Goniopora
 

I have been reefing for over a year now, and have been pretty successful at keeping corals. I just bought a beautiful Goniopora frag for $24.99. The shop owner told me that he hadn't been giving it any special attention, though I'm sure he at least used filter feeding food. I bought some Reef Roids and I have heard good things. So now for the questions,
1. How can I determine the species? I will try to include an image.
2. How can I tell if they are happy?
3. What is the formula for long term success with these? Low nutrients? Feeding? Something else?

Thank you for any help that you can provide.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2

It looks like a goniopora pandoranis. I am not sure if it is written like this :). If it is fully expanding, it means it is happy. Check for tissue recession as it can sometimes have tissue recession while the rest of the coral looks normal.

My experience with Gonis is that they require more nitrate and phosphate than most LPS corals. I nature they are found in lagoons, so it would explain this requirement. That is an issue in an aquarium because it causes algae. It also makes them hard to keep with any SPS coral (and some LPS) since they are on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Feeding is definitely a way to get around this although I am not sure how much of it is eating and how much of it is just absorbing the resulting N and P.

Do not keep it too close to that frog spawn , it will sting it .

I have a goniopora in my tank and it has been happy and healthy for a long time. They are pretty picky with the water quality but they do like some nutrients in the tank. In the wild, they live in very nutrient rich water. I recommend medium to high flow, medium light. I would also feed them very small particulate foods multiple times a week (I just feed reef roids). They are very aggressive corals, so i would keep it away from other corals in the tank as it could sting them. If you have a clownfish in the tank they will probably try to host it but this often results in the goniopora closing up.

Attachment 388351

Too close to the Hammer!

Pretty sure it's an Alveopora sp. I had one years ago and killed it when I put a bio reactor inline to my tank. I have been looking for one ever since but is hard to get them in Oz. They love dirty tanks (high nutrient)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alveopora

looks like goni to me.
easy to tell the 2.
alveopora 12 fingers
goniopora 24 fingers

Its a goni, not an alveo.

Alveopora are easier to take car of compared to goni.

i see Alveopora sp all the time in sydney

looks like I have to go to Sydney.

Myy experience with Goni’s is a tad different. I have had a piece of red goni for 4 years now in my sps tank. Started small now its twice the size of a softball. I cook mine at the top of my 220 (i run an ati 8 bulb 80watt fixture). I will attribute part of my success to the red goni is i feed mysis shrimp to my fish almosy daily and definitely some mysis get in the tenticles....and like someone said, they are very aggressive. Can kill a coral in hours if its touching it...

Rich

Gonios are easy to keep. I have a red ORA head that grew from the size of my thumbnail it is now the size of a soccer ball. medium light, medium flow. good tank chemistry. i keep alk at 9 calcium around 350-400. mg around 1300-1400. they enjoy the surge from my wave maker-- good movement. they enjoy mysis occationally. 2 perculas actually hosted in this head....