Acan growth

[gareth.hubbarde]

This is my first lps and been in now for few months. It seems happy and apparently growing. Seems to have a new head growing although for some reason it's completely different colour to the original head. Is this normal?

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[sde1500]

Yep totally normal. Not even really a different color. Notice you have some green on the rim of the large polyp, and you are seeing that same green on the new polyp. I have an acan echinata that is almost all orange and blue, but has some tiny bits of green and yellow on the rim, the 6 or so new polyps coming in are all rimmed and look mostly green.

 

[Tripod1404]

It is completely normal. Sometimes the small head eventually have a color similar to the large head as it grows, but sometimes the unique colors remain and give a contrast.

I have a lobo brain coral that was red and had some blue patches. All of a sudden a new head stated to form on one of the blue patches and now it turned a full head that is mostly blue and have red patches, the exact opposite of the rest of the colony. It gives good contrast.

 

[Uncle99]

Looks good!
You can target feed these!

 

[SRQreef3r]

Nice, the head will likely start to look more and more like the bigger head

 

[christmascoral]

reason this is occurring is because the smaller head isnt as large. this retraction will produce more coloration. larger it grows the color will look more like your original larger polyp. hth beautiful acan.

 

[gareth.hubbarde]

Thank you all for the replies. I appreciate the time you took. It's good to know that things are going well in my tank and with that my small lps is doing well.

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[gareth.hubbarde]

Looks good!
You can target feed these!

Target feeding is hard due to the shrimps harassing it once food is in. I do try to ensure some food ends up in its mouth.

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[Uncle99]

Yup, me too.
I have solved that somewhat by attaching a long piece of ridged airline tube to a plastic syringe. Then I pickup some "food" (for me a mix of cyclopeze and brine shrimp) and put the opening about 1-2 mm from the Centre of the head and squirt a bit and hold until the mouth starts to close a bit....but your right...the skunk and the fire eat too....

 

[ReeferNoob4ever]

HAHA I totally know what you mean! My banded coral shrimp is a beast when it comes to running around stealing food out of my LPS mouths. I just usually give him a big ol piece of something to keep him occupied while the others digest their portion. Sometimes I have to revert to chasing him away with the tongs.

 

[Tripod1404]

Target feeding is hard due to the shrimps harassing it once food is in. I do try to ensure some food ends up in its mouth.

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Cut a coke bottle in half, remove the cap and keep the top half. After you put some food onto the coral, you can put it on the coral. This way shrimp would not be able to reach the coral.

You can also use a long wooded stick to harass the shrimp. I have a long stick that is normally used for supporting plants. I use that to chase the shrimp if if tries to go near the coral. After few tries, it generally gives up.