Alveopora – The Other Flower Pot Coral

How are things going for everyone? Let’s discuss about Alveopora today. The giant polyp stony coral Alveopora has a lovely flower-like look. I hadn’t seen many of these corals in all my years of reef keeping, and I didn’t have any in my tanks. I was thinking about why it occurred, and I believe there are two basic reasons for it.

On the one hand, Alveopora aren’t that common in the first place. They aren’t the most uncommon corals by any means, but its near related Goniopora is significantly more frequent. The second issue is that, similar to Goniopora flower pots, Alveopora has a bad reputation for surviving.

That reputation may have deterred me in the past from purchasing a few. That reputation may or may not well-deserve, but we’ll get into that later.

I’ve used the terms Goniopora and Alveopora interchangeably thus far. Let’s have a look at the distinctions between the two. Both corals have a rocky skeleton with a bouquet of stalks that protrude from it. The number of tentacles on each polyp is where they differ. Each Alveopora polyp has 12 tentacles, whereas each Goniopora polyp has 24.

That is the quickest and most straightforward method of distinguishing the two.

Second, Alveopora appears to be a more resilient species than Goniopora. For a long time, Goniopora has had a bad reputation for surviving. There are roughly 20 species of Goniopora, some of which are fairly resilient, although there have been variants imported for years that have failed to thrive. A typical pattern would be to acquire a lovely completely developed colony that appears to thrive for around 6 months.

However, after that time, it would take a sharp turn and die within 48 hours. Although there are several highly hardy Goniopora species accessible today, the stigma has stuck and now covers even similar-looking corals like Alveopora. One thing I’ve noticed with Alveopora so far is that they seem to repair from proliferation quite quickly. I can see the chopped edge of a colony sprouting back just a few days after we cut it. Let’s have a look at some helpful hints: Alveopora appear to thrive in a wide range of illumination intensities.

Alveopora

Some corals require a lot of light and can change color considerably when exposed to different intensities or spectrums, however Alveopora have a more consistent appearance.

Finding an area in the tank where the coral will receive a middle-of-the-road intensity of roughly 50-100 PAR is recommended. It is far more dangerous to provide too much light than it is to provide too little light, so if you are going to miss the mark, opt for less light. In terms of water flow, I prefer Alveopora with a medium to high flow. This coral can withstand a wide range of flow conditions, but viewing a big colony of Alveopora blowing in the current is a sight to behold.

I wouldn’t worry about putting it in high flow because the coral will let you know if you’ve gone overboard. If you take up Alveopora, it will swiftly retract all of its polyps. Just look at the coral to see if you’ve put the colony in too much flow. It’s probably fine if the polyps are out and swaying. I’m undecided when it comes to feeding.

Regular feedings will definitely help Alveopora, however they can be difficult to feed. We just combined four commercially available powdered plankton feeds and fed them to all of our corals.

Essentially, the shotgun method of feeding. However, it’s critical not to overfeed because the risks of a nutrient overload far outweigh the benefits of feeding, so don’t go overboard. It might be difficult to tell whether or not fussy corals like Alveopora are actually eating the food.

I’m usually on the lookout for this pogo-stick activity, in which one of the polyps retracts abruptly and then slowly extends again. I’ve heard that is a feeding response anecdotally, but I’m not convinced. Similar phenomenon has been observed in Goniopora. I’m thinking it’s a feeding response rather than a hint that the meal is bothering them. Finally, there’s the chemistry of water.

You’ll want to check your calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium levels, just like you would with any other stony coral.

Alveopora aren’t super fast growing corals like birds nest or whatever, but they are rather quick for a large polyp stony coral, therefore they rely on a steady uptake of these essential elements to keep developing. So, what is the purpose of this coral? I envision this coral in a mixed reef or stony coral-dominated aquarium that aims to mimic soft coral movement with stony corals. This aesthetic includes hammers, torches, and frogspawn corals, as well as elegance corals.

Alveopora corals go well with these LPS corals since they come in unusual pastel colors like brilliant pink. Alveopora are also on the difficult end of the scale, so having thriving colonies of these guys is quite a feat. There is undoubtedly a segment of reef keepers that are searching for a challenge.

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