GSP coral question

[Cichlid-Man]

My next purchase for my 15gal nano (a little less than 15 acctually..) will "Hopefully" be a Green Star Polyp. My question is...

What should i look for when buying one of these? Health wise and stuff. Also, can anyone give me a ballpark guess as to how much i can usually get one for?

While i'm posting...any other coral suggestions for a beginner? Shrooms?

I'm only running 2 18W compacts, 1 atinic and 1 daylight. I have LR so i can put the corals up near the top to get more of the light.

 

[1979camaro]

well, you want them to be fully expanded and have good color, thats really about it. sometimes they will look kind of withered or wispy...i would stay away from those. GSP actually need a fair amount of light but i think near the top of your tank they will be fine. its hard to guess on price, it depends on the market in your area as well as availability andthe size of the frag. my guess, though, would be that a silver dollar sized (the eisenhower one) patch is going to run you at least $15, probably more like $20 or $25


mushrooms and zoanthids are also easy corals

 

[dbacksrat]

don't be worried if you don't see it attempt to expand for awhile...it will pull through

these guys are fast growers too...so if you're smart you could "frag" one of these guys and in time put that $15-25 back in your wallet

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Awesome, thanks guys..just what i was looking for.

Cool thing is, that i've got a $25 gift certificate for the LFS. So i could frag it and make a small profit, only to turn around and spend on some mushrooms or something.

 

[1979camaro]

sounds like a plan. if you are curious, my theory has always been to buy a fairly small piece of whatever i am buying. often the LFS will have very nice "show" type pieces of everything which are very expensive and look quite nice as well as small pieces with maybe 5 polyps which are considerably more cheap. my theory is, the stuff is going to grow (and quickly at that) so why spend $100 on a large chunk when in 6 months i will have that many for a $20 investment

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Very true. But being a poor college student i already look for the cheapest way out.

 

[dbacksrat]

my lfs sells tiny chunks of xenia for $15 bucks a pop...I know I can get it free from a local reefer though

yeah i can't believe what my favorite lfs charges for a rock full of mushrooms...wow

one more thing: my cabbage leather (s. dura) is almost done splitting...so I'll be able to take him back in time....