Elegance Coral

[Jollymon]

I have read the elegance corals being sold today are having problems surviving in captivity. I had one several years ago. It was one of the most bullet proof LPS I had ever had. Tissue expansion was great. This thing would be the size of a football at the end of the day. I regretfully sold it as it was taking up a great deal of real estate. Does any one have comments on this problem?

[BigE]

I haven't heard of any epedemics lately but I have read 2 things that may jive here.
1. More and more tanks have some type of calerpa (sp?) in them either for nutrient export, to feed tangs, or for the look.

2. I've read elegance can be negatively effected by chemicals given off by the calerpa.

I was looking into getting an elegance but once I found this out I decided against it. I haven't seen any hard data on this so maybe others with elegance experience will chime in.

[Jollymon]

I went to 3 stores today looking for an elegance. Nobody had any. 1 store did have a goniopora. :cry: I wish they would leave these in the ocean. Very poor track record. Anybody here have a success story for us?

[HoopsGuru]

Yes, read the thread on RC (coral forum) labeled "tang bombs", it appears that we may be starting to at least learn a bit more of what they want.....i consider this to be some "success".

[Pineapple House]

I read this somewhere (I have no clue where, I will try and look) but it said that elegance corals have become harder and harder to take care of. In the early years of reefing, elegance corals used to be very hardy, but now they have become non hardy. The article says that they used to be capturing elegance corals from the sandy costal waters in very shallow waters. These he said, were much more hardy, and have a brighter green color, with fatter, and wider tentacles. The non hardy elegance corals are usually collected from deeper waters, which tend to have a paler colour to them, with usually longer tentacles.

I have no clue if that is false, so don't take that advice until I have found the location I read that at. I *think* it was from last months "Aquarium Fish" article in the "Reef Section."

PH =)

[HoopsGuru]

I read something similar on AL or RC....you're not crazy :wink:

[Pineapple House]

I read something similar on AL or RC....you're not crazy :wink:
wow :shock: :shock: lol...I was just about to say I did find something on the Aquarium Fish magazine about that issue :-)

PH =)

[HoopsGuru]

I found an interesting post on WetWM that elegance corals need to be mounted vertically instead of horizontally as this is their natural position on the reef. Evidently they will not survive otherwise...this could explain things a bit.

[Jollymon]

I had mine sitting in the sand. It was very happy. It ate brittle stars for breakfast, and snails for lunch! Well, at the least, there were always empty shells next to the coral. I did find a star leg sticking out of the mouth a couple times! :shock:

[HoopsGuru]

Why do you say "was".

[amoroso6]

I just picked up a great elegance 2 days ago and it opened right up and doing very well. Lets hope it stays that way :D

[Pineapple House]

That looks like a great elagance amoroso6! Looks very healthy! I also like your coraline algea growth, looks awesome!

PH =)

[Jollymon]

Hoops,
I sold it several years ago. I had loaded a 38 gallon with several LPS. After a couple years, they were getting really big! The elegance when fully expanded was football sized. I regret not upgrading at that time. My job was keeping me really busy, so I sold most everything I had. Did the lowlight thing with mushrooms for a while. Let me tell you this. The reefing bug is always there. It wasn't too long that I had to have a reef again. :lol:

[Brad]

It is very addicting isnt it

bb

[HoopsGuru]

Ouch, that had to suck to part with. It is definitely amazing how this hobby incorporates itself into your life.....I'm so delusional I look into some of my fw tanks and pretend they are salt. :wink: :D

[Irisservice]

I saw two or three Elegance Coral at
http://www.ffexpress.com/diver_awesome.asp