The Goniopora Project

[GoTakuF1]

Is it almost like the mother colonies have polyp bailout (for lack of a better term) in order to reproduce? Or do they create new little buds and then mysteriously die in the center afterwards?

From the pictures and videos I've seen of goniopora meadows in the wild, the former is true. In almost all cases, the surrounding daughter colonies are much healthier and larger in size than the previous generation. In certain areas, you can track the number of generations like tiers on a wedding cake and they can take over patches of the reef this way. Here are some more wild photos:









Looks like this goni colony has taken over this patch of reef where montis and acros once reside:

[GoTakuF1]

A quick update, this guy is no longer in my tank:



He's now in Mr. Bio-Nut (Ian)'s care. Hopefully we'll get some updates from the new owner in a bit.

I chanced on two very, very unusual gonis that I haven't had a chance to really photograph so that and more to come on another update.

For now, I'll leave you with this commercial for a new fish food called:

Vid: Goni Sperm



P.S. No, my fish aren't on crack, the video was sped up 6x to show the "love stream" without boring you to death

[GoTakuF1]

It has been far too long since the last update. I haven't had much time to keep up with documenting this project but here's the most recent happening:



Yup, I'm a grampa! Here's a reminder of what happened almost a year ago. My goniopora stokesi had several buds:



Then they became babies:



And then the babies kept growing:



And growing, and growing, until they dropped the first 3rd generation captive raised goniopora stokesi a few days ago:



A closer look (note the second generation ones in the background):

[GoTakuF1]

Here are a few shots of the first generation colony:



It is doing quite well but it, along with its neighbors, have been growing beyond its boundaries. It has been trying to fight a nasty sarcophyton to the west:



And an equally mean elegance to the east:



My tank is running out of room fast. So I'm debating whether to restart the project and give/loan out some more goni frags/babies. What do you all think?

[GoTakuF1]

Oh yeah, snapped a quick shot of one of the goniopora norfolkensis frags made from the start of this project:



It is doing quite well but as you can see, it is running out of room to grow and will soon be covered by....XENIAS!!!

Here's the progression shot after 5 months of getting it back in my tank:

[cubical]

Following this and your other tank threads / write-ups has been inspiring! Cool stuff! And awesome videos!