Flowerpot from Meeting

[chauwall]

My flowerpot frag that I got from the meeting is looking beautiful with all polyps extending. However as I research its needs, it says:

The Flower Pot Coral is aptly named. The polyps of this coral look like tiny flowers. <u>Unfortunately, this coral can be difficult to care for</u>; so despite its stunning appearance, it may not be appropriate for every aquarium.</em>


Research says the red colored ones are the less difficult and the green ones are the MOST difficult. So while I certainly appreciate the club and the sponsors for donating the coral, why are we giving frags of coral out that are considered advanced and difficult? I am hoping that I can provide a good home for the little guy. Why are flowerpots considered so difficult and are there any feeding requirements that are essential to its survivability? Any advice appreciated.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

Chau-

The corals are not donated, they were purchased by the club. In this case, as Philip did not have his operations in order, we were required to acquire the corals from the wholesaler and hold them here in Atlanta. Raj donated his time, equipment, resources, and effort to hold the corals for two weeks. However, as with many wholesale shipments, unless you fly to LA to pick the corals yourself, they send what they want, and this usually includes the less desirable corals. In this case, we did get Goniopora. It has historically done poorly in the home aquaria, and there is no real rhyme or reason to why they do better- it is all speculation. Some people keep it for years and years, while others have it crash quickly. Again, there is a lot of speculation to why this may be- dirty water, feedings, etc, but again, it is all speculation.

In response to the question of why ARC is giving out corals that are difficult to care for- what were we supposed to do with it? We cannot gauge and qualify each person getting a free coral fragment to see if they have a suitable system or are capable of caring for the corals we offer. Some people may be able to care for this species easily, some may not. Just as with any SPS, or other coral we offer. I hope this answers your questions. Thanks.

 

[jesspete]

On that note, how satisfied would everyone have been if we only gave out great beginner corals. How many people would show up for xenia and leathers only!? If nothing else, most of you now have something you can trade with.

 

[thewarbrd]

I think a lot of us newbies expected the meeting to be different than it was based on descriptions of prior years. Get a hand full of tickets, hard/rare frags cost more tickets, beginner/common cost less tickets and we would get what our experience would tend to keep alive. Maybe it was different when the rush started and changed as the pickings thinned out, maybe it was done the way it was because of what the order netted the club. Regardless, the effort and coordination was incredible and I intend to get there early and help next year!

We seem to have a good 'in' with a wholesaler now with the Ric power buy, perhaps next year they, or even one of our sponsors, can cherry pick colonies that would be better suited to easy/intermediate/advanced tanks for the club to buy vs sending a wholesaler a wad of money and just 'get what we get'?

And yeah, trade-fodder is never a bad thing.

 

[george]

Here's some articles I found interesting about keeping Goniopora:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2</a>

[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php</a>

 

[jesspete]

Rich said goniopora sounds like an std and he doesn't want it! Too bad! I already got it, so now he does too!

 

[ralph atl]

George;292423 wrote: Here's some articles I found interesting about keeping Goniopora:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2</a>

[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php</a>[/QUOTE]



gonipora is gaining a lot of ground in survivability in recent years. I would research articles after 2003-2004, and try to figure out how to meet it's needs like most living things.

 

[chauwall]

Thanks Jeremy for the explanation. I was not aware of the methods ARC used to acquire the corals. And I did not know how wholesale shipments are ordered. That is why I asked the question. Obviously countless time, money, and efforts are put forth by many members volunteerily (is that a word?) to make the meetings possible. And I certainly appreciate it.

So, here's hoping that whatever the speculation of how to keep flowerpots exist in my tank. :cheers: And if so, I'll be the flowerpot whisperer!

jmaneyapanda;292369 wrote: Chau-

The corals are not donated, they were purchased by the club. In this case, as Philip did not have his operations in order, we were required to acquire the corals from the wholesaler and hold them here in Atlanta. Raj donated his time, equipment, resources, and effort to hold the corals for two weeks. However, as with many wholesale shipments, unless you fly to LA to pick the corals yourself, they send what they want, and this usually includes the less desirable corals. In this case, we did get Goniopora. It has historically done poorly in the home aquaria, and there is no real rhyme or reason to why they do better- it is all speculation. Some people keep it for years and years, while others have it crash quickly. Again, there is a lot of speculation to why this may be- dirty water, feedings, etc, but again, it is all speculation.

In response to the question of why ARC is giving out corals that are difficult to care for- what were we supposed to do with it? We cannot gauge and qualify each person getting a free coral fragment to see if they have a suitable system or are capable of caring for the corals we offer. Some people may be able to care for this species easily, some may not. Just as with any SPS, or other coral we offer. I hope this answers your questions. Thanks.

 

[skriz]

thewarbrd;292412 wrote: I think a lot of us newbies expected the meeting to be different than it was based on descriptions of prior years. Get a hand full of tickets, hard/rare frags cost more tickets, beginner/common cost less tickets and we would get what our experience would tend to keep alive. Maybe it was different when the rush started and changed as the pickings thinned out, maybe it was done the way it was because of what the order netted the club. Regardless, the effort and coordination was incredible and I intend to get there early and help next year!

We seem to have a good 'in' with a wholesaler now with the Ric power buy, perhaps next year they, or even one of our sponsors, can cherry pick colonies that would be better suited to easy/intermediate/advanced tanks for the club to buy vs sending a wholesaler a wad of money and just 'get what we get'?

And yeah, trade-fodder is never a bad thing.

Last year the club opted for some high-end corals and instituted a point system. Obviously, the point system took much longer to distribute the corals and the frags were tiny. Rather than having tiny frags, we tried to get nice corals that we could have larger frags of and keep the distribution simple.

As Jeremy said, we ordered from a wholesaler and didn't get exactly what we thought we would get. It's common practice with wholesalers to substitute items. Also, you can't cherry pick them unless you are a very large customer and are in LA.

Having said that, we may have a surprise for the members later...

 

[chauwall]

Awesome articles George. Everyone should read this regarding flowerpots.

George;292423 wrote: Here's some articles I found interesting about keeping Goniopora:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2">http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2</a>

[IMG]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php">http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/nftt/index.php</a>[/QUOTE]

 

[crew]

so the corals recieved are completely random??

cause if you could get the same amount of everything you could just order three kinds of coral and everyone gets one of each

 

[crew]

by the way, while im thinkin about it, how fast does porite grow?? cause mine is a nice yellow color, but still the same size as when I got it.. I imagine its some sort of SPS so it will probably grow slower?

 

[jmaneyapanda]

In past years, Philips business was in operation, and he was able to acquire corals, and cherry pick for us. However, Philip is just starting his operation in Florida this year, and as a result, he has no corals in possession, nor ability to hold. So, this year, we had to skate on a whole new patch of ice. Typically Philip can get us whatever we want, and he simply eats the rest of the lower grade, lower quality corals (not literally). However, this year, we needed to accommodate this ourselves. The consistent issue to address, though, is what caliber of corals to get. Do we get high care, premium SPS, or medium care LPS, or low care GSP, etc? And how much of each? As you can see and imagine, it is a very tricky ordeal. This year, we just had an additional curveball thrown in the requirement to acquire and hold the livestock ourselves. Without doubt, if it werent for Raj, this meeting wouldve been impossible.

 

[crew]

well it worked out nicely

 

[thewarbrd]

It makes more sense to me now the way this years was, I didn't realize it was a break from the norm. Thanks for the history lesson, I didn't mean to step on any toes.

 

[ralph atl]

jmaneyapanda;292544 wrote: In past years, Philips business was in operation, and he was able to acquire corals, and cherry pick for us. However, Philip is just starting his operation in Florida this year, and as a result, he has no corals in possession, nor ability to hold. So, this year, we had to skate on a whole new patch of ice. Typically Philip can get us whatever we want, and he simply eats the rest of the lower grade, lower quality corals (not literally). However, this year, we needed to accommodate this ourselves. The consistent issue to address, though, is what caliber of corals to get. Do we get high care, premium SPS, or medium care LPS, or low care GSP, etc? And how much of each? As you can see and imagine, it is a very tricky ordeal. This year, we just had an additional curveball thrown in the requirement to acquire and hold the livestock ourselves. Without doubt, if it werent for Raj, this meeting wouldve been impossible.

I thought the ARC organization did a stupendous job. I went to basically socialize since i didn't have any room in my tank for any frags (I still have my tickets!), However, for the ARC to host 250 or so people, and give out 1,000 or so LIVE frags that were shipped to ATL 2 weeks prior, basically cut to order and then mounted, ALL FOR FREE (well.....), is just operationally, a very, very difficult task that was executed in the most professional & smooth manner as possible. Obviously, the people that organized that event were operators at the highest level possible. It takes a lot to impress me (as an operations GM), but I was impressed. I can't say enough. I'll leave it at that.

 

[jesspete]

Thanks, Raj!

 

[dannybradley]

mysterybox;292586 wrote: However, for the ARC to host 250 or so people, and give out 1,000 or so LIVE frags that were shipped to ATL 2 weeks prior..

That really is the stunning part of the meeting. It was actually about 850 frags and that we had two saws going for about 4 hours making sure there was plenty for everybody.

There was a bit of a SNAFU with the order, which anybody ordering wholesale can tell you, is all too common. Goniopora is, unfortunetly, the prime filler coral in an order when they don't have what you want. We may actually have received Alveopora, not goniopora, but I didn't look closely enough to count the fingers on the tentecles to know for sure. We actually worked with the wholesaler to and had 30% of our money refunded because of the issues we had with the order.

If

 

[ralph atl]

& it was nice to have met you Danny!

 

[jesspete]

What you guys did to get all that stuff is just flat out amazing. Thanks to all of you. I know you've heard it a thousand times already, but I'm in awe at what all of you had to do to make this happen.

:goodjob::super::dance::yay: