Location: Mt. Vernon, Ohio - Hey they have a LFS with SW Fish
Posts: 3,007
The flowerpot is a gonipora and they require fairly dirty water.
__________________ Shane
Hobby Experience - Jun 2005
Tanks - 10 Gallon Semi-Reef
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Flowerpot corals, or Goniopora are considered among the most difficult to keep. Over the last few years, there have been a few success stories.
Shane is correct, it does come from areas of lower water quality, where most other corals will not survive.
For most people, this means don't buy this coral no matter what the guy at the LFS says. About 98% of the time it will end up failing in less than 18 months.
If you are going to try it, you should have a specific plan of attack, especially in the area of feeding it. If you have really read up on it, and have a plan, then go for it. You might be one of the few that are successful.
But, shame on you if you just buy it with the attitude of "I'll just put it in the tank and see how it does". This just supports more destruction of the reef.
I believe that my experience with them over the years has led to my making these generalizations:
Goniopora and Protein Skimmers are not the best combination. Skimmers remove the floating food that they like to be in contact with all the time.
They also seem to do better when there are more than one and they touch. No one seems to know why. I do not know.
They need "dirty" or turbid water. Turbid is a similar word to murky. The cloudy murk has the particulate matter that they feed from.
So ask yourself: Am I ready to do water quality checks to make sure the water is murky enough to feed them but not to murky to cause an ammonia spike? Am I ready to keep the water murky to feed them?
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Here is a differing opinion I had read about goniopora and I found the article. Here is the reference from www.goniopora.org:
"WATER QUALITY
In just about every saltwater forum that I have read, somewhere within its contents it has been suggested that Goniopora corals love “dirty", unskimmed, or unfiltered water. I have not observed or experienced any truth to this at all; in fact, I have only observed the opposite to be true. In my experience, Goniopora prefer to live in CLEAN WATER. I refer to “clean” water as water that is free from containing ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, dead waste, and unseen decaying organic matter. When Goniopora are kept in clean water and target fed small foods several times a week on a regular basis, they will maintain a very consistent behavior of strong polyp extension and continued growth. It becomes easier to see the need for a water change or an extra feeding because the coral will not seem quite as "happy" as it usually does; this same behavior can be observed with many captive coral species. I believe that the "love of dirty water" philosophy mainly arose from the continual confusion and misunderstanding of the difference between "dirty" water and "nutrient rich" water as it relates to Goniopora. Nutrients for goniopora in the wild consist of various planktons, invertebrate larvae, and tiny eggs; not nitrates. Freshly dissolved foods in the water column and fish waste deposited directly on the coral by chance may provide a very small amount of nutrition in the reef aquarium, but those "foods" will soon be converted to ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate, which are not nutrients for Goniopora. Pollution is not the solution!"
Well I have had them for 4 years and no trouble. I think Turbid is the operative word. Wave action stirs up the particulates in the areas where they thrive and that in turn makes the water "look" dirty.
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My lfs (which i think is a very good one and the guy who has been running it for years knows what he is talking about) keeps them in stock. His look very healthy and one of them has been there for a while and looks great. He has a big filter system that doesn't have any impellers and he says that allows him to keep them becouse the phytoplankton does not get killed. I thought that was intresting. I personally haven't tried one but i will some time.
My lfs (which i think is a very good one and the guy who has been running it for years knows what he is talking about) keeps them in stock. His look very healthy and one of them has been there for a while and looks great. He has a big filter system that doesn't have any impellers and he says that allows him to keep them becouse the phytoplankton does not get killed. I thought that was intresting. I personally haven't tried one but i will some time.
While it is unlikely that I have been to this LFS. I also think it is most unlikey that the dealer is actually maintaining flowerpot corals, or Goniopora. This coral come is, and often looks good for months, and then dies. Unless the coral has been kept over two years, it can't be considered a success. However, there is always a possible exception.
Many LFS do stock this coral. In my opinion they should not, and only order it only when someone requests it. Flowerpot corals, or Goniopora is a rather common coral, and there is much too much of it in the trade.
If all the problems get solved with keeping it, so most people can keep it, then OK, stock it, but not until then.
Regretfully, there are a lot of dealers just interested in a few fast bucks.
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