clown fish hosting flowerpot coral???

[good alex]

Well ive had my two percula clownfish for about a year now and i just added this really nice flowerpot coral about 3 days ago, and it opened up beautifuly. When it was closed its about the size of a tennis ball but when open its like a softball. So it all started this morning when i was looking at my tank that the clownfish were sorta swimming around the coral but it wasent until an hour or so ago that they hosted it, the coral was open before but now its very aggitated and closed. What should i do? Will my coral die if it dosent open up and collect food? Will my clownfish ever leave it alone?

then when the clowns leave it alone he tries to open up again, but the clowns come back and he closes up.

so any help or advice is appreciated

 

[good alex]

ok so im not getting much attention, is there anyway to move the thread to the reef tank section??
srry couldent find a way

 

[lazypinoy]

yea mine was like that for awhile but now the flowerpot doesnt mind it anymore. jus give it some time.

-add an appropriate amount of iron to the water. my flowerpot went crazy.

 

[good alex]

iron?? is there a bottle or something that comes with it? Does kent marine make it, sorry but ive never heard of this before

 

[fish addict]

Yes it comes in a bottle. Kent probably makes it as they make pretty much every other kind of supplement!

 

[good alex]

update - the flowerpot is starting to come out a little more when the clowns are away, but the clowns are so aggressive towards the coral, i think they might be hurting it.
this is a side question, im feeding cyclopzee, marine snow, and phytoplankton to the tank, does the flowerpot coral need anything else, other than the iron that lazypinoy told me to get?

 

[rykna]

LOL, mine did the same thing to my daisy gona. I thought I was gonna have to remove the percs before they harrassed the gona to death. After a week the percs settled in and stopped their rough grooming.

 

[good alex]

Wow nice flowerpot coral. When my clowns werent hosting the coral my stalks werent as long as yours, hope theres enough room for both of my clowns!!

 

[rykna]

Thanks

Just make sure to feed them lots of DTS. My 2 flower pots grew 1.5 inches in width and height in 8 mths; I had to take down my reef tank

Is you FP a daisy??

 

[larryndana]

Originally Posted by Rykna
Thanks

Just make sure to feed them lots of DTS. My 2 flower pots grew 1.5 inches in width and height in 8 mths; I had to take down my reef tank

Is you FP a daisy??
DTS?

 

[rykna]

Originally Posted by larryndana
DTS?
My typo: DT's, Live Marine Phytoplankton...my FP's loved it.

 

[good alex]

Originally Posted by Rykna
Thanks

Just make sure to feed them lots of DTS. My 2 flower pots grew 1.5 inches in width and height in 8 mths; I had to take down my reef tank

Is you FP a daisy??

sorry this would be my first flowerpot coral, i tried to look up what you ment by daisy, but all the sites i looked at told me that daisy was just another name for flowerpot coral.
oh and i also found this on one of the websites
It is aggressive, and ample space should be provided between itself and other neighboring corals. Its polyps can extend far past its base into the reef aquarium, where they can sting other species of corals. Clownfish, will often play in its polyps if no anemone can be found in the reef aquarium. This may actually be detrimental to the coral.
since you have more experience with the clowns hosting the flowerpot coral, have you seen any damaging effects to the coral??

 

[larryndana]

Originally Posted by Rykna
My typo: DT's, Live Marine Phytoplankton...my FP's loved it.

ok, the s threw me off, i'm use to seeing DT's and not DTS, thanks. I use it as well, but not the only thing i use.

 

[rykna]

Originally Posted by Good Alex
sorry this would be my first flowerpot coral, i tried to look up what you ment by daisy, but all the sites i looked at told me that daisy was just another name for flowerpot coral.
since you have more experience with the clowns hosting the flowerpot coral, have you seen any damaging effects to the coral??
Yes, I researched and found the exact information you did when my clowns moved in. Flower Pot or goniopora are very tempermental coral. The larger tentacles that my gonipora has is why, I think, it's also referred to as the "Daisy Gonipora". The other gonipora I had was smaller purple or "Violet Gonipora".
The gonipora requires at least medium water flow and MH lighting to support the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae hosted within its body, which provides the majority of its nutritional requirements from photosynthesis. It should be fed phytoplankton daily.
I had tried several different anemones with no success...then I got the daisy. My clowns, especially the female were very rough on the daisy for almost a week. I kept a close eye on the daisy, making sure that it was opening up in the day and getting fed. Over the course of the week it became more use to the clown fish and did not withdraw from their nipping. It almost seemed as though the clowns were panicing when the daisy would close up...their "home/protection" had disappeared...by nipping it seemed like they were trying to bring the tentacles out. So eventually, the trio worked out, but each host situation is different, and only time will tell. If the Daisy goes for 2-3 days with out opening up, I'd pull the plug. Either the Daisy goes back or the Clowns get moved to a different tank. Can you post some more pics? i'd like tog et a better idea of how big you daisy is.

The daisy I purchased was large, it's tentacles extended 4 inches at the LFS, and it's base was 3.5 inches. Because of it's size, I think it was able to tolerate the first rough week of it's new guests. How big is yours? How much does it open up?

 

[reefforbrains]

Good Alex- where did you get that Goni from, it actually looks sick from the pics.
Not trying to discourage you but that pot looks like it is about to erode in another week. Did you get any garantee from where you purchased it?

 

[good alex]

Rykna - well at the lfs id say the tentecles were extended about 3 in, but so far in my tank ive seen 2in extention. the diameter of the the base is about 3in. ill get some more pics later.
ReefForBrains - how can you tell that its going to erode in another week?? I can get a store credit if returned 30 days after purchase
id like to keep it, if i could. Ive grown attached to this coral. Is there anything else i could do to keep it alive?

 

[rykna]

Is there any brown jelly like substance on it?

 

[good alex]

not that ive seen
update - over night i moved the FP to a higher spot in the tank, hopefully to confuse the clowns, but they just went to it in the morning. So i got the clowns out of the picture (atleast for a day) there in a soap dish at the opposite side of the tank,and it looks to me like the FP enjoys the clowns being in jail, shes starting to open up and smell the fresh air. lol

 

[good alex]

heres some pics of the FP slowly coming out

sorry i had to take the pic with the big rock in the way, i dont know why, but when i tried to take a pic at an angle the image got distorted. i can tell you the other side looks like that side.
sorry

 

[rykna]

The gona looks good, IMHO.
When taking pictures I turn off the flash and make sure your camera is on auto photo, not manual. Also try not to take pictures straight on, I prefer to kneel down in front of my tank and take pictures at a upward angle. What type of camera do you have? What postion are you in when you take the pics?
I think that giving your gona a couple of days to settle in and open up is a great idea. As I think more about my gona. The percs did not take a interest in it until about 4-5 days after I introduced it to the tank. By then it opened fully every day.