Blue berry gorgonian care

[gorgoniansfever]

Thank you @gorgoniansfever for sharing this and @Elisabeth GER for writing it! I had no idea about this flow preference. That said, I have laminar flow areas of my tank within a generally turbulent flow design. So, turbulent flow aquarists do not necessarily need to exclude gorgonians from their stocking list on this basis; they just need to accomodate them.
Thank you for the insight!

You are very sharp-witted and have always given me so much valuable advice. I am truly happy to receive your any replies!

 

[gorgoniansfever]

The following link is to a series of articles recommended by an experienced French reefkeeper. They cover the fundamental knowledge of Octocorallia—of which gorgonians are a member. These four articles are truly comprehensive(1: Classification, anatomy – 2: Nutrition, reproduction – 3: Ecology – 4: Maintenance)

https://reeflexion.fr/octocoralliaires-3-ecologie/

 

[Elisabeth GER]

The following link is to a series of articles recommended by an experienced French reefkeeper. They cover the fundamental knowledge of Octocorallia—of which gorgonians are a member. These four articles are truly comprehensive(1: Classification, anatomy – 2: Nutrition, reproduction – 3: Ecology – 4: Maintenance)

https://reeflexion.fr/octocoralliaires-3-ecologie/

Thank you very much—that's a great resource; I'll make a note of it!

 

[gorgoniansfever]

There is a Taiwan reefkeeper's blueberry gorgonian released eggs, he actually just recently bought it and brought it home, his photo is very precious:

 

[gorgoniansfever]

I have been keeping this Blueberry Gorgonian for over 8 months now. However, its condition has noticeably declined over the past two months.

The daily polyp extension time—both on the main colony and around the base—has significantly shortened by 4 to 6 hours. Additionally, the polyp tentacles appear shorter than usual. I have also noticed some tissue/fiber loss around the base, though fortunately, no polyps have been completely lost yet.
Below photo is at 11, July 2026:

During this time, I tried increasing the flow and replacing the phosphate-absorbing media. This only brought minor improvements, such as slightly longer tentacle extension. I recently sent out an ICP test as well.
Tank water some parameters(in ICP TEST):
temperature : 23-24°C
nitrate : 0.8 ppm
phosphate: 0.017 ppm
Details ICP result in attached PDF file

Below movie shows blueberry gorganian updated status :

 

[Euphylliaphyle]

It looks like it has put on a lot of growth - congratulations on that! I haven't looked yet at the ICP. I'm not sure I could evaluate it properly because I know very little about this species. I think you are right to increase the flow, but may need even more. The branches are barely moving in the video. I'd increase flow again and if you don’t already, turn flow off for feeding to make sure every polyp gets fed. Good luck!

 

[gorgoniansfever]

It looks like it has put on a lot of growth - congratulations on that! I haven't looked yet at the ICP. I'm not sure I could evaluate it properly because I know very little about this species. I think you are right to increase the flow, but may need even more. The branches are barely moving in the video. I'd increase flow again and if you don’t already, turn flow off for feeding to make sure every polyp gets fed. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your good advice ! I will try more flow.

 

[gorgoniansfever]

Today was such a wonderful surprise! After taking the Blueberry out of the tank for a routine cleaning of its base stone and putting it back in, I was inspecting it to see if the cleaning was done properly. Suddenly, I noticed a tiny new branch growing from the basal disc tissue ! Since that area is usually surrounded by many polyps, and the new branch is still so small, it wasn't easy to notice before.

Thank you all so much for your valuable, key advice and ongoing care. Since I increased the water flow further last time, the coral's condition has improved significantly. The polyps are staying open for much longer, and the damaged basal disc tissue has largely repaired itself.

 

[gorgoniansfever]

According to online information and my discussions with some blueberry gorgonian keepers, the 3 key elements to keep them alive are:

1. intensive feeding
2. powerful water flow (which must be laminar)
3. excellent water quality.
   Since mid-March, the daily opening time of almost every polyp was cut in half. Attempts to increase feeding and further improve water quality brought no improvement. It wasn't until I doubled the flow rate that the opening time of the polyps increased very significantly. My aquarium is equipped with two 20W wave pumps. From March to July, the power of the pumps went from 30% to 100%, with three progressive increases (from 30% to 60%, then 80%, then 100%). Each time the same problem occurred, it was systematically and clearly resolved by boosting the current.

Since April, I have stopped giving CYCLOPS because some specimens are too large and the polyps cannot swallow them. I only feed with:

1. 0.4g of crushed fish food, with a particle size of 100 to 400 microns, mixed well with 300 ml of saltwater.
2. Three cubes of frozen baby brine shrimp (nauplii), mixed well with 400 ml of saltwater.
   For each feeding, I use 100 ml of this mixture, which is enough to target almost every polyps. I can thus do a total of 7 target feedings per day (one feeding every 20 minutes), and I feed them this way absolutely every single day.

fish food frozen baby brine shrimp