Ocellaris and Flowerpot

[yammer]

Hi,
I though I'd share and interesting development I am having. I have both an ocellaris clownfish pair and a flowerpot (goniopora) in my tank which has been running for about 9 months. I've had the flower pot for about 3 months now and it actually started to suffer a bit after I'd had it for about a month. I played with various locations with differing lighting and water flow and finally settled on a place on the substrate right in the center of the tank. The new spot seemed to agree with the coral at least as far as the tissue loss stopped.
The interesting part is that a few weeks after I moved it to this new spot, my ocellaris pair started investigating. The female would run short passes through the polyps and even seem to 'clean' some off with her mouth (best way I can discribe it). Now, I'd heard many stories at how clownfish can host with corals (as opposed to anemones) but they always posed this as a negative as far as the coral is concerned. In my case however, ever since this started and even more so now that she's completely moved in, the flower pot is DOING BETTER THAN EVER. It seems to completely accept her presence and the polyps are more vibrant and extended than ever. It even seems (can't conclusively confirm this) that its starting to regrow tissue over the dead areas with exposed skeleton.
Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Just thought I'd share.

 

[fishfreek]

I have been experiencing the EXACT behavior in my tank with my pair of false percs and a flower pot and have been equally excited about it! I've had my goni about a year and it's seen its share of ups and downs. For a while the tissue was starting to receed a bit and the polyps would not fully extend. Now, with the percs in it for the past few months, it is showing tissue regrowth, polyps are always fully extended and it has many new small polyps. I don't know if it is just coinsidence or if the percs have helped in some way to bring something extra that this coral needs to live for extended periods in our aquariums.
The only additives i use is kalk for my top offs & i've been feeding Kents new "Chromaplex" phytoplankton (1/2 cap a week) for about four months in my 45g, nothing else. The only additonal additives come from fish food. I feed formula one, brine shrimp soaked in zoe & zoecon and ISO spirulina flakes (each on alternating days).
BTW, my tank is lit using 1-96w 50/50 pc and a 30w actinic NO light fixture.
What addtives are you adding? What color is your flower pot? What type of lighting are you using?

 

[nm reef]

I've had a tomato clown in a gonipora for well over 6 months now(the goniporas been in the display for about 9 months)...so far both seem to get along well. I've seen indications that a key(or possible key) to keeping a gonipora long term may be foos source...check out the link below. I seriously believe one of the reasons for the health of my gonipora and my 2 different alveoporas is the rather large refugium system I run....I've managed to keep a large pod population and I feed on a regular basis with DT's phytoplankton.
gonipora success?

 

[musipilot]

Funny..we had the opposite happen! We have a flowerpot that is doing great, he's wide open and there are no dead spots. One day, about 2 months ago, our percula decided to live in it. Once he did, the coral went downhill fast. He barely ever opened, and started showing signs of dying.
I ripped apart the reef to catch the percula, and put him in another tank. After about 2 weeks, the flowerpot is back to its previous glory. Just goes to show you, you never know with these things.

 

[jonthefb]

the clowns that you all had, were they tank raised or captive caught? i wonder if this too could make a difference (NOT SUre how, just got the ol wheels turnin.)
good luck
jon

 

[fishfreek]

My percs are both tank raised. I wish i knew weather the percs had anything to do with my success (so far) with this coral.

 

[yammer]

I believe my Ocellaris clowns were tank raised.
Interesting to here how the clowns help in some cases and hurt in others.

 

[bobothewizard]

Actually the clowns will use the flower pot for breeding. Dunno how true that statement is but I remember reading it somewhere.

 

[yammer]

golfish, I know about flowerpot mortality, but I have also heard the occasional success story which may indicate some unknown nutrient/element/process that is required. I will keep you all posted over the long term to see if this unexpected sybiosis has any impact on the long term success of the coral. Maybe (and this is a big 'maybe') it could lead to some more insight into why they are so hard to maintain in captivity.

 

[fishy all the time]

My cinnamon clown hosts to everything. He swims in my frogspawn, torch coral, and in my hammer coral. He tried all 3 of my feather dusters. All 3 of them got mad and crawled out of their tubes and died. My maroon clown on the other hand wont host to anything. He prefers digging holes in my sand. So go figure.