I’m looking for different things for my tank. I’m mostly stocking lps and zoas. I don’t do any dosing just water changes and feedings along with heavy skimming. I’ve always read goniopora we’re difficult to keep but I see more and more people with them these days. What have you guys experienced with them and their care levels
Learn me on Goni’s
- Thread starter hiimsean
- Start date
They really aren’t that hard to keep. The red and purple ones tend to be heartier than the green ones in my experience, and aquaculture ones tend to be heartier than wild caught. ORA sells aquaculture ones that people keep with great success, see those do the best long term.
I target feed mine daily with Reef Roids, and they grow more quickly with that than broadcast feed or not feeding. They like low to moderate flow with a random component. The tentacles should move without banging all over the place, if they do then the flow is too high. They aren’t as fussy about light, but will start to bleach if it’s too high.
They come in lots of different colors, we added a blue one and yellow/pink one a few weeks ago.
Good luck!!
I target feed mine daily with Reef Roids, and they grow more quickly with that than broadcast feed or not feeding. They like low to moderate flow with a random component. The tentacles should move without banging all over the place, if they do then the flow is too high. They aren’t as fussy about light, but will start to bleach if it’s too high.
They come in lots of different colors, we added a blue one and yellow/pink one a few weeks ago.
Good luck!!
I've recently taken the plunge into goni's myself. I bought a red one since they are apparently easier to keep and it's been doing really well. When I started in this hobby they were an "expert" level coral but a lot of the standard red one's have been aquacultured or have been in captivity for a long time and tend to grow well. The only issue I'm having is that the color is fading and I attribute this to low nutrient levels (NO3&PO4). They're still growing well but the color stinks. This has been a theme in my frag tank and I don't worry too much about losing stuff anymore because of it. I just start dosing and things start to color back up. I haven't been through fading/color up cycle with the gonis yet but I'm assuming it'll be similar to the rest of the frags in the system.
I think the biggest thing with Goni's is flow, next would be anything touching the polyps. Even a little too much flow and they won't open up all the way.
Being that you have a softy tank you should be good because your flow won't be crazy high like a mixed reef or sps dominant.
Being that you have a softy tank you should be good because your flow won't be crazy high like a mixed reef or sps dominant.
Jeremey’s reef
Well-Known Member
I’ve only had my pink Goni for just over a week now but it sits in the middle of my tank with rather short rock work. It has been fully extended since being added day 1. I have it under radions and my MP40’s set to moderate flow and random mode and it seems to enjoy that combination. 
Jeremey’s reef
Well-Known Member
I haven’t seen any sweeper tentacles coming from mines just yet but it has only been a week or so for me but I would say no they do not sting. Mine just retracts when the lights go out
They can sting other corals, but aren’t overly aggressive. They would likely lose against a hammer or torch.
I don't think that they need any more care than anything else...I would feed them though. But I feed all my corals.
Like any other coral, I wouldn't buy one ripped straight out of the ocean. I'd leaned toward healed frags because if they survived being chopped up, they'll probably survive in your tank.
I would guess that they have a pretty pansy sting since they don't "eat" but absorb their food through the skin (from what I read).
A torch killed my first goni - I thought I had them far enough apart but forgot about the sweepers on the torch.
I have also found that some, when first purchased, will retract for a few days and *if* they come back out, they'll do well. If not...they just melt.
The strongest lines in my tank are the Big R Date Night and UC Space Glitter. Everything else does ok but those two are always fully extended with baby heads popping up all over. They also show the most reaction to being fed - their will shorten up and their heads will get fat. All of the others show minimal reaction.
Like any other coral, I wouldn't buy one ripped straight out of the ocean. I'd leaned toward healed frags because if they survived being chopped up, they'll probably survive in your tank.
I would guess that they have a pretty pansy sting since they don't "eat" but absorb their food through the skin (from what I read).
A torch killed my first goni - I thought I had them far enough apart but forgot about the sweepers on the torch.
I have also found that some, when first purchased, will retract for a few days and *if* they come back out, they'll do well. If not...they just melt.
The strongest lines in my tank are the Big R Date Night and UC Space Glitter. Everything else does ok but those two are always fully extended with baby heads popping up all over. They also show the most reaction to being fed - their will shorten up and their heads will get fat. All of the others show minimal reaction.
