donk Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 I have never "fraged" before. Can I just cut this avalapora in half at the base? I didnt think It was going to be this huge when I bought it and I might transfer half of it to another tank. Link to comment
chvynva916 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 Don't know bout the fragging, but I'm curious what kind of feeding you do. Do you dose phytoplankton? I'm curious about success with alveopora. Link to comment
donk Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 Nope, the LFS told me to just feed it baby brine once a week. It's strange cause when I bought it 2 weeks ago it was about half the size. They said that it will kill other coral, so if I knew it would open up this much I wouldnt have bought it. Link to comment
chvynva916 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 First of all, take everything your LFS says with a grain of salt. When I bought mine the LFS told me it was a gonipora and was very easy to care for. Alveopora don't eat zooplankton (brine shrimp in this case) at all. Most of their feeding comes from zooxanthelle, uptake of disolved organic matter (why they seem to like nutrient rich environments), and they may or may not be able to digest and utilize phytoplankton (phyto can be found in their gut if they are analyzed, but they don't seem to really be able to digest it). However, Alveopora have been maintained beautifully in aquaria without any feeding (Wakiki does it). As for killing other coral, I don't think they have strong nematocysts, but might release toxins which can bother other corals (check out articles written in Advanced Aquarist mag in www.reefs.org). These corals have been found to do better in communities (more the better) so fragging might not be such a good idea. One thing seems for sure...they do best when placed on substrate (probably since they seem to like DOM) and I noticed yours is on your rock. Alveopora is a very difficult coral to keep. I know an extremely respected member of the reefing community who claims to have failed to keep one, and I myself have had one that died. They typically do great (expand and grow) in the first few months then they gradually decline and die. Good luck and if it works out post any info on how you cared for it! Link to comment
donk Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 Thank you for the info. I have noticed how funny this hobby is. You seem to know what you're talking about and my lfs told me completely different information (very hardy and easy to care for and live a very long time) and best of all it will only cost me $100. What a deal!!! Link to comment
chvynva916 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 $100??? I've never seen any coral priced that high!!! An expensive LFS should charge ~$50 for that coral...my favorite one charges ~$35. I'd print out a copy of a few articles on Alveopora (you can find some on www.reefs.org in advanced aquarist mag). they will all tell you that no one really knows how to successfully keep alveopora or gonipora (there is one gonipora sp. exception) and that the people who keep them successfully don't really have a good idea what they are doing differently. ***** them out, see if they can't give you a deal to make up for it or something. If nothing else, remember that the reefing community is pretty small and close knit and with a few online postings you could really let people know how ######ty they are. Link to comment
donk Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 $35 wow!! I have a green open brain $80, Medium rock covered with orange zooanthids $60, Yellow Nephthea tree coral (very nice) but still $90, Purple Tang $70, 2 small mushroom rocks (1 red, 1 green striped) $50 ea. All from "the biggest" saltwater fish store in Ohio. Link to comment
donk Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 By the way, the Tang was on sale Link to comment
chvynva916 Posted January 11, 2003 Share Posted January 11, 2003 those are outrageous prices. You're better off buying livestock online. You'll pay an extra $30 in shipping, but you'll pay $15-$30 for most corals. For instance, www.marinedepotlive.com sells green open brains for $20. If you order a few corals at a time, you still pay only the $30 in shipping (estimated average for one box) so your shipping charge per coral goes down the more you order. I can't ever imagine paying more than $60 for a coral. It'd have to be amazing. Link to comment
donk Posted January 11, 2003 Author Share Posted January 11, 2003 www.aquatictech.com Link to comment
justin699 Posted February 5, 2003 Share Posted February 5, 2003 if you are in ohio you might check out petsolutions.com, i believe they have a chain of stores called jackspets also. Link to comment
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