Goniopora info ...

[Ice]

This past Saturday, I decided to take my 3 1/2 year old son to the only lfs that has SW fish for sale. Needless to say, he always loved to go there and see "Nemo" - it doesn't matter whether it was a Maroon, Tomatoe, or Ocellaris clown. He knows his clownfish by sight ! LOL !!!
Anyways, he had some nice stock and I had a nice opportunity to check out the new arrivals of marine fish & inverts I never get to see in person this time around. He had some peppermint shrimps, fire shrimps, sailfin tang (large), blennies, and a keyhole angelfish just to name a few new stock.

In one large tank, I saw this beautiful coral and asked what it was. I hope I heard him correct - he said it was a Goniopora. It was on attached to a piece of live rock in the sand and looked like mini xenia of sorts and was flowing (with the currents?). It was white with a pale-ish neon stems. Later that day, I looked up the name in one of my books the name but no pic : ( and the common name is called a sunflower coral.

I was so intrigued by it, I asked the lfs owner what type of lighting it required and he told me any lighting is fine - MH, VHOs, PowerCompacts, t-5s etc ...
Since it is late tonight and too tired to research more on it, can you tell me more about them and whether they are they good for beginner ? I'm sensing they're not. I've never heard of sunflower corals but they sure looked sweet & purdy sitting pretty in that tank. LOL !!! Just FYI - he's selling it for $75.

[Bear]

this?

[Reefneck]

Flower Pot Coral! Not known for living very long. Definitely not for a beginner. Short lifespan. And I sell them for $45, $75 is ridiculous!

[Bear]

either one is a little steep for me. I was looking at some frogspawn for $45...wow, lots of dough for the little coral. I've even seen brains up to $75.

[leveldrummer]

id pass, they look great, but like reefneck said, not the best, check into finding a frogspawn, hammer or torch, or even some blastomussa's all those look fantastic and are very easy for a beginner.

[TheOldSalt]

Flowerpots are notoriously hard to keep, since they have requirements not genarally met in most tanks. For starters, they need real sunlight, or at leat the infrared part of light which is lacking in most aquarium lighting.
They also like their water a bit dirtier than we want in our tanks, and they must be fed, and fed a lot.

Gonios are esy to ship and collect and thusly wind up in the trade a lot, but they should not be bought by most folks.

[Ice]

Yeah that's the one ! After doing alittle more research on the said coral this afternoon, they are certainly not a good beginner coral. It's just too bad they are just too fragile for the home aquaria. Very attractive though but it's just too bad they have a very short lifespan.

Thanks guys ! Sigh ...... they sure are purdy though ...

LOL !!

[im_a_clownfish]

speaking of gonapora...I have one and its not extending nearlyas much as it was in the lfs. I have a fair amount of flow on it (maybe too much?) but it doesnt extend very much. I've heard they only extend as far as they need to for food - so should I tone down the flow of water on it so it expands more and I get to see more of the coral and its colors?