Goniastrea ID & Care Suggestions?

[tutmatt3]

Hey Guys,

Picked up this lil guy form Ultra Gem today.
As the beginner I am, viewing them in the softies section of the frags, thought it was some type of zoa family frag,but loved the color!
The owner said it was a 'toxic goniastrea'.
When tossing it into the tank after a bayer dip, I was shocked at how hard it felt, and not soft hahaha.
Researched, & looks like LPS. Any confirmations on it?
Also would love to hear any suggestions / tips for the lil guy. Looks like I'll need to feed it once a week or so, if I'm reading right. Looks like I should also keep other coral @ a safe distance.

Also, do you know roughly how fast they grow?
I know there are many variables involved, and I'm not trying to rush it's growth, but I'd love to keep an eye on it and see if its growing at a 'normal' rate, or not at all.
Read up with some people seeing no growth in months, and others with them doubling.

Camera Phone Photo @ Night - Will get an HD one in the day

Looks like it would grow into something like this yeah? Crazy!!!!

Seriously, I love the neon aspect of it. Definitely the biggest pop in my tank atm, even if it is a single head haha

Cheers!
Matt

 

[Joeganja]

Hey Guys,

Picked up this lil guy form Ultra Gem today.
As the beginner I am, viewing them in the softies section of the frags, thought it was some type of zoa family frag,but loved the color!
The owner said it was a 'toxic goniastrea'.
When tossing it into the tank after a bayer dip, I was shocked at how hard it felt, and not soft hahaha.
Researched, & looks like LPS. Any confirmations on it?
Also would love to hear any suggestions / tips for the lil guy. Looks like I'll need to feed it once a week or so, if I'm reading right. Looks like I should also keep other coral @ a safe distance.

Also, do you know roughly how fast they grow?
I know there are many variables involved, and I'm not trying to rush it's growth, but I'd love to keep an eye on it and see if its growing at a 'normal' rate, or not at all.
Read up with some people seeing no growth in months, and others with them doubling.

Camera Phone Photo @ Night - Will get an HD one in the day

Looks like it would grow into something like this yeah? Crazy!!!!

Seriously, I love the neon aspect of it. Definitely the biggest pop in my tank atm, even if it is a single head haha

Cheers!
Matt

Looks like it. What I would do would be to place it on a flat rock or find a large frag disc and glue it on there. Relatively easy lps to take care of. I would just settle it at the bottom for now and give it medium to low flow more towards the indirect medium flow and you should be fine. Place it towards the bottom of the tank maybe on the sandbed or have it sick on. A rock near the sand. They can be fed certain foods. For a while now I still use frozen brine or baby brine shrimp and that it out and feed my lps with it. There are other coral foods that your other coral would greatly benefit from.

 

[tutmatt3]

Looks like it. What I would do would be to place it on a flat rock or find a large frag disc and glue it on there. Relatively easy lps to take care of. I would just settle it at the bottom for now and give it medium to low flow more towards the indirect medium flow and you should be fine. Place it towards the bottom of the tank maybe on the sandbed or have it sick on. A rock near the sand. They can be fed certain foods. For a while now I still use frozen brine or baby brine shrimp and that it out and feed my lps with it. There are other coral foods that your other coral would greatly benefit from.

Awesome, really great info! Does this brain have a certain specific name that you know of?

I currently have that on it's small frag disc on this rock @ the bottom of my tank. This rock does not touch any other rock. The frag disc actually fit perfectly in a hole on that rock, no glue or anything needed. I can just leave it like that for now, yeah? (first picture above)

I'll look into some coral food from the LFS that would be a good universal one for most coral.

Any idea on growth rate?

Cheers!

 

[Joeganja]

Awesome, really great info! Does this brain have a certain specific name that you know of?

I currently have that on it's small frag disc on this rock @ the bottom of my tank. This rock does not touch any other rock. The frag disc actually fit perfectly in a hole on that rock, no glue or anything needed. I can just leave it like that for now, yeah? (first picture above)

I'll look into some coral food from the LFS that would be a good universal one for most coral.

Any idea on growth rate?

Cheers!

Photo is way too far away to tell. Growth rate all depends on good, sable water conditions, good lighting, and good flow. If you see at night when it's dark you see it's polyps extend it will kind of look like it's inside out trying to feed its weird. As far as name goes you'd have to wait and see what the rim around the mouth's true color is. And go from there. The person who sold it to you may be correct however a lot of places will slap their own name on a coral to raise up the price.

 

[tutmatt3]

Photo is way too far away to tell. Growth rate all depends on good, sable water conditions, good lighting, and good flow. If you see at night when it's dark you see it's polyps extend it will kind of look like it's inside out trying to feed its weird. As far as name goes you'd have to wait and see what the rim around the mouth's true color is. And go from there. The person who sold it to you may be correct however a lot of places will slap their own name on a coral to raise up the price.

For sure - I'll get a better pic going tomorrow. Nice to see more CA reefers on R2R =)

It was my first time dealing with a frag on a plug. I did a bayers dip for 15 min, then 2x aquarium water rinses for 15x min each to get the bayers off.

I was hesitant of putting the whole plug in the system, since I saw a lot of info online that people remove them in fear of introducing something - but I hope the bayers was able to get rid of most of the nasties.
Guess we'll find out later if any eggs or something else made it through :x

 

[Joeganja]

For sure - I'll get a better pic going tomorrow. Nice to see more CA reefers on R2R =)

It was my first time dealing with a frag on a plug. I did a bayers dip for 15 min, then 2x aquarium water rinses for 15x min each to get the bayers off.

I was hesitant of putting the whole plug in the system, since I saw a lot of info online that people remove them in fear of introducing something - but I hope the bayers was able to get rid of most of the nasties.
Guess we'll find out later if any eggs or something else made it through :x

You in NorCal or south? And you should be fine. As long as you did your homework.

 

[tutmatt3]

You in NorCal or south? And you should be fine. As long as you did your homework.

South. Close to LA

 

[Joeganja]

South. Close to LA

Ah okay. Well there are some local groups on there I'm sure you've heard on Facebook if you ever need to sell any of your stuff or need someone's on hand help.

 

[tutmatt3]

Ah okay. Well there are some local groups on there I'm sure you've heard on Facebook if you ever need to sell any of your stuff or need someone's on hand help.

No actually. Just been finding people here & on reef central
Any suggestions on fb groups?

 

[Joeganja]

No actually. Just been finding people here & on reef central
Any suggestions on fb groups?

Send me a message they don't like when we promote other pages. I'll give you the names of them.

 

[MermaidTail]

Awesome frag! I have one very similar- but it's the slowest grower in my tank. Everything else is rocking like weeds, but this little frag moves so so slowly. So have some patience!

 

[tutmatt3]

Thanks!! I'll leave it be =)

 

[tutmatt3]

Here's an updated pic w/ my Canon! Decided to razor blade it off the frag plug & direct glue it - JUST in case eggs (even though the plug did enter the tank overnight lol. Like I said.. learning tank!)

 

[MermaidTail]

Here's mine, about 8 months in my tank. Had three green "eyes" when I got it. (Sorry for crappy quality)

 

[tutmatt3]

Here's mine, about 8 months in my tank. Had three green "eyes" when I got it. (Sorry for crappy quality)

Looks awesome!! Oh man, so definitely a slow grower to gain two eyes and eight month. No worries! Do you feed him?

 

[MermaidTail]

Looks awesome!! Oh man, so definitely a slow grower to gain two eyes and eight month. No worries! Do you feed him?

Yeah I spot-feed reef roids and mysis

 

[tutmatt3]

Thought you guys might enjoy the update, it's gettin chunky now!

Only feeding 1/3 frozen cube food every few days (started to turn off skimmer/HOB filters for 30 mins, but keeping powerheads going while feeding - instead of direct feeding)

 

[tutmatt3]

Went feeding last night night, and tentacles were all over
But I noticed @ the end that there's this lil piece that looks like sand grain or something by the mouth
I tried hitting it lightly w/ a turkey baster, and it didn't move.

This was last night. Observed it still there this morning
Should I try to remove it w/ tweezers? Or just leave it be

 

[randy4083]

Thought you guys might enjoy the update, it's gettin chunky now!

Only feeding 1/3 frozen cube food every few days (started to turn off skimmer/HOB filters for 30 mins, but keeping powerheads going while feeding - instead of direct feeding)

What kind is that coral is that it's really pretty

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Goniastrea autralensis? My Goniastrea grows exceptionally fast for a brain coral. I have it about 3" off of the sand bed in the lower lefthand side of the tank. FWIW.