Hey NPS Keepers!
- Thread starter dyno
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shootingstar_reef
Active Member
I haven't found any NPS to be particularly sensitive to light
shootingstar_reef
Active Member
how long have yall had these gorgonians? I hear they usually don't survive past a year in hobbyist tanksThis is for you to see some is open and the other is closed my lights are off I just turned the room lights on to show you.
Theres maybe 3 polyps open on the back side on the big red one. The like 3 and a half inch yellow has all of its polyps extended.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
These have been in a couple months not a year yet. I've heard the same thing. I cater to mine and feed them I'm not sure every hobbyist that gets them trys to cater to them in their tank. They are more worried about the tank as a whole. Mine have grown since I put them in so they aren't just living. Their growing but we will see if they make it to the year mark.
I just walked to the tank and took this pic now. They seem happy in my tank as of now. They seem to like higher nutrients as well. At least in my tank. They don't love clean water. But someone else's may be different.
shootingstar_reef
Active Member
that's great to hear! I tried once a while ago, but lost a yellow gorgonian to cyano. I might try them again.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
@AquaSD usually has them for a good price. You can also get good size cuttings from them if you are scared of a frag. They usually have red yellow the other day I saw a grafted naturally red and yellow version that was cool. I think they are running a 30% off sale right now.
But yeah give them a try again sometime soon. I think with people using phyto more and smaller foods like reef roids and benereef and coral snow stuff they are easier to keep. They do like to eat though. Mine would eat 10 times a day if I let them.
OP
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dyno
Active Member
No way! Please post a tank shot. I am going to research the foods you use. Learned something new!
SauceyReef
Valuable Member
Is one type used for a specific reason, or coral type? I just ordered the Benepets Benereef 40g Jar
m0nkie
Active Member
Benereef is good for broad feed the entire reef. Sponge, NPS, SPS and LPS can all eat it.
Benepet the big pellets, you can feed to scoly or other LPS with a big mouth.
Way too expensive to feed fish
Benepet the big pellets, you can feed to scoly or other LPS with a big mouth.
Way too expensive to feed fish
SauceyReef
Valuable Member
I went to feed benepets for the first time today and was pleasantly surprised by this! Mind the red planaria I leave it in this tank as mandarin food.
Fat heads are amazing love this duo Conversation piece when out and open waiting to b fed.
OP
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dyno
Active Member
Impressive man!
OP
OP
dyno
Active Member
Let me know how it goes. Never kept a walking dendro but care should be similar to current corals. Lace corals are my favorite, there is someone keeping them on IG in a kreisel.
For clarification here, what lace corals are you both meaning? I ask because I've heard the term used for Pocillopora, a few different bryozoans, and Distichopora.
I'm assuming, Distichopora, but I figured I'd ask. For info on Stylasterid hydrocorals (including Distichopora):
Quote from this thread:(TLDR at bottom)
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any specifics about what feeds these corals need. However, knowing how these species work from an anatomical perspective, and knowing what some of their relatives eat may be helpful for figuring out exactly what to feed them.
Basically, these species have three types of polyps:
1) Gastrozooids (the stomachs of the colony; these are typically relatively large)
2) Dactylozooids (the food gathering/defensive polyps of the colony; these are typically much smaller)
3) Gonophores (the reproductive polyps; almost all Stylasterids are dioecious/gonochoristic, so each colony is either male or female)
Gastrozooids and dactylozooids are the important types here. Essentially, any "prey" needs to be small enough to be taken down by the dactylozooids and ingested by the gastrozooids. From what I can find, the gastropores (the holes the gastrozooids live in) are typically anywhere from ~100-500 microns in diameter (depending on species and the individual pore) and ~3x the diameter of the pore in length (so if the pore is ~150 microns in diameter, then I'd estimate the pore extends into the skeleton ~450 microns in length), and the dactylopores seem to typically be ~1/4 to 1/5 the diameter of the gastropores for Stylasterids (though a few species have substantially smaller or substantially larger dactylopores) and substantially shorter.
Unfortunately, I don't know the sizes of the Stylasterid gastrozooids themselves, so I don't know how large they can expand to be, and I don't know if they would pop out of their pores to feed or if they would prefer to feed while retracted (this would make sense to me given the calcium carbonate skeleton and specialized tubing to hold them, but I don't know for sure). This would likely be helpful information, but, as it is, I'd assume that the food needs to be able to fit into the gastropore (so I'd guess that the food could have a length that's approximately equal to the length of the gastropore tube as long as it's width is smaller than the diameter of the gastropore's opening), and I'd assume that - generally speaking - smaller is better (I'd probably aim to feed foods that are less than or equal to ~1/4-1/2 the estimated gastropore tube length, and no wider than ~3/4 the estimated gastropore diameter).
Based off of other hydrozoans wild diets, I'd assume these would prefer meaty foods (pods, Artemia, rots, etc.); I would not assume they're good at catching these foods, though, so I'd likely offer some live and some minced frozen or something. Regardless, live or not, phyto/gut-loaded feeds would be my go-to.
If you can observe the feedings with a video camera that's powerful enough to see the individual polyps moving about, that would be ideal for confirming if the specimens are feeding or not (telling if they're eating is a good first step; figuring out nutrition and other needs if it's eating but still dies is the next).
If you want the reasonings for these estimates explained, I can do that - I just figure this is long enough as is (especially with the links of relevant info below):
Global Diversity of the Stylasteridae (Cnidaria: Hydrozoa: Athecatae)
The history and rate of discovery of the 247 valid Recent stylasterid species are discussed and graphed, with emphasis on five historical pulses of species descriptions. A table listing all genera, their species numbers, and their bathymetric ranges are ...www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
(This last link is a PDF download; it's not about a Stylasterid species, but about a species from a different genus/family in the same suborder.)
The First Deep-Sea Stylasterid (Hydrozoa, Stylasteridae) of the Red Sea
The Stylasteridae, commonly known as lace corals, is a family of colonial calcifying hydrozoans mostly inhabiting deep waters. Stylasterids show a cosmopolitan distribution but, in some areas, they are characterized by low species diversity, such as in the Red Sea, where only a shallow-water...www.mdpi.com
Edit: I should add, that last study linked above may be particularly important for regulating healthy colony growth, as when the colony was fed, it produced gastrozooids without producing dactylozooids; when it was not fed, it produced dactylozooids without producing gastrozooids; so to get a healthy colony that's equipped to feed itself (i.e. one with both gastrozooids and dactylozooids), you may need to space out the feedings, only feed certain polyps in the colony, or not feed the colony to complete satiation each feeding.
TLDR; The feeding polyps' holes are typically ~100-500 microns wide and ~3x that width in depth/length. That's a rough estimate of the maximum possible food size for the coral. More realistically, I'd offer foods that are less than or equal to ~1/4-1/2 the depth/length, and no wider than ~3/4 the width. Gut-loaded (with phyto) pods (live or minced) or similar would be my suggestion to try for feeding. Watch the feedings if you can to see if the coral is actually eating.
Going DEEP - The deep sea (stylasterid) concept tank experiment
Hey everyone, this thread is to document my experiments with setting up a system dedicated to keeping stylasterid hydrocorals in a "deep sea" setting. To my knowledge this has not been done before, so I am happy to contribute this experiment to the reefing community. Note: This is still a...
www.reef2reef.com
dennis romano
Valuable Member
I've tried them a couple of times when I was running a NPS tank. They are beautiful, but impossible. Even when they die, they keep their color.
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