Let's talk about corals to stock in a non-photosynthetic aquarium

[uhuru]

Wow never seen one of those in an aquarium before!

[GreshamH]

Originally Posted by uhuru

Wow never seen one of those in an aquarium before!

I've sold plenty while in wholesale and attempted a couple myself. They perished, probably starved to death. I do know one LFS that had "success" with them, if you can call 6 months a success.

Now those were tropical species and not the temperate Ptilosarcus gurneyi posted above (ranges from Alaska to Baja). Not sure if a temperate species has a place in this forum though

[uhuru]

Can you PM me where I might be able to find one? It's not something I'm ready to attempt at this time but maybe in a few months once my bigger tank is up and running for a while.

[Aquabacs]

Get ready to have a DEEP sand bed in your next tank then. I will PM you my local shop gets them in once in a while or if I ask them

Mike

[uhuru]

How deep? Apparently they like low flow too? Hmmm might not be feasible.

[Aquabacs]

Atleast 8 inches
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...003/invert.htm

Mike

[uhuru]

Thanks for the link. I'll have to read it more thoroughly later. If I can set up a section in my tank with an 8" sandbed I might try it. Looks like they need lots of flow, which is good.

[ChadTheSpike]

You all are doing a really excellent job to educate and learn about azoo corals. Great job and great thread to all you guys!

[biloulou]

Originally Posted by ChadTheSpike

You all are doing a really excellent job to educate and learn about azoo corals. Great job and great thread to all you guys!

+1.

[dainiusiva]

you are doing a great job,educating the comunity,thumbs up!

[brandom]

Has anyone ever posted info on caring for spider sponges... i had a really nice one that did well untill cyano choked it out, I have a few frags and the original 3 inch long stub... i cut the entire branches off... it was about 13 inches tall with several branches. I have the cyano under control now that my ATS has kicked in full force... if anyone could point me towards more info i would really appreciate \
thanks
brandon

[SKremk]

• Haliclona sp.
• Blue Sponge
• Sponge
• Care Level: Intermediate
• Not sure how it reproduces but it can be fragged easily. Frags of the sponge readily attaches themselves to new locations within a few days.
  
• Coral Placement/Orientation: Anywhere with medium to strong flow. Direct light does not seem to bother the sponge.
• Feeding: filter feeder. I don't directly feed ths sponge, but I do continuously drip a variety of plankton foods.
• Notes: This sponge adds great color to any tank, and seems to be fairly hardy. Julian Sprung's Invertebrates reference guide says they live in direct sunlight in the wild. In my tank, I have some frags that are in shaded areas that do fine. A few small pieces also get exposed to air during water changes and don't seem to mind.

[mndfreeze]

Question: Sponges are a different family of animals but I seem to see a lot of cross referencing and discussion here, as well as naming? I am confused as to why sponges get brought up in discussion as if they are coral?

[uhuru]

AFAIK, that blue Haliclona sponge requires very strong lighting. There may be exceptions (such as yours) but it should be noted that many of these will not survive in a non-photo tank with dim lighting. I only stress this because sponges release toxins when they die.

[ladyshark]

It is my understanding that the blue sponge is very toxic to fish. I had one and it really blossomed and was easy to care for. Very pretty (but deadly...)

[Alunai]

I would definitely like to see more from this thread. It's good so far, but not enough. =)

[fullmonti]

Would like to hear about care for these.
I just lost one I got from DD 5-6 weeks ago. It turned loose of it rock in shipping, but started to attach to its new rock. It started to not stand up some times. Would not close up, just go limp. Eventually it was limp all the time, then it just shrivelled up. The rest of the tank was OK while this happened. The first one I got will some times go a little limp & if there is some thing I should be doing I'd like to know before it's a problem again.

[uhuru]

5-6 weeks is what I consider still the acclimation period for these corals. How many do you have and how are the rest doing? Did you examine it to see if it was infested with brittle stars, worms or crustaceans? I have one that had brittle stars all over it. I kind of waited to see if they were detrimental, and it turns out they were. Once I removed the brittle stars it expanded again within minutes and has been showing apparent "regrowth" since then. Did you take pics of it?

[fullmonti]

Unfortunately no pix. I had posted the question is this normal for them to go limp some times & no one seemed to think much of it, so I thought it would pass. It got worse really fast so never did photo it. I do look closely at the tank every day & there was no infestations, he just shriveled. Then small peaces started coming off, took him out at that point. I could easily caulk this up as an anomaly except my other one goes a little limp some times & don't wont a repeat.

[rhouse24]

Tagging along, would be interested in distichopora and dendronephthya care experiences

[Casy]

wooow very interesting and great info and pics!! it have help alot!! pplease keep coming more info!!!!!!

[cnkshelor]

thanks so much for this post! we have a simple fish only tank and are taking things slow since we are new to this but i'm super excited to find out we can have SOME corals. my friend told me about the sun coral and so i looked up what else we could house and loved what i found! thanks for the info!
-cassie

[CuttleKid]

Could someone please do a right up on sclero and dendro soft corals because im seriously debating picking up one from my lfs tonight.

Thanks

[slapshot]

About the best there is Cuttlefish. Not sure anyone really knows.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1935197


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[Uncko Macko]

Great thread. Thanks for the info.