Why aren't gorgonians more popular?

[Bigdaddy05]

Their never for sale at any lfs around me wish they were.

 

[Tamberav]

Definitely like them. In fact I plan to remove my SPS and replace with some gorgs.

They are harder to find local where SPS is everywhere. So may take a bit to find some nice ones.

 

[MaxTremors]

So why aren't gorgonians more popular? I've been doing a lot of snorkeling here in St Kitts, and have to say the blend of various SPS, LPS, and gorgonians is really nice to look at. Most of the gorgs here are photosynthetic, and it just looks nice! I do have a little purple ribbon gorg in my nano, but will definitely have more once we upgrade!

I don’t know. I love gorgonians.

Do you live in St Kitts? I visited there when I was a teenager, I remember there were lots wild, invasive monkeys, and lots of conch shells on the beach, also this cool sort of peninsula that was only a few hundred meters wide that had the Atlantic one side and the Caribbean sea on the other (or at least that’s what a local explained to me).

 

[Paul B]

Is this an old or new shot? Your tank doesn't look as packed as it usually does. Looks good.

It's old. I think that was just after I moved here almost 4 years ago. I had to break everything to move it.
This is a few weeks old.

 

[Montiman]

I have been trying to keep the photo ones for years with almost no success. Someone needs to tell me what I am missing. The only ones I have had success with are the brown corky sea fingers.

 

[cocoReefer]

Gorgs in every tank i setup.
5-6 different kind in my display. Have never identified a purple encrusting variety, but told its a gorg.

 

[JGT]

It's old. I think that was just after I moved here almost 4 years ago. I had to break everything to move it.
This is a few weeks old.

OK, yes these are the shots I've seen recently. Have to say, I like the less populated version. Maybe you should break you tank down again and reboot.

 

[dkfrosty1]

Tried getting one and recieved a leather instead, so trying to find someplace else that has the. I love their look.

 

[hart24601]

With whites, unfortunately the coral flouresence doesn't "pop" so people usually make choice as they are mutually exclusive. Most people side with the fluorescent corals unfortunately, so gorgs gets the short end of the stick. This is esp true with acros bc all those high end crazy color acros only show up under blue light.

I think this has a large part to play. I keep a few types of gorg and have even fragged many in the past. I have found they like higher flow than most have to blow the shedded skin off, and most that have that flow keep acros like above, although plenty of exceptions exist.

 

[Paul B]

OK, yes these are the shots I've seen recently. Have to say, I like the less populated version. Maybe you should break you tank down again and reboot.

I do to. I think these shots of my tank from maybe 30 years ago was the most natural looking. And I always had gorgs.

 

[JGT]

I do to. I think these shots of my tank from maybe 30 years ago was the most natural looking. And I always had gorgs.

Indeed, very nice.

 

[burningmime]

IMO, they look fine even under heavy blues (20k). They don't flouresce, but they still have a neat shape and look to them.

 

[Fishfreak2009]

I don’t know. I love gorgonians.

Do you live in St Kitts? I visited there when I was a teenager, I remember there were lots wild, invasive monkeys, and lots of conch shells on the beach, also this cool sort of peninsula that was only a few hundred meters wide that had the Atlantic one side and the Caribbean sea on the other (or at least that’s what a local explained to me).

Yup living here the next for years for school. I'm currently in veterinary school at Ross University. Going snorkeling 2-3x per week on the reefs of the peninsula you're talking about. Absolutely gorgeous patch reefs interspersed with sand patches and seagrass beds. Only 10-15' deep over a half mile off beach. Amazing snorkeling. Tons of monkeys, the government hunts them and sells the meat for those who will eat it, pays a bounty for those who will trap them (illegal to use a firearm here), and tons of conch shells. Also tons of urchins

The reefs here are loaded with gorgonians of every color and those are loaded with flamingo tongues. Fair amount of different stony corals (lots of baby corals as the reefs here recover from years of pollution, overfishing, and general abuse).

Photo is one of my regular snorkeling spots. Just got a diving camera, so plan on taking lots of pics. We get lots of turtles (greens, hawksbills, and leatherbacks), dolphins, tons of rays, occasional reef sharks and nurse sharks, seahorses, all kinds of other stuff as well. Really cool to see in person.

 

[MaxTremors]

Yup living here the next for years for school. I'm currently in veterinary school at Ross University. Going snorkeling 2-3x per week on the reefs of the peninsula you're talking about. Absolutely gorgeous patch reefs interspersed with sand patches and seagrass beds. Only 10-15' deep over a half mile off beach. Amazing snorkeling. Tons of monkeys, the government hunts them and sells the meat for those who will eat it, pays a bounty for those who will trap them (illegal to use a firearm here), and tons of conch shells. Also tons of urchins

The reefs here are loaded with gorgonians of every color and those are loaded with flamingo tongues. Fair amount of different stony corals (lots of baby corals as the reefs here recover from years of pollution, overfishing, and general abuse).

Photo is one of my regular snorkeling spots. Just got a diving camera, so plan on taking lots of pics. We get lots of turtles (greens, hawksbills, and leatherbacks), dolphins, tons of rays, occasional reef sharks and nurse sharks, seahorses, all kinds of other stuff as well. Really cool to see in person.

That’s awesome! I didn’t go snorkeling while I was there, but I’ve been snorkeling in St Lucia and St Thomas, so different than the Pacific reefs I’ve snorkeled. I used to live in Puerto Vallarta, and there is nothing better than being able to go snorkeling or to the beach whenever you feel like it.

 

[Laith]

I have a photosynthetic one and really like it. It grows like crazy. I got it as a tiny 4cm frag from a fellow reefer and he told me that the best place for it was in high flow... the higher the flow the better.

So I placed it literally right in front of one of my Tunze 6155 that's sitting in a Tunze rock in the DT. I thought that there was no way the thing could survive that direct flow.

It has since grown... and grown.

You can see it in the video below, about 5 seconds into the video on the right side of the tank, bouncing around everywhere in the flow.

 

[najer]

I don't think these two know about the chemical warfare thing and just decided to beat the crap out of each other!
(There is no stinging btw.)

 

[Fishfreak2009]

These aren't alive, but I did find all of this, including these amazing gorgonian skeletons on the beaches here in St Kitts

 

[REEFTIDE]

Well its hard for most companies to distribute them. I know it took us forever to get a good method of fragging, growing and getting good adhesion to the plugs. Beyond that they're not fancy SPS frags and some people don't see how gorgeous they can be. Beyond that, its hard to see them look nice under blues which IMO is the biggest reason why they're not popular with new reefers

 

[inland_reef]

I think the main reason they aren’t as popular is the fact that browns and purples of the photosynthetic gorgs get washed out under heavy blues that make other coral pop. I absolutely love them and run a whiter spectrum light schedule on my gorg/macro tank. I have noticed certain species if they touch will burn each other and the flesh will shed to the corky center but will eventually regrow as long as they don’t continue to touch. If they continue to touch, the stronger one will grow over the other one. But have enough flow kicking in your tank, you can keep them moving and separated.

 

[Biokabe]

I think part of the reason has to do with misinformation. I know when I was first getting into reefing, one thing I always saw about gorgonians was, "Don't ever let them touch air! Even when acclimating!" As I understand things now, that's only true of NPS gorgs... but I didn't appreciate the difference back then and took that to be true of ALL gorgs. And that sounded like a huge hassle to me, so I never even bothered trying with them.

However, I just picked up my first two gorgs on my last Pacific East shipment... a purple willow and a rusty finger. So far so good, and I do love the movement, especially on the willow.