Goniopora: fact sheet, feeding and care in aquarium. What to do if it does not open and types of goniopora.
Goniopores are long-polyp stony corals . The color varies greatly from species to species, going around dealers and breeders you can come across a green, red, pink goniopora … even if the most common ones have shades and tones in brown. The most sought after goniopores are those that have a combination of colors .
Goniopora in aquarium
Many people find this hard coral lps very difficult to keep in the aquarium. The average lifespan in the aquarium is often less than a year, however many hobbyists have managed to keep goniopora for several years or even reproduce them in captivity!
Why is it difficult to keep a goniopora in an aquarium ? Because gonioporas have particular nutritional needs and satisfying them in a community aquarium becomes quite difficult. Satisfying the nutritional needs of a goniopora would mean creating a hostile environment in the aquarium for other lps corals. For this reason, gonioporas paradoxically, despite being lps stony corals , are better off in aquariums with soft corals and anemones .
Goniopora in the aquarium should be placed in the lowest part because they prefer medium-low light and they seem to prefer fluorescent light rather than metal halide lamps.
Goniopora in aquariums should not be placed near circulation pumps because they require a gentle current (gentle water movement).
Goniopora: fact sheet
If you have decided to introduce a goniopora into your aquarium , then you should know that it will be quite a challenge! Read the goniopora fact sheet to understand its needs and adapt your tank to its life cycle.
Origin: Pacific Ocean. It is widespread almost everywhere
Habitat : lives in protected lagoons in very turbid or gravelly waters. Goniopora also finds its natural habitat in lagoon ponds, muddy bottoms, areas where the current tends to accumulate sediments and debris from other corals, areas with a high concentration of plankton so much so that the plankton clouds the water. They live at depths between 2 and 30 meters, so they can adapt to the light conditions of the tank but less to the water conditions (the water in your aquarium is poor).
Description : the body is made up of a hard skeleton that is generally rounded and extremely porous. Long tubular or stalk-shaped polyps protrude from the skeleton (as in the species Goniopora djiboutiensis, often called pink goniopora because its predominant colour ranges from beige to pink). In some specimens the length of the polyps can exceed 30 cm! Goniopora stokesi is among the most common on the market, it can be found in pink , yellow , green , cream or brown.
Goniopora is a photosynthetic coral but despite this, in the aquarium , it is unable to satisfy all its nutritional needs through photosynthesis.
Goniopora is delicate and should be kept away from any other coral in the aquarium, even those that are generally considered harmless.
Goniopora: feeding
These are filter-feeding and photosynthetic corals that in nature live in nutrient-rich seabeds with medium-low light.
In an aquarium it is difficult to administer high doses of plankton or better, you can do it as long as you have an excellent skimmer. An essential rule to be able to keep a goniopora in an aquarium is to feed it frequently. With the skimmer turned off, add a mixture of zooplankton and phytoplankton to your aquarium, it would be even better to administer it near the goniopora using a syringe. Wait 15 minutes and turn the skimmer back on.
The skimmer will allow you to manage the high protein loads added with the administration of the food required by this particular coral. Several times, in my articles (see bacterial film in the aquarium ) I have explained to you that with a marine aquarium it is possible to save on everything … except for the skimmer and lights! The skimmer must be oversized so as to allow you to often add the food useful for the sustenance of the corals.
Goniopora: classification and taxonomy
In nature, Goniopora forms colonies where several specimens come together.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Cnidaria
- Subclass: Hexacorallia
- Order: Scleractinia
- Family: Portitidae
- Genus: Goniopora
Goniopora does not open
What to do if the goniopora remains closed and does not open ? If the goniopora is closed and swells, it is normal, it means that it is completing its digestive processes.
Goniopora does not open when there is not enough light – so it tends to open during the day, when the intensity of your lamp increases and tends to close at dusk – and when it is stressed.
What to do?
- Don’t handle the coral too much!
- Avoid keeping it near other corals and allow it space to extend its polyps.
- It should definitely be kept away from anemones, euphyllia and other stinging corals.
- Avoid keeping the goniopora in the presence of a clownfish . The reason? Clownfish can annoy the goniopora by trying to trigger a symbiosis that is impossible for the coral.
- Fish of the genus Gobiodon can also cause problems for Goniopora.
- Never take the goniopora out of the water when its tentacles are extended as the weight of gravity can damage the tentacles and tear its soft tissue.
What to do to make a goniopora open?
- Try feeding coral food with a syringe, right next to the coral with the skimmer turned off.
- If the goniopora has not opened for several days, you can use a clear bell jar to cover the goniopora and trap the food inside.
- Iron and manganese should be added as microelements to your aquarium.
- Avoid all the stressors listed above.
Goniopora: maintenance sheet
- Feeding: photosynthesis and filtration in waters highly loaded with dissolved organic matter
- Acclimatization time: 30 minutes
- Calcium: 380 – 430 mg/l
- Alkalinity: 2.5 – 3.0 meq/l (in practice it requires a KH between 7 and 8.4).
- Phosphate: <0.05 mg/lt
- Nitrates: It has a good tolerance to nitrates
- Strontium: 8 – 10 mg/l
- Ideal temperatures: 25 – 28 °C
- Water movement: moderate – gentle
- Salinity: 1.023 – 1.025
- pH: 8 – 8.4
- Monitoring: Add and monitor trace elements such as iodine, manganese and iron.