Acan Growth

[MattyO]

So I have a few acans and would like to get more.

http://http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049758&page=3

I have heard acans are encrusting corals, anyone have timelapse shots of their acans growing.

 

[MattyO]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2049758&page=3

Sorry this link should work

 

[Fcamdog]

Are you asking, how to get them to grow well? If so, I mount frags on flat pieces of LR (I use my bandsaw to cut slices of LR to make awesome larger frag mounts). Feed them 2-3 times a week, mysis, brine shrimp, phytochrome and watch them grow. Most frags, say 3-5 head sized, will double in size for me in 3-4 months once acclimated. HTH,

Fcamdog

 

[MattyO]

Thanks, so they are encrusting since you use a flat rock?

 

[brannock_16]

Yes the skeleton will encrust onto and grow to the shape of the rocks. Flat pieces of rock seem to work better for Acan Lords, but they will also encrust onto tonga, fiji, etc...it just takes a bit longer.

If you are referring to Acan Lords in your post be careful of overfeeding. I have found that if you feed too often you can actually harm the lords due to polyp overcrowding. This occurs when the skeleton tries to continuously put out more polyps, but the skeleton cannot keep up with the growth of new polyps. This leads to overcrowding and sometimes death of polyps. This has only occurred with me twice, when I was feeding very heavily.

Acan Echinatas are definitely encrusting corals and stay closer to the rocks than lords. They will easily encrust on any surface but are much more aggressive than lords. They have very large sweeper tentacles and will devour almost anything in their path.

Acan Bowerbankis are a bit slower growing and also encrust. They do not exhibit as large and inflated polyps as Lords, but also are not as "flat" as Echinatas. They do best on flat surfaces as well...and in my experience enjoy to be closer to the sandbed.

Acan Hillaes encrust as well. I believe that they prefer to be closer to the sand bed and have decent sized polyps. All forms of Acans that I have seen enjoy and benefit from occasional target feeding...both for sustained growth and color maintenance and promotion.

 

[Jenzifer]

Hmm..maybe i should start feeding mine

 

[coralobsessions]

They are my favorite coral.