Elegance coral help?

RRaquariums · Jul 22, 2014

Alright so I went to petco today and against my better judgment I got an elegance coral that I knew very little about I had seen a few things on them but not much after getting it home I started to dig into some research on them and come to find that they are way more difficult then I had originally thought.
So my question here is has anyone here had an elegance before and had it survive?
If so how did you do it and do you have any tips?

tyler1503 · Jul 23, 2014

I had one in the display I looked after while working at an LFS. It was there before I got there and was there when I left a couple of years after. I'm pretty sure it's still there now so it's atleast 5 years old.
We had it in just enough flow to wave it about a bit and a quad t5 fixture. I don't remember the bulb combo though. Also, I used filtered ocean water, not a salt mix so the parameters weren't perfect.
Direct feedings help, but mine only ever got what it caught while I fed the fish.
Do you know where yours came from?

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

I'm not sure and being the idiot I am I didn't think to ask the petco people simply because I didn't know it mattered I'm going to call them up tomorrow and ask where they get them from.
It's good to hear a story that doesn't end in this coral dying a sad slow death.
What should I feed it and where could I get whatever that food is?

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

Here is a picture of it after a few minutes of being in my tank https://www.dropbox.com/s/8yo9simjhqwjogz/2014-07-22 15.55.39.jpg

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

After reading up on it I also moved my tank lighting up higher so it was not so bright that is supposed to help but we will see.

jwebber974 · Jul 23, 2014

Elegance coral's are hard to keep. I have had two with no luck. Try low light and low flow, and target feed oyster feast.

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

If it takes a turn for the worst I'll probably try to take it back to petco and get a refund or a trade or something but I don't think they will go for it.

tyler1503 · Jul 23, 2014

Aussie ones have a half decent survival rate. The indo ones not so much. Most aussie corals seem to survive better than most international counterparts.
Try feeding it mysis shrimp from the LFS. Any small nutritious carnivore food will do though. Turn off all your pumps, feed your fish and when they're satisfied, gently drop some shrimp onto it's tentacles. It may not eat the first few times though.
Good luck!

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

Thanks I'll get it some food and we will see how it goes hopefully I'll be able to keep this guy because it really is a cool coral.

Stefano Russo · Jul 23, 2014

Elegance coral is not as hard as we imagine even if it is a deep water coral.
Wich light do you have? you must consider as i told you that is a deep water coral that loves hard water movements and doesnt love light at all..

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

I have two power compact fluorescent bulbs one is a 55 watt 420mm and the other is a 60 watt true actinic. My tank is 25 gallons and it's 21 inches tall I placed the elegance at the very bottom of the tank in the sand bed and I've put a peace of paper under the light to dim the area it's in.

Stefano Russo · Jul 23, 2014

RRaquariums said:
I have two power compact fluorescent bulbs one is a 55 watt 420mm and the other is a 60 watt true actinic. My tank is 25 gallons and it's 21 inches tall I placed the elegance at the very bottom of the tank in the sand bed and I've put a peace of paper under the light to dim the area it's in.

At the bottom its perfect, as all deep water corals elegance coral love strong water movement

and perfect water condition with no up and down of KH.
This is very important and it may cause the Death of the acro if this "up and down in kh" happen

RRaquariums · Jul 23, 2014

Well I'm going to give petco a call today and see if I can trade it for a different coral because as much as I like it it's not really fitting in with what kind of tank I want but if they won't take it back I'll just have to do my best.