My first ever Goni!

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Good morning everyone! So I mentioned a week or so ago that a friend was breaking down their tank and giving me a pink Goni! Here it is in my tank for almost a week now. How does it look? I really don’t know anything about them.

Gumbies R Us · Mar 17, 2026

Congrats on getting a goni! I would love to get one, but my luck with LPS coral it would not do well, haha.

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Gumbies R Us said:
Congrats on getting a goni! I would love to get one, but my luck with LPS coral it would not do well, haha.

Thank you! Yeah, I am not sure why, but LPS seem to love my tank! But I have heard that Goni's can be tough. This one is aqua-cultured, so maybe that makes a difference in difficulty. Time will tell.

Marine Betta · Mar 17, 2026

Sophie"s mom said:
Good morning everyone! So I mentioned a week or so ago that a friend was breaking down their tank and giving me a pink Goni! Here it is in my tank for almost a week now. How does it look? I really don’t know anything about them.

Very pretty Goni. Looks fine to me. Is this one of the short tentacle varieties? If not, it could be extended more. It can take time for them to get acclimated. Mine like a good amount of flow and moderate light. You may want to consider dosing manganese or getting an ICP test to monitor it along with your other trace elements. Gonis need more manganese than most other corals for some reason.

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Marine Betta said:
Very pretty Goni. Looks fine to me. Is this one of the short tentacle varieties? If not, it could be extended more. It can take time for them to get acclimated. Mine like a good amount of flow and moderate light. You may want to consider dosing manganese or getting an ICP test to monitor it along with your other trace elements. Gonis need more manganese than most other corals for some reason.

Yeah that is what I read. So I did purchase some manganese, just haven't looked into dosing it yet. Thank you.

exnisstech · Mar 17, 2026

Looks nice! Goni is one I've never been able to keep. Most likely because I don't ICP and am lazy and not willing to dose something to satisfy one coral. I'm sure you'll do better. Not sure if its correct but I've heard that a red one was the first aquacultured and is supposed to be easier to keep than some of the others.

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

exnisstech said:
Looks nice! Goni is one I've never been able to keep. Most likely because I don't ICP and am lazy and not willing to dose something to satisfy one coral. I'm sure you'll do better. Not sure if its correct but I've heard that a red one was the first aquacultured and is supposed to be easier to keep than some of the others.

Thank you! Yeah, here's hoping! The way I see it with the manganese, it should benefit all the corals, not just the Goni, so I will give it a go!

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Marine Betta said:
Very pretty Goni. Looks fine to me. Is this one of the short tentacle varieties? If not, it could be extended more. It can take time for them to get acclimated. Mine like a good amount of flow and moderate light. You may want to consider dosing manganese or getting an ICP test to monitor it along with your other trace elements. Gonis need more manganese than most other corals for some reason.

So I just texted with the guy I got this from, and he said it's tentacles are long. So I am hoping it is just trying to get itself acclimated. I hear they can be very finicky about being moved around. It is a little close to an acan. The flow on it looks good. If I remember, I will post a video tonight. Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. I really want to give this little guy a fighting chance.

Marine Betta · Mar 17, 2026

Sophie"s mom said:
Marine Betta said:

Very pretty Goni. Looks fine to me. Is this one of the short tentacle varieties? If not, it could be extended more. It can take time for them to get acclimated. Mine like a good amount of flow and moderate light. You may want to consider dosing manganese or getting an ICP test to monitor it along with your other trace elements. Gonis need more manganese than most other corals for some reason.

Click to expand...

So I just texted with the guy I got this from, and he said it's tentacles are long. So I am hoping it is just trying to get itself acclimated. I hear they can be very finicky about being moved around. It is a little close to an acan. The flow on it looks good. If I remember, I will post a video tonight. Any advice I can get would be greatly appreciated. I really want to give this little guy a fighting chance.

It could still be acclimating. It took mine between 1-4 days to fully open after I first got them. Unless it’s right up against the acan, it’s probably not bothering it. It could need more flow. When gonis don’t open it’s usually because there isn’t enough manganese and/or iron, flow, and/or they’re hungry. Gonis need to fed at least twice a week. I spot feed mine reef roids and goniopower 3 times a week. Once they’re happy, Gonis grow pretty quick. Even though they are still frags, mine have doubled in size in the last 2 months. I keep mine in about 120-140 par with a good amount of flow. It’s the same general area where I acclimate my new montis and acros if that gives you an idea of how much flow they can take. I can try to post a video now just so you have a reference for the amount of flow I have on mine. If it won’t play, I can post it on YouTube later.

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Marine Betta said:
It could still be acclimating. It took mine between 1-4 days to fully open after I first got them. Unless it’s right up against the acan, it’s probably not bothering it. It could need more flow. When gonis don’t open it’s usually because there isn’t enough manganese and/or iron, flow, and/or they’re hungry. Gonis need to fed at least twice a week. I spot feed mine reef roids and goniopower 3 times a week. Once they’re happy, Gonis grow pretty quick. Even though they are still frags, mine have doubled in size in the last 2 months. I keep mine in about 120-140 par with a good amount of flow. It’s the same general area where I acclimate my new montis and acros if that gives you an idea of how much flow they can take. I can try to post a video now just so you have a reference for the amount of flow I have on mine. If it won’t play, I can post it on YouTube later.

that would be awesome! thank you!

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Marine Betta said:
It could still be acclimating. It took mine between 1-4 days to fully open after I first got them. Unless it’s right up against the acan, it’s probably not bothering it. It could need more flow. When gonis don’t open it’s usually because there isn’t enough manganese and/or iron, flow, and/or they’re hungry. Gonis need to fed at least twice a week. I spot feed mine reef roids and goniopower 3 times a week. Once they’re happy, Gonis grow pretty quick. Even though they are still frags, mine have doubled in size in the last 2 months. I keep mine in about 120-140 par with a good amount of flow. It’s the same general area where I acclimate my new montis and acros if that gives you an idea of how much flow they can take. I can try to post a video now just so you have a reference for the amount of flow I have on mine. If it won’t play, I can post it on YouTube later.

also, when feeding Reef Roids, do you make a paste and target feed them, or do you broadcast feed the tank

Marine Betta · Mar 17, 2026

Sophie"s mom said:
Good morning everyone! So I mentioned a week or so ago that a friend was breaking down their tank and giving me a pink Goni! Here it is in my tank for almost a week now. How does it look? I really don’t know anything about them.

View attachment 20260317_143114_61A7B63E-1E68-4D37-AEC3-0664ED3443B6.mov
For some reason, I keep getting booted from this thread, so I had to reply to the original post. I’ll upload the video to YouTube later if it won’t play.

steveschuerger · Mar 17, 2026

Very nice Goni . Historically I’ve had opposite problems . LPS including Gonis grow fairly to very well and any sps that isn’t a phora or digitata would be doomed. I just started building up a new garden after being away for a little while. There’s an Alveopora here as well.

Marine Betta · Mar 17, 2026

Sophies mom said:
also, when feeding Reef Roids, do you make a paste and target feed them, or do you broadcast feed the tank

Finally got it working again. I make a paste and target feed. It limits the amount you have to feed, and it ensures that every coral you feed gets some. Just don't make the paste too thick. I only broadcast feed amino acids (i.e. Red Sea AB+, Acropower, and Fuel).

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

Marine Betta said:
Finally got it working again. I make a paste and target feed. It limits the amount you have to feed, and it ensures that every coral you feed gets some. Just don't make the paste too thick. I only broadcast feed amino acids (i.e. Red Sea AB+, Acropower, and Fuel).

Thank you so much for your help with this!

Sophie"s mom · Mar 17, 2026

steveschuerger said:
Very nice Goni . Historically I’ve had opposite problems . LPS including Gonis grow fairly to very well and any sps that isn’t a phora or digitata would be doomed. I just started building up a new garden after being away for a little while. There’s an Alveopora here as well.

WOW! Looks great!