gorg questions

[Kristy]

So Dr. Ron was the first speaker at DFWMas Next Wave and gave a very informative presentation on some research he's been doing on feeding gorgonians. Here are his findings.

Main points:

• In nature, each gorgonian polyp eats up to 8 times a day, grabbing food that is being delivered on currents that are up to 132,000 gallons per hour. No way we can replicate that.
• Food particles need to have particular shape / size / flavor or will be rejected by the gorg polyps.
• The flow needs to be laminar and high velocity, but in a predictable direction (not turbulent), flowing from behind the polyps, not into the polyps. The shape of the polyp itself breaks the current and creates a little vortex that sucks the food particle into the polyp.
• Frequency and amount of food offered is more important than the mixture of food itself.
• Recommended food is a mixture of phytoplankton, oyster eggs, and artemia cysts. Baby brine shrimp also appreciated.
• Target feeding is not really effective.
• Super glue can kill gorgonians.

Hope that's helpful!

[Europhyllia]

Super glue can kill gorgonians.

can you elaborate on that?

[Kristy]

Well, at the very end of the presentation, Dr. Ron mentioned that he lost his whole test group of gorgonians after his experiment concluded, due to gluing some frags with super glue and then he found out that it will kill the coral.

In MY experience (considerably less than Dr. Ron's experience!!!), I have seen gorgonians that were attached with glue and it did not seem to be an issue, but maybe there was something different going on with his conditions.

Scientific Coral Farms gives a very nice set of specific instructions on their website about how to frag gorgonians, by drilling a hole in the rock, stripping the flesh off the gorgonian down to the coral skeleton, inserting it into the rock and gluing it into the hole in the rock - and they propagate gorgonians all day long.

In light of Dr. Ron's findings, I might try that with putty if I ever got the courage to frag a gorg (I'm such a chicken about fragging!).

[Europhyllia]

check out the GARF site, Kristy. They tried out different ways to do this and wrote about each one. They concluded that stripping and then super glueing was the way to go.

[drunkenclam]

So Dr. Ron was the first speaker at DFWMas Next Wave and gave a very informative presentation on some research he's been doing on feeding gorgonians. Here are his findings.

Main points:

• In nature, each gorgonian polyp eats up to 8 times a day, grabbing food that is being delivered on currents that are up to 132,000 gallons per hour. No way we can replicate that.
• Food particles need to have particular shape / size / flavor or will be rejected by the gorg polyps.
• The flow needs to be laminar and high velocity, but in a predictable direction (not turbulent), flowing from behind the polyps, not into the polyps. The shape of the polyp itself breaks the current and creates a little vortex that sucks the food particle into the polyp.
• Frequency and amount of food offered is more important than the mixture of food itself.
• Recommended food is a mixture of phytoplankton, oyster eggs, and artemia cysts. Baby brine shrimp also appreciated.
• Target feeding is not really effective.
• Super glue can kill gorgonians.

Hope that's helpful!

very interesting. can you expand on what the good doctor has a Ph.D/M.D. on? and where we might his publications?

[Kristy]

very interesting. can you expand on what the good doctor has a Ph.D/M.D. on? and where we might his publications?

Well, I don't have his bio in front of me but it would be easy enough for anyone to look up. Have you never heard of Dr. Ron Shimek?

[Kristy]

This was his latest research which he is in the process of publishing, so reportedly these findings are not yet in print but should be within the year. That was why he was sharing them at DFWMas Next Wave. He has plenty of other research that has been published.

[Kristy]

Here you go... found his bio:
http://www.ronshimek.com/about.html

Appears to be a PhD...

[drunkenclam]

Well, I don't have his bio in front of me but it would be easy enough for anyone to look up. Have you never heard of Dr. Ron Shimek?

No. I have not. My research on organic synthesis does not correlate to reef keeping. As a scientist I find contradictions in the notes you have posted. I was not there for the presentation so can only go by your notes. As for a bio on Dr. Shimek I would conclude his credentials would or should have been posted in any pamphlet/schedule handed out. As I find time I will research publications for Dr. Shimek.

[Kristy]

The notes that I shared were meant to summarize the research that was presented at the conference and are by no means a scientific abstract. Perhaps my lack of affiliation with the researcher was unclear. I thought there were a couple of points that address the issue of optimum feeding of the gorgonian coral that might be helpful to Kevin, who was asking about the feeding of gorgonians in the original post.

I certainly may have made errors in my note-taking, so I would encourage you to contact Dr. Ron Shimek yourself, or attend one of his upcoming speaking engagements if you would like to learn more about his research. I'm sure he would be more than happy to address any concerns you have about the vailidity of his research.