Acropora Tenuis growth rate

[damura]

Hi all,

I have a Tenuis, that is very beautiful, I am working on getting its tips bigger and bluer, on this mission i'm satisfied
What i do not understand is, why it doesn't grow at all! I have it more than six months and it grew maybe 3 mm.
Any ideas? personal experience? My Ca is 430 and i have insane growth rates in all my stags. Here's the photo of my Tenuis:

 

[Capt_Cully]

That looks more like a bottle brush, like the one ORA puts out, than a tenuis. Not sure on the species. In which case, they are, IME, VERY slow growers.

That's just a guess though, no disrespect intended. Just tryin to think out loud.

 

[SunnyX]

It does look sort of like the ORA Blue Bottle brush, but the one I have is much bluer and with a green base. Im not sure what kind of growth others get with it but it is one of the fastest growing corals in my tank.

Have you tried fragging off a small portion of it to activate growth or move it around in the tank?

 

[Capt_Cully]

I recently aquired one that isn't growing at the tips so well, but it IS encrusting like a mofo. I suspect a growth explosion is mounting.

 

[SunnyX]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14501556#post14501556 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Capt_Cully
I recently aquired one that isn't growing at the tips so well, but it IS encrusting like a mofo. I suspect a growth explosion is mounting.

Yeah, mine did the same thing. It put down a nice base and started to grow slowly. I snipped tiny pieces off the the ends of the coral and it has been growing like mad ever since.

 

[damura]

No way i'm going to cut its tips

I was looking for chemistry oriented answers, maybe water chem. preferences. It is definitely a Tenuis.

 

[Capt_Cully]

On that note, I've had some corals that no matter their growth rate for others, just sit. Sometimes for months. Then all of a sudden, WHAM they explode with growth. My tank's params are very stable, and other corals grow while an occaisional one will just sit. Short of any other info, I'd just be patient.

Again, no disrespect intended, I was merely putting the idea out there

 

[MMOORE0324]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14503450#post14503450 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by damura
No way i'm going to cut its tips

I was looking for chemistry oriented answers, maybe water chem. preferences. It is definitely a Tenuis.

\

It may not be a chemistry or water parm. answer. When we say snip the tips... I'm not talking cut a 1inch frag from the tips. Just a little sliver off the very tip to stimulate it. Some corals, for whatever reason just kinda go dormant and cutting the tips kinda just wakes it up.

 

[bwest]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14505298#post14505298 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MMOORE0324
\

It may not be a chemistry or water parm. answer. When we say snip the tips... I'm not talking cut a 1inch frag from the tips. Just a little sliver off the very tip to stimulate it. Some corals, for whatever reason just kinda go dormant and cutting the tips kinda just wakes it up.

I agree, the corals I've irritated the most by accidentally fragging them are the ones that seem to grow the fastest. My bottlebrush and tenius haven't ever had that happen to them, and both seem to grow pretty slow. I'll probably take a snip from each and see what happens.

 

[Fished up]

I can vouch for the quick growth after "fragging" the tips. I grazed my very slow growing A. Tenuis with my finger a few weeks ago and accidentally removed the axial corallite from two branches. There has been at least a 1/4" to 3/8" of growth on the tip of each branch since then. "Fragging" to stimulate growth was discussed in another thread on RC recently.

 

[damura]

I heard that these "shutting down" of tips is because of extra PO4. I have 0.01 so i am not sure why it happens but it does. Especially in my pale blue stags!

When i cut them, they suddenly wake up and continue growing

 

[Whisperer]

The coralites remind me of vermiculata.

 

[surge19us]

Here my blue tenuis. Looks like yours. Bad pic. Mine is slow grower but is doing better now that I changed its location. Also had red bugs which seemed to effect it and my echinata the worst. Here is a bad pic of ORA blue bottlebrush also.

 

[damura]

OK,

I just cut 2 tips, just the 2 mm in each tip... let's wait and see...

 

[stunreefer]

Is that a maricultured piece?

IME maricultured pieces take quite a while to settle in and start growing.

 

[mflamb]

A bad pic of my tenius. Doesn't look anything like yours.

 

[damura]

Yes it is a maricultured one and thank for that!

Most of the SPS's in my country are Mari. doesn't destroy nature on one hand and on the other hand gives remote villages in Indonesia descent way for making a living...

 

[mr_anderson]

I have a blue tip tenuis colony just like that one and is growing nicely. I have it right under 2X250 10k XM with lots of flow. it took about 3 months for it to get use to my tank before it really took off.

 

[ahmed_iAM]

This thread is a bit old but based on the information in this thread would the small frag in the center of this picture be a Tenuis. I've had it one year and those small offshoots from the main structure is all the growth it has had, mostly over the last two months.