Debunking the Myths: Elegance Coral.

[macscale]

Hey everyone.
I figured it's time to create a modern, updated thread on the care of elegance corals. I have found it is difficult to find information post 2011. Anybody who would like to add their two cents, that'd be great! Let's make sure hobbyists everywhere can enjoy this coral once again!

 

[Tru REEF]

I have a purple tip elegance and mine does great. I spot feed twice a week and dose amino acids. This seems to keep it happy and water change every 2 weeks. If i dont feed or dose amino it acts like it doesn't want to come out. Good water conditions and last thing hide the base which is red. And it'll be rewarding.

 

[robert]

I have a purple of unknown origin and a pink aussie...the purple is a cut piece and the pink has the mud form skeleton...I do nothing special - I never feed directly and use no supplements. I do carry a high load of fish and they are placed in the "drop" zone of my circulation. Awsome corals - but there still is a high disease rate in the industry based on the number of deaths I see at the LFS in the area.

Purple -

Pink Aussie

 

[Triggreef]

and last thing hide the base which is red.

What does that mean??

I tried one supposedly "aussie" and it lasted about 3 days. Researched a little and found that no one really is having luck with them anymore and believed to be because they are being collected so deep now on the reefs and having trouble acclimating to aquarium lighting... Maybe myth, maybe not.

I have a friend who has (actually the indo purple tip) for many years. She has made many frags and she actually pulls it out and chops it with a butcher knife believe it or not. The biggest that she has opens to about 2 feet and takes up most of her tank. She was sitting on about 8 frags until recently downsizing and selling them off. She grows them under t5's. I got the smallest frag due to limited space in my tank. It's done very well I think going on 2 months for me under LEDs.

She said they can take heavy flow, but from what I saw she had so many in her tank that I don't really think that heavy flow could be possible with all the elegances she had. In my tank, where I would consider my flow medium to low flow, it was obviously too much flow to where the flesh would have been pulled off the skeleton. I had to completely readjust my flow in my tank around this coral and set up a refuge area between rocks to slow the flow for this thing. I have too much critters to feed during the day, and it closes up too much to feed it at night so i can't really feed it. It seems pretty happy thus far.

And they will absolutely kill any other coral it is near. so give it a lot of space. Better yet, keep some bare rocks around it so theres no room for mistake.

 

[Wiz]

Mine has been well for a year. Got it as a frag from a local reefer. Grows great and is very hardy. Center of my lights. inbetween my two leds that are abot 2" apart. They max at 60% white and 75% blue for about 3 hours. They are rr 165p+'s. Has moderate to heavy flow. I broadcast feed mysis, flake, pellet, and nori mix once a day. I feed baby brine through a slow feeder once every dawn for my manderins. And reef chilli spot feed once every two nights In the dark. Spot feed a couple live blackworms occasionally. No sched, just a treat. Tank has virtually no water changes and only addatives are alk, calc, mag, iron, and iodine. Skimmer and bag of carbon in sump and a large dsb macro fuge.

 

[Tru REEF]

I dont know just figured it'll be helpful.

 

[Synodontis]

First thing I do before buying an Elegance, from anywhere is check for sign of Gall crabs.
I think one of the most common reasons for Elegance loss & the easiest to check for.

 

[Triggreef]

A pic of my small frag...

 

[maroun.c]

Amazing. I've kept an indo pink tip one in my tank for the last year or so and its been doing great. Another larger purple one I kept for around 6 months till it started peeling from the base and I couldn't stop it from peeling even by reducing the flow it was in to an absolute minimum, till I lost it. Amazing corals and a shame that they don't do great in our tanks.

 

[Retro Reefer]

I had one back in the early ninety's that was about the size of a baseball when I first purchased it, never seemed happy in my tank until I started using kalkwasser full time as my top off water at which point it exploded in growth laying down about 4" of new skeleton over a 6 year period and growing to almost the size of a football when fully expanded! Never used supplements and nothing else changed with my tank so I have always attributed its turnaround and health to kalkwasser use.

RR

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I picked one up a few weeks ago, it had both blue and pink tips. It was doing great then all of a sudden started melting away. I picked up another one that had just blue tips. Yesterday I actually found another one with both color tips, so I picked that up as well. Is that a common thing, having two color tips?

 

[Wiz]

I've never seen one with both. Pics?

 

[Breakthecycle2]

I've never seen one with both. Pics?

Really? There's no way I lucked out twice..did I?

 

[Wiz]

Really? There's no way I lucked out twice..did I?

Can only speak for myself. But love to see a picc

 

[reefbizkit]

Best placement for the elegance? Anyone? I've heard mixed reviews about sand bed or rock placement.

 

[Wiz]

Mine used to be at Center tank. But I dropped it to the sand a year ago and it is still doing fantastic

 

[Best Fish-Jake]

I cared for an Aussie for a couple weeks before my peppermint shrimp ate it.. It was happy with its spot on my sandbed receiving medium lighting and flow (I have a marine land 54W LED strip light) It accepted Mysis 2x per week and was doing great before getting torn up by my largest peppermint shrimp. Needless to say, that shrimp is no longer with me.

 

[LBReefer]

First thing I do before buying an Elegance, from anywhere is check for sign of Gall crabs.
I think one of the most common reasons for Elegance loss & the easiest to check for.

What do they look like?

 

[zaidalin79]

And they will absolutely kill any other coral it is near. so give it a lot of space. Better yet, keep some bare rocks around it so theres no room for mistake.

Can you have two elegance near each other?

 

[Blumy]

Moved mine all over to find a spot it likes. Been doing great for over a year now. Partial shade and medium flow at the entrance to a cave is where it is at.