Any info about NPS & Gorgonians

[wienerdog]

Are some hardier than others? Certain ones to avoid? Any personal experience?
I dont know much about them other than what I've read. I've learned in this hobby, experience far out scores any printed information!!!

 

[mnat]

I would probably avoid most if not all of them at this point. Gorgs need constant feeding and really specific feeding needs, most people who have success with them feed pretty much every hour with a complicated dosing setup (for the non-photosynthetic ones). They also have flow needs that are almost as high or more than SPS. Sun corals, dendros, rhyzos, spiralis gorg and the ones with bigger "mouths" need to be fed daily with target feeding. This can be difficult as some of them only open at night. I have had a dendro for three years that is doing well but I feed it every day. I got my first sun coral and have had it for a few months and it only opens generally after I feed which means I have to keep more food around to feed after it opens. Also cleaner shrimp and clean up crew love to try and steal food from them. My spiralis I have had for 2 years and again I feed it daily. Obviously the increased feeding can lead to higher nutrients which you have to take care of with water changes or increased mechanical filtration.

There are some photosynthetic gorgs out of the caribean that people have success with, they just need the increased flow not the heavy nutrient regime.

There is another guy I know of (not on the board but I see him all the time at my local LFS) who has an amazing gorg/NPS tank but his secret is he keeps small sharks and rays in there which produce huge amounts of waste which feed his gorgs. He is one of the few people I have even read about who can keep and grow some species of gorgs.

Just to show I am not fear mongering, here is a guy who won tank of the month with his NPS system and to show how he keeps it up.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month

 

[wienerdog]

I would probably avoid most if not all of them at this point. Gorgs need constant feeding and really specific feeding needs, most people who have success with them feed pretty much every hour with a complicated dosing setup (for the non-photosynthetic ones). They also have flow needs that are almost as high or more than SPS. Sun corals, dendros, rhyzos, spiralis gorg and the ones with bigger "mouths" need to be fed daily with target feeding. This can be difficult as some of them only open at night. I have had a dendro for three years that is doing well but I feed it every day. I got my first sun coral and have had it for a few months and it only opens generally after I feed which means I have to keep more food around to feed after it opens. Also cleaner shrimp and clean up crew love to try and steal food from them. My spiralis I have had for 2 years and again I feed it daily. Obviously the increased feeding can lead to higher nutrients which you have to take care of with water changes or increased mechanical filtration.

There are some photosynthetic gorgs out of the caribean that people have success with, they just need the increased flow not the heavy nutrient regime.

There is another guy I know of (not on the board but I see him all the time at my local LFS) who has an amazing gorg/NPS tank but his secret is he keeps small sharks and rays in there which produce huge amounts of waste which feed his gorgs. He is one of the few people I have even read about who can keep and grow some species of gorgs.

Just to show I am not fear mongering, here is a guy who won tank of the month with his NPS system and to show how he keeps it up.

http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index.php/current-issue/article/86-tank-of-the-month

Thank you. It is the same thing I've read over and over again. It seems as if it's almost a whole seperate hobby. I am definitely not interested in taking on something so fragile and time hungry at the moment.

 

[mnat]

Gorgs are tough because they are so beautiful but they are so hard to keep. I have fallen victim to their siren songs several times and no matter how hard I try I have not been able to keep them. They generally look great for a while and then slowly wither away over time.

 

[greybolt03]

I have purple gorg that I have had for almost 2 years and 3 tank moves very hardy and I've never fed it a thing I can frag a small piece if you want to try it If your ever up in central jersey (08816)

 

[Jcurry@wesketch]

To feed larger corals like Dendros, Sun Polyps and even brain corals that react slowly to food in the water, I would take a piece of 1/8" rigid air line and "drip" some of the juice from the defrosting food near the corals. Once their tentacles were extended then I would feed the defrosted food. To keep shrimp occupied you can stick a cube of freeze dried brine shrimp to the rock or glass which they'll munch on while the corals feed.

 

[howze01]

I have a black and yellow sun coral and a dendro. The dendro is always open so it doesn't pose much of a problem for me. The sun corals are a little harder but not much. My method if kind of like Jcurry's but easier. I use a little eye dropper-like thing that came with some test kits for feeding so once the food is done defrosting I take a dropper or 2 full of water and squirt it into the MP10 and wait. In about 10 minutes they're open and ready to eat. I also turn the pumps off for feeding so they've figured that out too. Aside from my zoas and palys, my NPS are my favorite corals!