Gorgonian care?

[Fishkeeper]

So I have seen gorgonians for sale, and have heard everything from "they always die" to "just use a turkey baster to stir up the tank now and then, that will feed it." Any imput?

[Dave66]

Most gorgonians for sale are photosynthetic species, so no worries about feeding them, other than very bright light for the symbiotic algae within the gorgonian's flesh.

Or, just wait for my soft coral primer, which will include, among other species, a section on the care and feeding of gorgonians, both photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic ones, which do indeed must be fed.

Dave

[Fishkeeper]

It's orange ones I was thinking about, aren't those photosynthetic?

[labnjab]

There are photosynthetic and non photosynthetic orange ones. I had a non photosynthetic one and it didn't last long, but I more then likely didn't feed it enough as we have a SPS dominated tank and try to keep nutrients low.

We do have a photosynthetic purple gorgonian that has been doing very well. We keep it in high light and high flow and that seems to keep it happy. It always has full polyp extension. We've had it close to 6 months now.