Experiences with elegance?

[MmeAssoc]

Hi everyone,

I've just set up a tank, and I think I'm awhile off from adding any corals, but I'd like to hear what people think of elegance corals.

They're one of the corals that inspired me to start a saltwater tank - I think they're absolutely beautiful!

But since becoming more active on the forums, I have heard that they are very 'aggressive' and might even kill and eat fish. Has anyone had this experience? Any regrets about adding an elegance to your tank?

They also seem to get very big - my tank has a 90cm x 50cm footprint, do you think an elegance would look cramped in that sort of space?

Many thanks for any thoughts you can share!

 

[rhostam]

Um , they’re beautiful. I have two. A black and a teal and turquoise one. I’ve never seen them react to fish; at all. Mine caught false peppermint shrimp that kept stealing food from them. Hehe. They certainly like to spread out.

I’ve read that they are known to feed on snails that mistakenly slide over them.

Indonesian sourced ones developed a reputation from getting sickness similar to euphyllia’s brown jelly disease. I’m not sure you can still get them, but something to think about if you have others and don’t quarantine.

 

[Spieg]

I got a really large one (25-30") for free 15 years ago. The owner was giving it away because it was killing his fish. I kept it in a tank with large groupers and triggers and it was fine, but I never tried any smaller fish based on its history.

 

[Koty]

My expirience is that the issue is less their agressivness but rather that they are much less forgiving to parameter fluctiations especially KH. They do spread and can get very inflated. And my expirience is that they may rely less on photosynthesis and more on actual feeding. Small pieces of Mussles IME are a favorite food. They do change shape between day and night. And they seem to like it when i stir the refuge with a strong flow to raise the detritus to the water column. Look into their natural habitat and continue from their. I already lost two but my third seem to do very well at the moment. That keeps me very alart to how it is doing.

 

[Just a Wrasse.]

Um , they’re beautiful. I have two. A black and a teal and turquoise one. I’ve never seen them react to fish; at all. Mine caught false peppermint shrimp that kept stealing food from them. Hehe. They certainly like to spread out.

I’ve read that they are known to feed on snails that mistakenly slide over them.

Indonesian sourced ones developed a reputation from getting sickness similar to euphyllia’s brown jelly disease. I’m not sure you can still get them, but something to think about if you have others and don’t quarantine.

agreed, I haven't lost more then a shrimp either. (yet)

 

[Mflores888]

I have had elegance from Australia and Indonesia in the past. They were pretty chill and opened up really well. I didn't feed them and they just caught the fish food, but once they got to be about a year I sold both of them. About 7 months ago I got one from Taiwan and it is absolutely different from the Indo or Aussie one's. Today I picked up a gold tip elegance and I'm hoping it will get as big as my current one.

I have kept them usually in areas with a little shade and lower flow. Also keep them a bit away from rocks as sometimes they can extend to much and cut the tentacles on rocks