WYSIWYG Rainbow Bernardpora Colony (4″, Short-Polyp Goniopora)

WYSIWYG Rainbow Bernardpora Colony (4″, Short-Polyp Goniopora) is the WYSIWYG colony shown for this listing.

This coral is sold as Bernardpora, a short-polyped flowerpot coral that is often described in the aquarium trade as short-polyp Goniopora. The trade description does not make it a true Goniopora.

Care Guide

• Lighting: Use moderate, even light in the 100–200 PAR range and acclimate gradually.
• Flow: Use low-to-moderate, gentle and varied flow. The short polyps should move without remaining compressed.
• Placement: Place on the sandbed or lower-to-middle rockwork where detritus will not accumulate on the colony.
• Feeding: Fine planktonic or powdered coral food can be offered in small portions one or two times weekly.
• Spacing: No sweeper tentacles are asserted for this specimen, but leave room for the colony to encrust and spread without touching neighbors.

Keep salinity and alkalinity stable and avoid changing light, flow, and placement simultaneously. Judge a move by the coral’s response over time rather than a single day of extension.

Shipping: Ships UPS Next Day Air from Key West. Current eligibility and delivery timing are shown at checkout.

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A shipped Goniopora arrives with every polyp withdrawn into the skeleton and looks like a bare ball of rock.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.