

[yardboy]

You might be right about that being a briareum. Gorgonians grow agonizingly slowly, even when healthy. I have a light purple one that has encrusted its rock and put up a side shoot about an inch long, all in one year! It looks quite similar to the encrusting briareum, which has a habit of overgrowing gorgonians so it ends up looking like one.
Brightly colored gorgonians are definitely to avoid, and because they are so pretty and common, they are often seen in the lfs.
I thought I would defy experience and get a leptogorgonia (type of sea fan) to grow. 8 months and it looked fine, but I noticed recently that one of it's branches is dead. Bummer.

[alaskaknucklehead]

pink briareum, thats it!
Thanks!!!
So Ice, did you see a gorgo at your LFS you liked??

[Madmike]

I have 2 non-photosynthetic gorgs, a yellow and a red with white polyps. They love cyclop eez and are doing very well for several months now.
Mike

[mapster]

Here's a good link on gorgo's

I have had success with Pseudopterygorgia bipinnata.

[Ranran]

I got this from a fellow reefer and had not done anything specific for its care. I find it to be a good grower for I have cut frags of of it a few times and it quickly heels.

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost...ef_006-med.jpg

Randy

[alaskaknucklehead]

Nice!! Man, look at them polyps, that is one heckofa happy gorgo!

[icebear]

Originally posted by alaskaknucklehead
pink briareum, thats it!
Thanks!!!
So Ice, did you see a gorgo at your LFS you liked??

well, no i wish there was more variety up here...but i always liked the shape of the ones that fan out all nice and pretty (its about as close to frilly lace as i can handle).... i figured if some were fairly easy to care for they might be worth a try, just for somethign a little different.