How long until my coral starts growing?

[flamingo]

Just make sure your tank is stable and you do as much research on it as you can. Just because it's labeled as advanced doesn't mean it's almost impossible to keep, trust me lol.

I'd love to have a blue tunicate coral, but not exactly too keen on paying 80 bucks for it to be shipped here though from a website. I'm mainly into soft corals/ filter feeding corals and inverts, most stony corals are somewhat..odd looking to me. So far from what i've seen, seachem's reef iodide is one of the best things i've ever bought for them. Place some of that in, mushrooms get twice as big and brighter, xenia splits about 4 times in 2 days of being in my tank, sea pens come out more, macro livens up, and stuff just starts growing more. That's why I suggested you have iodide on hand . Supposedly it helps with healing, growing, coloration, reproduction, etc. in most inverts and corals (especially soft corals, anemones, etc).

[gdwb10101]

True. I did leave that out.

Next time im in Jacksonville, ill stop by. What is the name of your store?

Honestly, I have just been filter feeding and not done anything special and the coral is doing fine (or it appears to be). I guess I left it out because i'm not advanced and its doing well. Not to mean that the statement is wrong, becuase it probably is for advanced reef-keepers, but just saying that its going well.

BTW how is your seahorse tank? I was thinking about maybe doing a small 5 or 10g tank. I know absolutely nothing about them, so yes i will be doing some major research, but how is everything with that? Is there any special equipment that you need to buy for seahorses? Or is there a certain species which are easier to care for? Please let me know some basics or can you refer me to a good website? Mind you that if I do a seahorse tank, it will be started in the future. When the funds pick up again.

I work as a soccer referee and would like to say that for those who are interested in the sport and would like some extra cash, it is something to look into. I usually do boys U15 and younger. When I do a center, the pay is $35 for like 1 hour and 10 min. And a linesman gets half of that, figure about $12-$13. Also, you get a workout at the same time! I'm tight on cash now because it's not in season...yet. In a couple weeks the money will begin to flow again and I will be more able to buy for my fish.

[Reefneck]

I'm at Dan Co Fish Tails in Orange Park Fl. (Just outside Jacksonville) when I am not stuck in this Blasted Hospital.

Success with a coral is based over long term.....Years.....So being an Advanced Aquarist Species means that unless you know everything possible about it's needs it won't survive long. It may look good now but base that on appereance in 6 months to a year. Even the experts are not assured of keeping them alive for long.

Did you know that ALL Anemones are considered advanced species? In the wild, An Anemone would outlive us and our grandkids. People claim success if they keep one alive over a year in an aquarium. It's a shame really.

[gdwb10101]

True, i wish we could learn the secrets and keep all animals properly and let them live as long as possible. I hope that the coral survives for many years, but i have had it for a couple months and its doing better than when i received it.

Off topic, but is there such thing as green coralline? I know about the purple, which i have a lot of, but what about green?

[leveldrummer]

coraline comes in tons of colors, red, blue, green, yellow, i have tons of pink and purple on my rocks, but only green on my glass so far, its still a new tank, so im not too worried.

[flamingo]

A 5-10 gallon tank won't cut it for most seahorses. Some like capensis, whitei, and dwarf seahorses can be kept in smaller tanks but they're harder then the bigger species. Capensis and whitei need a chiller (temp around the 60's) and are hard to come by, occasionally you MIGHT find some, but it's a rare chance. Dwarf seahorses need, emphasis on need, at least 2-4 feedings a day of BBS (baby brine shrimp) the thing that makes it even harder is the fact that they have to be 5 hours old or younger to provide any nutrition. While older brine shrimp do have some protein, fatty acids, etc. they aren't in numerous quantities to sustain a full, healthy lifespan.

If you plan on getting erectus, kuda, reidi (hardier and bigger species that are commonly found) you'll need a 29 gallon minimum.

Just remember they are not cheap. You'll end up paying 50 or more for a CB or captive bred specimen. And don't go looking at ebay or aquabid, that's not the greatest place to look. Not only do they sell just for color; something that they can change at any time, but they're quite possibly wild caught or tank raised. Your better off buying from a reputable dealer, etc. There are cheap captive bred black and white erectus on aquabid, but they're too small to be shipped.

Sorry I typed a lot but i'm bored and felt like typing . You can also check out my article on them and if your interested in dwarves, check out my profile on that also lol. I'm about to re-write the seahorse article so that may also be a possibility to look at. Seahorse.org is THE GREATEST place to start. Out of all the other forums dedicated to seahorses i've been to, this one is the most user friendly, informative, and easiest forum. They KNOW they're stuff, and are also more than willing to share it. Other ones are too power hungry and aren't that "knowlegable".

HTH!

[gdwb10101]

Thanks so much for the info. I too like to type. The reason that i said 5-10 gallon tank was because i only was looking at the dwarf seahorses, which someone said could be housed in 5-10 gallon tanks. But i didn't know that they had to be fed BBS several times a day which would be quite hard considering I will be at school.

Anyways, i am going to do some reseach about the larger species that you recommended. BTW flamingonhot, what kind of seahorse tanks do you have? Let me know b/c if it sounds cool, i might set one up like yours. Thanks again

[flamingo]

Umm..right now I only have a 30 gallon tank with a male reidi in it (hippocampus reidi). I'd have more but I don't have much money and i'm saving up for a different project.

It's mainly black sand, live rock, some soft corals, three types of macro just starting to grow, and an HOB filter.

I'll try getting a picture of it...still can't find the camera.

[gdwb10101]

sounds good. The only question i have is that in the site you recommended and several other websites that i briefly visited, it said that sponge filters were better than some hob filters, because the hob are strong and may make too much flow or suck in the baby seahorses if they mate. Your thoughts?

[Fishfirst]

yes the filter can suck BABY seahorses into them, however, if you go to www.seahorsesource.com you can get quality tank raised seahorses that are sexed (I chose all females) from Dan...