Originally Posted by
jackri
http:///forum/post/3125272
I've had mine for about a year and a half and I don't accept this premise.
It grows up on the skeleton and dies from the bottom. Will it eventually die? Sure all plants/animals do. Is the end in sight for my main colony? Maybe as it has receded in the last 2 months but I have 5 babies off of it that are doing awesome and so propagating 5 babies off a main colony after 1 1/2 years I don't call this a doomed coral for everyone. But when a baby bubbles up, I do think to keep perpetuating the coral they need to be pulled off and fragged into a new colony as yes -- eventually the parent colony will die out -- perhaps just it's lifespan but this is all personal experience.
There is something in the water that gonioporas feed on where they are collected that is not in aquariums. 99.9% of gonioporas will die within two to three years. Yeah you can have some success with it but only soo much. Yes a coral can live for ever. Not one peice but if you frag from it it can go on for ever. There is a green montipora cap that the coral farm I work at has had for over 10 years. You might have gotten very lucky and gotten a healthy one and it has done fine for now but it will not live for more then 3 or so years. They get infected very easily, And once they get infected it is not going to come back. And once it is bleached like his it is not going to come back and be healthy. It is a doomed coral for 99% of people.
You just got lucky and I bet you anything it will not live for more then 3 years or so. It will just slowly starve.
Not trying to be a jerk, Just the way this coral is.