Rip Van Winkle
Active Member
Would do well with a controller.
Opinions on Food for a Blueberry Gorgonian?
- Thread starter ArtsyAxolotl
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YellowFinsReef
Active Member
I think you should totally try keeping it! Don't let the label of "expert only" deter you from it. From my experience, most of the time, "expert only" specimen refer to the feeding requirements unless noted otherwise such as space, temp, flow, finicky eater...etc.
I have a mixed variety of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic gorgonians (yellow finger, red, blueberry, frilly, candelabra, plumes...etc. The blueberry is absolutely one of my favorites! It reminds me of that one moment in the spring where all the flowers bloom in the trees, except the flowers on this tree stays on.
In terms of feeding, I don't feed them directly. I feel that in the past when I had spot fed them, they would close up before the food particles settled. I have two vortechs running so I usually turn them off and only let my return pump flow. I put the food directly on the return pump and just let the flow carry the food over.
I try to mimic what they would consume in an ocean, which consists of larvae, eggs, phyto, and all that good tiny particles, so I feed my gorgs with a mixture of frozen fish eggs, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze, PE Calanus, and tropic marin marine snow for smaller particles (I mix in oyster feast, phytoplankton, and dried coral powder foods). You can probably get by feeding 4x a day. I feed mines 6x a day and water changes 2x a week.
One thing that I do want to mention is that these gorgs do need a strong flow aside from the extra feeding requirements. Without the strong flow, I've seen in other tanks where the gorgs will not open and just melted away in a few days.
Let me know if this helps!
I have a mixed variety of photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic gorgonians (yellow finger, red, blueberry, frilly, candelabra, plumes...etc. The blueberry is absolutely one of my favorites! It reminds me of that one moment in the spring where all the flowers bloom in the trees, except the flowers on this tree stays on.
In terms of feeding, I don't feed them directly. I feel that in the past when I had spot fed them, they would close up before the food particles settled. I have two vortechs running so I usually turn them off and only let my return pump flow. I put the food directly on the return pump and just let the flow carry the food over.
I try to mimic what they would consume in an ocean, which consists of larvae, eggs, phyto, and all that good tiny particles, so I feed my gorgs with a mixture of frozen fish eggs, nutramar ova, cyclopeeze, PE Calanus, and tropic marin marine snow for smaller particles (I mix in oyster feast, phytoplankton, and dried coral powder foods). You can probably get by feeding 4x a day. I feed mines 6x a day and water changes 2x a week.
One thing that I do want to mention is that these gorgs do need a strong flow aside from the extra feeding requirements. Without the strong flow, I've seen in other tanks where the gorgs will not open and just melted away in a few days.
Let me know if this helps!
Last edited:
West1
Valuable Member
Any updates? I picked up a blueberry gorg and it’s been closed up for a couple days.
Been feeding phyto and oyster feast daily. Hopefully it turns around and starts to open! I have great flow in my QT tank.
Been feeding phyto and oyster feast daily. Hopefully it turns around and starts to open! I have great flow in my QT tank.
West1
Valuable Member
2 heads opened up and showing life! The rest of it is in bad shape.
I didn’t know you can’t expose them to air
ive been feeding phyto about 2 days after acclimation. I did reef roids from day one and they never opened up. I’ve been squirting oyster feast for 3 days (2x per day) and one is either responding to the OF or it was strong enough to make the tank transfer.
The day I got them, they were open. Arrived in my tank closed and went back to the Lfs 2 days later and noticed his little colony looked like mine.
I hope they can pull through
I am curious if anyone has tried EasySps Evo Pro for nps gorg’s. I have that set up in a dosing pump already for my acros. I can’t say how beneficial it is but if its for sps it must be a small particle size.
Kayanarka
Peg Leg Reefer
I am digging up these posts as I have recently aquaired a blueberry gorgonian and am trying to learn as much as possible.
How long were you able to keep it going? If it truly needs high flow I would have to raise it higher into the light, would this be ok? I have it in a shaddd area right now. I created a feeding cup to place over it so it can get a concentrated blend of reef roids, phyto, fish eggs and two other filter feeder foods. I place the cup over it and let it stay for about 15 minutes or so.
To help with the mucus removal I blast it with a turkey baster once or twice a day.
Kayanarka
Peg Leg Reefer
I made a feeding cup for mine. It seemed to help some, but I think it is slowly withering away. I am not good about feeding it daily. I think the best way to keep one would be in a nano filled with meat eating corals and rock anemones that gets loaded with tiny food all day long and has solid nutrient export.
I bought some oyster eggs, which has food down to 1 micron in size. I am not sure how much longer it will last, I still see some polyps, but it is hard to keep up with him. Maybe if I was retired with an empty nest.
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