Sunny Side Up Ultra Goniopora

Description

The Sunny Side Up Ultra Goniopora is a vibrant and eye-catching coral that has bright yellow and orange polyps, creating a warm, sunny glow in any reef aquarium. Its bushy structure and unique coloration make it a striking focal point, adding lively movement and texture to your underwater landscape. Thriving in moderate light and flow, this coral is suitable for aquarists of all experience levels. The Sunny Side Up Ultra Goniopora not only enhances the aesthetic appeal of your tank but also provides shelter for small fish and invertebrates, contributing to the overall biodiversity of your aquarium. Its colors and hardiness make it a fantastic addition to any coral collection.

Care Guide
Goniopora is a Large Polyp Stony coral known for its swaying, anemone-like tentacles atop a hard calcified base. It requires stable water parameters and benefits significantly from regular target feeding, and prefers low to moderate lighting with gentle, indirect flow.

Placement: Middle of the tank on a flat rock or sandbed with gentle, indirect flow. Feed several times a week.

What to expect when it arrives

A shipped Goniopora arrives with every polyp withdrawn into the skeleton and looks like a bare ball of rock. This is normal and it is not a sign the animal is failing. Float the sealed bag 15 minutes and drip acclimate over a full hour — goni benefit from slower acclimation than most LPS.

Place it on the sand bed in low flow and moderate light and then leave it completely alone. Initial polyp extension usually begins within 24 to 48 hours, but full extension can take a week or more. Moving it during that period is the most reliable way to prevent it settling at all.

Feeding, which is not optional here

This is the genus where feeding changes the outcome. Goniopora has a high metabolic demand and responds to regular small-particle feeding with visibly longer polyp extension and faster head development. Feed two or three times a week with a fine food, target-fed with the pumps off for ten minutes. A goni that is fed looks completely different at six months from one that is not.

Placement and flow

Low to moderate, indirect flow. The polyps should drift and wave, not bend over or stay compressed. If polyps extend fully on one side and stay short on the other, something is hitting the short side directly — move it or redirect the pump.

Remember the extended polyp field is far wider than the skeleton. A goni that fits a gap on arrival may be touching neighbors once it opens.

Growth

A settled, fed Goniopora expands its polyp field and begins adding new heads at the margin within a few months. Growth is steady rather than dramatic. A goni that slowly recedes from the base over weeks is almost always reporting light that is too strong or a feeding deficit, not disease.