Gorgonians

daveb

daveb

Member
I was at this very small pet store yesterday, I stopped because they had a handwritten sign in the window saying they had Saltwater fish and supplies now.. it is in a small Utah town. Anyway, I go in, and they have like a 30 gallon tank, with a couple of fish, and some Feather Dusters, and a Yellow Gorgonian. Everything in the tank was covered with Diamtoms, and algea. Looked awful. The lady working there has no experience at all in Saltwater, but there is a kid in town who talked her into letting him set up a Saltwater section in her store...
Anyway, I said to her, What would you sell me that Gorgonian for before it dies... and she said, Heck, I will just give it to you.. So I brought it home. I temp acclimated it for an hour or so, and then cleaned the algea off of it. It is bright yellow with the red spots on it, and is about ten inches around from tip to tip. The thing is, I have no idea how to tell if it is alive or not.. I imagine the yellow part is just a shell, and not alive. So how will I be able to tell if it is alive. And if it is not alive, will the shell eventually deteriorate, or will it just stay like it is, and just not grow anymore?
Thanks, Dave
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
The yellow is the actual flesh. Gorgonia are supported by a chitonous stem that runs right up the very center of them. The red will be the polyps. They will probably come out at night to feed on zooplankton....you should provide some. The Gorg you have is not an easy one. It doesn't need any light at all but it does need a lot of zooplankton.
 
daveb

daveb

Member
I assume that means as long as it is firm and standing by itself it is alive. I also read that they like cyclopeeze even better than zooplankton
I will hope for the best..
Dave
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Cyclop-eeze is zooplankton :) Probably a perfect food for Gorgs. If you can sneak some prawn eggs in there that's a good supplement too.
 
daveb

daveb

Member
Someone told me Cyclop-eeze was something else, but I have some, my Zoo's love it, they look like Venus Fly Traps at high speed when I put some in my tank... LOL
Dave
 
clarkiiboi

clarkiiboi

Active Member
That looks like the same type of gorgonia they sell here. I had one and it needs to be placed in a shaded area of the tank, but with good flow to keep the algea off. Hard to do, so if I ever saw algea starting I just manually removed it. Also saw polyps in the daytime. Good Luck, it looks like a nice freebie!
 
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