my blue berry gorgonian

Man that thing looks awesome! Good luck with it!

 

Get it into a very strong flow of water with lots of circulation and feed rotifiers and or some finely ground up flakes DT's will do little for that coral . We keep several species and all have always done great , They just need lots of water flows to bring them food and they catch it .. Open most often at night and or in low light the best thing is to stir the sump also at night I have a pump to come in in the sump at night to send the accumulated up marine snow in the sump..

 

Beautiful specimen.

Do NOT keep it in the sand. Find a nice hole in a rock and shove it in, or just add a touch of glue. The sand will cause it to get infected.

 

Not to put anyone on the spot... but I get conflicting information all over the net. I would like for more folks to chime in who have actual experience with these or gorgonians in general.

Also, what is rotifiers? Rings no bells for me...

Ground up flakes sounds like an algae bloom in the making! Exploring options here.

Anyone validate this? It's actually connected to a piece of rock. There is a tiny bit of the blueberry that is under the substrate. I'd say smaller than a dime. But still.... it's got me wondering...

It does open mostly at night. It closes up when I attempt to feed it DT. I am assuming it is it eating...

Anyone know if that is right?

 

I have also heard about not placing in the sand.
I would agree about the DT's/phyto. Actually pretty much every study done points to nearly all filter feeder corals not being able to ingest phyto anyways.
Rotifers are very small animals. Think something along the lines of ridiculously small shrimp. You can even culture your own fairly easily if you do some studying (something nearly all clown breeders do).

 

While phyto is not consumed by most corals, it is consumed by many of the critters that make up "zooplankton" so as long as you don't overdo it, a little bit of phyto from time to time is a good thing. Then again, you may not need to add it at all because simply cleaning your aquarium glass adds phyto back into the water column as well.

 

Yes well thats the problem with Goggle and net info overload , I have kept and do keep some rather nice specimens of this species of corals I only post from experience nothing I have goggled or read .. What I suggested that you do is what I do , As for the small flakes ? whats the difference if they are fine or large ? small specks just allows the coral to catch them and eat on them.. Mine grab any food that floats past hence the strong water flows and the strong water flows also keep them clear of the waxy looking slime build up .

I'll see if I can get the boss to post a pic of our cherry Red ..Over the weekend

 

Rotifers are even smaller than brine shrimp. Breeders use them to feed baby fish because even something like brine are too big for their little mouths.
Hey Tangster... do you think some cyclops would benefit?
I've always wanted one of these blueberries, but I'm skeered I'll kill it.

Like Tang said I think night time feeding is one of the keys.

 

I had a thread where I was asking about feeding my feather dusters... in there, it was said that what you're cleaning off your glass is not phyto.

Any more opinions or info on if that is or not? Or are you just saying it's part of the makeup of the green on the glass - but it's not the green stuff itself?

No doubt dude, did not mean to suggest otherwise. I know you are not just rehashing info you read somewhere ;D

The difference in the flakes isn't so much small vs large but currently, I put flakes in my tank maybe once a month... I have avoided using them.

How often do you suggest I use flake for the gorgonian? 3x week? And do you mix them in some water and then release it right next to the gorgonian or do you just put it in your tank and let the flow take care of it?

I do have it in pretty strong flow. I had to learn the best angle to try feeding it because of this.

Are you in agreement that no part of the gorgonian's "foot" should be submerged in substrate? I've got a dime sized portion buried - it is attached to a rock that is completely submerged.

Thanks! And looking forward to the cherry red pic ;D;D

 

Good question on cyclops. I hadn't considered that.


I have been attempting all my feedings after lights out. It is pretty much open until the lights come back on... I figure I got to try it while it's open!

Can you buy live rotifers in a bottle to keep in the fridge like I do DT's phyto? Or do you have to culture it?