flower pot??

[justin_ny]

is it flower pot is good coral for beginner. i saw this coral at my LPS, and really intesting buying it. what is the recomended fixture for this coral?
pls tell me more about this coral

 

[sodium, chlorine, hydrogen2, oxegen]

I would say not really. I have had one. Died a few months later(1 month) Im waiting till i get more advanced. They are very cool, but hard to keep! they remind me of anems(like golfish mentioned) they need exellent lighting, hand feed them, and die very easy if not kept under exellent conditions. Wait a while, do some reaserch, and wait, wait, and wait some more until your tank is about 1-2 years old(just to make sure)

 

[striker]

It's a shame about these corals. I was reading that they are very widespread in the ocean. The are collected and sold in abundance for cheap prices but die off in captivity at amazing rates. I bought mine for 11.00 online before learning more about them(rookie mistake). I've had it for about 8 weeks and my sebae clown has adopted it but I'm dreading that it might die off one day. It is a beautiful coral and hopefully it will survive but from all I've read the chances are slim.

 

[chainsaw5vent]

yes. i can concur. i've got a f/p and a hammer and they're both doing poorly. the f/p has not extended the polyps fully for over a week and the hammer's soft tissue is receeding. is this a problem of lighting quality and/or a supplement problem? <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[jakob4001]

we were lucky enough to pick up a large speciemn which seems to be doing well w/o any special attention or hand feeding; was not exactly acclimated well & recently went thru an amonia spike...but is still doing well w/ full polyp extension every day; tomato clown has adopted it & sometimes will try to feed it; defends it well but does not seem to disturb it much; again, only feel it is doing so well because it happend to be a large show piece size; they do on avergage seem to die off a lot

 

[striker]

flower pot is a difficult coral to take care of with high lighting and medium to high current needed. the hammer coral is a little easier to take care than the flower pot but needs medium lighting and medium current. They both require the right environment to survive in captivity and supplements are recommended. Both of these are not recommended for the beginer. I have both in my reef and they're still doing good. My only worry is the flower pot. The sebae clown is always rubbing himself on it and even sleeps by it's side at night.

 

[naturelover]

As far as I know these are very hard to keep like everone else says. I have 2 that's been doing good for last 3 months. But I am still looking for the date it's going to die on me. Maximum an experience reefer can keep these is upto 1 1/2 yrs according to some books I've been through (Don't know the name of book). If you buy Yellow or Red flower pot they are easier than Brown and green kind. Of course those are expensive.

 

[jim672]

Justin,
I had the same experience you had. I saw a flower pot at an lfs and asked the guy if they were hard to keep. He said "NO, if you can't keep one of these, you can't keep any corals"! I bought it, like a fool, and it was dead in two weeks.
As everyone else has said, they are very difficult to keep and have them thrive.
ChainSaw,
I bought a Hammer about 6 months ago....it had been returned to the lfs by someone who had let about half of it die off so I got a really good price. The best advice I got was to make sure my calcium level 400-450 ppm. Good lighting helps too, of course. My hammer is thriving....lots of new growth.
Jim

 

[indy1]

I have read and heard more than once; "flower pots" like low-med current & med-high lighting. Also, the live in MERKY water.

 

[fishfreek]

I have a flower pot in my tank and he has been doing fairly well so far. I keep him in low current and medium light. They tend to live in turbid conditions in the ocean, i try to copy these conditions by skimming lightly and feeding phytoplankton three times a week. I've had him going on eight months now. They tend to be tempermental at times. Most times he opens fully but on occasion, he won't open fully for a full day or so. I by no means feel i've kept this coral successful yet, if i have him more than two years(very doubtful) i would than call it a semi-sucsess. I wouldn't recomend this coral to anyone, expert or novice. I had mine given to me and have had some luck in keeping it alive so far. If you are thinkng of getting one of these guys i suggest doing ALOT of reading!! Do a search on a serch engine and read what others that had success were doing, ie. feeding, light requirments,water flow and water conditions. Nobody really knows exactly what these beautiful corals need to survive in captivity long term but i feel that it may come in the not so distant future.HTH

 

[exposit]

Go with what people say but I made the rookie mistake almost two years ago and mine is not only growing, flourishing but now propagating. It's simply beautiful and now having babies ;-). It is host to a very defensive percula clown...whenever I have to put my hand in the tank the clown comes out to "nip" if I get too close. If you have a good set up, stong light, stong current, and a ton of live rock...GO FOR IT!

 

[something'sfishy]

Is it the same as torch coral. I got one a month ago and so far its doing great...

 

[bergamer]

flower pots are not that difficult,
AS LONG AS YOU ADD IRON ANDMAKE SURE YOUR MAG LEVELS ARE GOOD, THE FLOWER POT WILL THRIVE.....THERE WAS A STUDY ON THIS AND IT PROVED CORRECT IN MY TANK!!!!

:happyfish

 

[fmelindy]

what makes you say that about the iron? And your own anecdotal observations based on a case of only 1 coral hardly qualifies as "scientific". These corals are universally regarded as being nearly impossible to keep by advanced aquarists, even. If it were as simple as you say, why has that eluded so many advanced aquarists for so long?
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to start a flame war or anything and I'm sorry if I come across as sounding confrontational - I'd love to know a "simple secret" to keeping these corals alive, heck I'd buy a half a dozen if it were that easy because they're beautiful corals! But I'd love to know the logic behind the iron supplementation with flowerpots you talk about all the time (I've seen you post the same elsewhere on the forum). And I'd love to hear someone else chime in with their experiences with iron and flowerpot corals. Anyone???

 

[fmelindy]

I reread that post and decided it sounded kind of arrogant or argumentative - that's not how I wanted to come across and I apologize. If you have some great info about how to keep flowerpots alive I'd love to hear it!!!