Goniastrea coral placement

[Sebek]

Hi guys,
I've bought dragon soul favia (edit. The right name as it was pointed here by responders is goniastrea, not a favia. It was wrongly named by the seller) few days ago and now I need an advice where is the best placement for it. On the sand or on the rocks? My girlfriend always wanted to have it, such a beautiful coral Any advice will be much appreciated especially with photos of favia in yours aquarium. .
Thanks,
Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Esox]

This isnt going to be what you want to hear I'm afraid.

These aren't favia, but goniastrea and as hard as it gets to grow in an aquarium. Even the largest colonies of these are a nightmare to settle with most dying slowly over a few months.

These little frags of them that turn up are coral bait for people who don't realise they are goniastrea. They usually live just long enough for you to assume its something you did to kill it, when in reality they rarely settle and just waste away over a few months.

Doom and gloom out of the way and you have it now so may aswell try. Best luck I've seen with these is accepting they will loose their colours and placing further down the tank with moderate flow, enough to keep detritus from settling on them. Place on a dead flat rock with the edges of the coral touching the rock to try and encourage it to crust over the rock, rather than wasting energy building its own skeleton.

Really don't want to sound so negative on this as they are beautiful and they can be kept, but I cant rember tge last time I saw one that was actively encrusting rock and not just a tiny receding frag.

 

[JustKyle]

This isnt going to be what you want to hear I'm afraid.

These aren't favia, but goniastrea and as hard as it gets to grow in an aquarium. Even the largest colonies of these are a nightmare to settle with most dying slowly over a few months.

These little frags of them that turn up are coral bait for people who don't realise they are goniastrea. They usually live just long enough for you to assume its something you did to kill it, when in reality they rarely settle and just waste away over a few months.

Doom and gloom out of the way and you have it now so may aswell try. Best luck I've seen with these is accepting they will loose their colours and placing further down the tank with moderate flow, enough to keep detritus from settling on them. Place on a dead flat rock with the edges of the coral touching the rock to try and encourage it to crust over the rock, rather than wasting energy building its own skeleton.

Really don't want to sound so negative on this as they are beautiful and they can be kept, but I cant rember tge last time I saw one that was actively encrusting rock and not just a tiny receding frag.

Man, here I was thinking for ages I killed my gonia as it was looking so happy with tentacles then over a few weeks the centre melted away and is barely alive now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bs0u20a2]

Man, here I was thinking for ages I killed my gonia as it was looking so happy with tentacles then over a few weeks the centre melted away and is barely alive now.

Such is the smash and grab coral industry.

Shame isn’t it, we’ve driven colony prices up so high, they have to be smashed into certain death sizes to make them retail’able.

If we don’t stop treating them like cut flowers, I predict the industry is in for a rude awakening over the next few years.

Nick

 

[Esox]

Dragon soul 'Favia' really annoy me.. they are such a 'newcomer bait' coral and I don't mean this in a derogatory way.

Dirt cheap to buy big colonies as shippers are aware they need to dump them fast as they slowly die.

Really pretty

Really easy to band saw into little frags

Really easy to shift the little frags to unsuspecting hobbiests

They last just long enough so that the original seller is forgotten and the buyer thinks they killed it.

 

[owen77]

I bought one of these two years ago I guess. It has had numerous ups and downs over that time, looked bad, looked good. Lost moiths/heads and grown moiths/heads. I honestly couldn't tell you what made the difference between it thriving and dying. At the moment it is doing OK, not as good as it was about two months ago. I was target feeding it with lobster eggs, frozen copepods and it was actively feeding. I started target feeding with reef roids which it seems to like but the response isn't as strong of late. I've had another favia exactly the same, going through ups and downs.

I just wanted to let you know it may not be certain to die. I've kept mine going through some dodgy perameters and two tank changes. I'd try target feeding, not loads of flow, not tons of light. Mine are on the sand bed but I have a lot of light in the tank.

Not a recent picture, I think it's bigger than that now.

 

[Esox]

I bought one of these two years ago I guess. It has had numerous ups and downs over that time, looked bad, looked good. Lost moiths/heads and grown moiths/heads. I honestly couldn't tell you what made the difference between it thriving and dying. At the moment it is doing OK, not as good as it was about two months ago. I was target feeding it with lobster eggs, frozen copepods and it was actively feeding. I started target feeding with reef roids which it seems to like but the response isn't as strong of late. I've had another favia exactly the same, going through ups and downs.

I just wanted to let you know it may not be certain to die. I've kept mine going through some dodgy perameters and two tank changes. I'd try target feeding, not loads of flow, not tons of light. Mine are on the sand bed but I have a lot of light in the tank.

I finally settled the one I managed to keep alive in a similar fashion to what you describe, kept it in low flow low light, let it loose all colour but at least it wasn't receding. Never looked as good as when collected but at least it lived.
They are by no means a write off, just very hard to settle from.such a dinky frag.

 

[owen77]

I finally settled the one I managed to keep alive in a similar fashion to what you describe, kept it in low flow low light, let it loose all colour but at least it wasn't receding. Never looked as good as when collected but at least it lived.
They are by no means a write off, just very hard to settle from.such a dinky frag.

Yeah and growth is about as fast as the shifting continents!

 

[Sebek]

This isnt going to be what you want to hear I'm afraid.

These aren't favia, but goniastrea and as hard as it gets to grow in an aquarium. Even the largest colonies of these are a nightmare to settle with most dying slowly over a few months.

These little frags of them that turn up are coral bait for people who don't realise they are goniastrea. They usually live just long enough for you to assume its something you did to kill it, when in reality they rarely settle and just waste away over a few months.

Doom and gloom out of the way and you have it now so may aswell try. Best luck I've seen with these is accepting they will loose their colours and placing further down the tank with moderate flow, enough to keep detritus from settling on them. Place on a dead flat rock with the edges of the coral touching the rock to try and encourage it to crust over the rock, rather than wasting energy building its own skeleton.

Really don't want to sound so negative on this as they are beautiful and they can be kept, but I cant rember tge last time I saw one that was actively encrusting rock and not just a tiny receding frag.

Hi.
Thanks for your respond.
I'm new to a favia/ favites/goniastrea as it's first time I've bought it so for me and probably for many people it is so hard to see a difference between them.
I've bought the frag from a quite big website with marine corals, fish and other stuff and I'm surprised they were not aware of this mistake and could not properly named the coral.
How you can tell it isn't a favia but goniastrea?
Maybe I will do a better photo as sometimes photos can be misleading.
I will try to place it somewhere on the rock island as like you said maybe it will overgrown the frag to a rock... If it won't die earlier

It will be a lesson for me and I know you said it's a hard to keep alive coral but I will do everything to try something to have it grown happily. Fingers crossed!

Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Sebek]

Such is the smash and grab coral industry.

Shame isn’t it, we’ve driven colony prices up so high, they have to be smashed into certain death sizes to make them retail’able.

If we don’t stop treating them like cut flowers, I predict the industry is in for a rude awakening over the next few years.

Nick

Hi Nick,
Thank you for your respond.

100% agreed with you about the sizes of corlas that we can buy in LFS, sometimes it is just ridiculous, not only with LPS corlas but SPS as well. One small frag no more than 2/3cm high or just a size of the top of small plug and it can costs crazy money. When you are adding something like that into a big aquarium it is disappearing. Most of the time it is growing months and months before it's visible or die at the beginning because of it size...

When I've started this hobby 2 years ago I've made mistakes and bought tiny frags and most of them died. Now I'm trying to not do that and when I want buy corals they need to be bigger frags or colonies.
That goniastrea have 4 heads so I've bought it as it is not a tiny frag with 1/2 heads, it's visible and I can see it in my RSR425xl. Like I said in my previous message this is first time I've bought goniastrea (favia if you take a name from the website from where I've bought it) so spending a lot of money for a big colony in my opinion would be bad move... Now I can see if my tanks conditions and if all what me and my partner are doing (dosing, feeding corals, ect.) will keep it alive. If yes, next brain coral in my tank will be definitely bigger .

Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Sebek]

I bought one of these two years ago I guess. It has had numerous ups and downs over that time, looked bad, looked good. Lost moiths/heads and grown moiths/heads. I honestly couldn't tell you what made the difference between it thriving and dying. At the moment it is doing OK, not as good as it was about two months ago. I was target feeding it with lobster eggs, frozen copepods and it was actively feeding. I started target feeding with reef roids which it seems to like but the response isn't as strong of late. I've had another favia exactly the same, going through ups and downs.

I just wanted to let you know it may not be certain to die. I've kept mine going through some dodgy perameters and two tank changes. I'd try target feeding, not loads of flow, not tons of light. Mine are on the sand bed but I have a lot of light in the tank.

Not a recent picture, I think it's bigger than that now.

Hi,
thank you very much for your respond.

So I've been feeding corals with reefroids in my old aquarium RSR250 but had a big algea issues and I've stopped as I've read it could have been connected with reefroids. Now I'm adding others stuff to help my corals grown (AB+, reef plus, all for reef, reef trace ...) as well as I'm feeding my fish a lot so there is always food for corals to.
I must say corals are growing really well.

Because your corals have good respond to target feeding I will try do the same. I need to try lobster eggs as I'm feeding fish with reef feast, pemisis and sometimes bloodworms (I have Copperband butterfly).

As you have favia corals in your tank and definitely know more about it than me, maybe you can tell me if my frag is really a goniastrea or maybe a favia in the end? I would like to have more opinions about this issue from fellow reefers. Basically I have it already and it will stay in my tank, so whatever it is - I like it, as it's lovely coral Care guide for favia/goniastrea/favites is very similar or even the same, but I like to know what I have in my DT so that's why I'm asking.

Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Lisa Page]

I have one of these, when purchased it consisted of 3 heads. I glued it to the base of the rockwork and left it to its own devices. I never knew they were tricky to keep or anything. It was transferred to a bigger tank a year ago and placed on the sand at the back of the tank.

There are progress pictures here if you are interested.

http://lisasreef.weebly.com/favia.html

(I keep meaning to rename the page as Goniastrea.)

So it’s not all doom and gloom, it may thrive in your tank. Fingers crossed eh.

 

[owen77]

Hi,
thank you very much for your respond.

So I've been feeding corals with reefroids in my old aquarium RSR250 but had a big algea issues and I've stopped as I've read it could have been connected with reefroids. Now I'm adding others stuff to help my corals grown (AB+, reef plus, all for reef, reef trace ...) as well as I'm feeding my fish a lot so there is always food for corals to.
I must say corals are growing really well.

Because your corals have good respond to target feeding I will try do the same. I need to try lobster eggs as I'm feeding fish with reef feast, pemisis and sometimes bloodworms (I have Copperband butterfly).

As you have favia corals in your tank and definitely know more about it than me, maybe you can tell me if my frag is really a goniastrea or maybe a favia in the end? I would like to have more opinions about this issue from fellow reefers. Basically I have it already and it will stay in my tank, so whatever it is - I like it, as it's lovely coral Care guide for favia/goniastrea/favites is very similar or even the same, but I like to know what I have in my DT so that's why I'm asking.

Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

Sorry but I don't really pay much attention to the silly made up names or the actual real names of corals. If I like the looks of them and they're not stupidly expensive I get them. I can't help you with an I'd, but I would be listening to nick and esox on things like that, both very knowledgeable and helpful people. Goos luck with it.

 

[Sebek]

Sorry but I don't really pay much attention to the silly made up names or the actual real names of corals. If I like the looks of them and they're not stupidly expensive I get them. I can't help you with an I'd, but I would be listening to nick and esox on things like that, both very knowledgeable and helpful people. Goos luck with it.

Like I said before, I have it already and love it as the colours are amazing and it's so beautiful coral whatever the name is. I'm asking about the name as I wanna contact the seller and tell him that he gave a wrong name and he should change it. Also in the future I would like to be able sell some frags from my corals collection and the right named corals is a must. I've been listening to previous responders and it's much appreciated that they do respond. It is just good to have more options to be sure...
Thanks for reply.

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Esox]

It is 100% a Goniastrea. They are sold all the way through the chain as Favia.

In the same way vast Swaithes of coral in the hobby is named incorrectly but people just accept the ID and as such these names have proliferated throughout the hobby as fact.

You could line up 20 relatively common corals infront of most LFS employees and they would ID half of them incorrectly.

When you are buying things based on made up fantasy branding names, the correct scientific naming is lost.
When importers like TMC also start doing this you may aswell give up.

Surprisingly they rarely get the arbitrary random, ultra, master grade, solar, sonic, lava boom ? bit wrong.

 

[Sebek]

I have one of these, when purchased it consisted of 3 heads. I glued it to the base of the rockwork and left it to its own devices. I never knew they were tricky to keep or anything. It was transferred to a bigger tank a year ago and placed on the sand at the back of the tank.

There are progress pictures here if you are interested.

http://lisasreef.weebly.com/favia.html

(I keep meaning to rename the page as Goniastrea.)

So it’s not all doom and gloom, it may thrive in your tank. Fingers crossed eh.

Hi,
Thank you very much for your respond and photos. I'm so happy to see that it can be done successfully and goniastrea is thriving in the aquarium. Amazing grown your coral have and it's so so beautiful.
For now I've put goniastrea in the frag rack as it needs to acclimate properly to lights in my tank.
I will probably glue it to a small rock, the flesh as close as possible to rock because maybe it will overgrown the plug and will be growing furthermore.

I have renamed the page as you had suggested

Seb

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[Esox]

Good luck with it, it can be done. As I said I have one and I know many that do, they just need some perseverance when so small.

I would get it happy and growing and forget about the colour for now, placing low and then if you are successful try and colour it back up once bigger!

 

[Sebek]

It is 100% a Goniastrea. They are sold all the way through the chain as Favia.

In the same way vast Swaithes of coral in the hobby is named incorrectly but people just accept the ID and as such these names have proliferated throughout the hobby as fact.

You could line up 20 relatively common corals infront of most LFS employees and they would ID half of them incorrectly.

When you are buying things based on made up fantasy branding names, the correct scientific naming is lost.
When importers like TMC also start doing this you may aswell give up.

Surprisingly they rarely get the arbitrary random, ultra, master grade, solar, sonic, lava boom bit wrong.

Great, thanks again for your messages and identify the right name of that coral. It's very helpful for me.

I know many sellers don't known the names of corals they're selling or maybe just don't care to much to sell corals with a proper name. Whatever why it was named wrong I really like my goniastrea . Once I've spotted interesting coral colony on the rock in my local LFS. It was named as acan but I knew it's wrong and I was in the hobby only for 3 months... it was blastomussa wellsi, very bleached... it was cheap (it had at least 20 heads and couple of pups). I have bought it and after 2/3 months it was back to its glory .

I didn't bought goniastrea because of it fancy name but because of it appearance, colours, how it is growing, I didn't have this kind of coral in my tank yet, it was a right time as it was available when I was buying other corals from that seller. But the most important and the main reason - my girlfriend She wanted it since she saw it first time more than year ago.

Wysłane z mojego GM1913 przy użyciu Tapatalka

 

[brownlm4]

Any thoughts on mine..I always thought it was a favites and tbh it's always been easy to keep with no recession or colour issues..? If its not.. you learn something new every day..

 

[Cumbria]

I have one of these, when purchased it consisted of 3 heads. I glued it to the base of the rockwork and left it to its own devices. I never knew they were tricky to keep or anything. It was transferred to a bigger tank a year ago and placed on the sand at the back of the tank.

There are progress pictures here if you are interested.

http://lisasreef.weebly.com/favia.html

(I keep meaning to rename the page as Goniastrea.)

So it’s not all doom and gloom, it may thrive in your tank. Fingers crossed eh.

Lovely coral Lisa! great growth on it.

I’ve always been fearful of corals like these due to a couple of early failures. I think if I see one in a shop I’ll consider them rather than walk straight past. I’ve got a ‘maze coral’ of some sort doing well, not really comparable I suppose but in my head it gives me confidence...