anyone have an alveopora sp coral?

well i bought one of these this weekend at the LFS. The is conflicting info on the net about these that i did not see until i bought it. some sites say it is a novice type coral while others say it is harder to keep like its cousin the goniopora. It seems to be somewhat photosynthetic. anyone have one? any advice on its care? I will post a picture of it when i get home from work.

here is what i could find that says it is easy to care for. is this correct?

Latin NameAlveopora sp.Common NameAlveopora CoralAlso known asAlveoporaUnlike Gonipora, which is one of the most frequently available corals to the trade, the closely related Alveopora is seldom seen. These corals are never plentiful, order fast when available! Although it looks superficially similar to Gonipora,, Alveopora is easier to maintain in the aquarium. Collected colonies are generally more elongated than the typically ball shaped Goniopora. These corals can expand and contract tremendously. Size will vary from smaller when you receive them, to larger after they have adjusted to your aquarium for a period of weeks.


Like most Large Polyp Stony Corals, their tissue is very thin. It requires outstanding water conditions and may benefit from addition of trace elements. It requires medium to bright, indirect light and generally expands best in low to medium water flow. In nature it is typically found in turbid, shallow waters.


SizesSmall/Around 1"-2"
Medium/Around 2"-3"
Large/Around 3"-4"
Ease of Care(5=easy, 1=difficult)
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AvailabilityRare, not often available. Act fast when in stock!
 
I have seen then live and die in some aquariums it really depends how good your water is. At the store I work at they live fine and we have them all the time.
 
Thats what has me confused. some say it is easy and low maint, then others say it needs spot feeding with good indirect lighting. I have it almost to the sand bed in a Low to medium flow area. It is getting direct light from a 175 12k MH in a lumenarc, but it is 2 feet away from the light.
It seems to be happy so far. Any advice on care or placement?

I will try to spot feed it tonight with cyclops.

Here is a Pic of it in its new home.

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thank you for the advice. I will move it up and see how it goes. As of today it seems that the polyps are fully extended. (even more than in the picture) I fed them some cyclops and it looked as if some of them ate. I did notice alot of the polyps did not respond when the food touched them. should I try a different food?
 

camlov2

New Member
I have a piece that the LFS kept under MH lighting (off to the side so the lighting wasn't direct). I have kept the piece under PC lights in my biocube. The piece has been very easy to care for and has grown quickly.
here is a frag I made a while back.
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Usually the trick to these guys is polyp extension. If the polyps are exteneded a few inches from the base (assuming you have a decent sized piece) then it should be doing fairly well. But if you start to see some of the polpys retracted a bit more then they usually I would watch it closely.
 
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