Rainbow Bernardapora

Rainbow Bernardapora is offered under the retail name shown in the product title.

The retail title is retained exactly, including the spelling “Bernardapora.” The accepted genus spelling is Bernardpora. This product should be cared for and described as Bernardpora, not converted to Goniopora; no species-level identity is asserted.

Care Guide

• Lighting: Begin around 75–125 PAR and acclimate gradually. Avoid an abrupt move into intense light.
• Flow: Use low-to-moderate, varied indirect flow. The short polyps should move gently while the colony remains free of settled debris.
• Placement: Secure it on lower-to-middle rockwork with room for the colony to encrust and extend. Keep living tissue clear of abrasive surfaces.
• Feeding: Feeding is optional but beneficial. Offer a small portion of fine planktonic food once or twice weekly and avoid overfeeding.
• Spacing: Treat as semi-aggressive with contact risk. Start with at least 4 inches of clearance and prevent tissue contact as the colony spreads.

Keep salinity and alkalinity stable, change one variable at a time, and use sustained polyp extension as feedback. Do not diagnose a closed flowerpot coral from one parameter or one day of behavior alone.

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A shipped Goniopora arrives with every polyp withdrawn into the skeleton and looks like a bare ball of rock.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