Anyone have information on Galaxea?

[ewaldm]

I saw one of these at a local shop that I visit. They seemed very healthy and I loved their look. How difficult are these corals compared to other LPS, hammers, bubbles and so on?

I've heard they require a little bit higher light. Would 2 55w powercompacts over a 10g tank be sufficient?

Thanks

 

[nm354]

one of the main things you have to watch out for with them is that they can send out sweepers close to a foot long. So make sure you don't have anything to close to it.
In a 10g that might be the only coral left.

 

[ewaldm]

I did a little more research and I thought I would post these links in case anyone else ever searches the site for info.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/galaxycfaqs.htm

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/oculinidae.htm

I still would like some first hand experience with these corals. What about my lighting situation?

Thanks

 

[CoralNutz]

SWEEPER ALERT!!!!

I bought one of these a couple years ago and it was SWEET looking... I quickly found out why many people don't have them. I knew they would have sweepers, but I was just thinking a couple inches or something so I put it way over in the front corner of a 75 gallon. The sweepers were so long that they killed corals that about 10 inches from the edge of the galaxea.....

They are really cool looking but make sure you have the space for one if you get one...

 

[Asuran]

just watch out for the sweepers... i have mine its really nice but try to keep it away from other corals... but it hasnt stung my frogspawn or hammer yet... it did grab a hold of a couple star polyps when i just bought it and didnt do any research on it before hand... but i know now... research before buying

 

[David Grigor]

Like others have mentioned sweepers they send out make then not very popular.

Other than that, they are usually very easy to care for and do well in quite a wide range of lighting.

It grows quite well and typically once every year or so, I frag it back down to say 1" or so. I don't like for it to get big because of the sweepers.

Also, tend the more random wave patterns you have in the tank will cause more problems with the sweepers. I tend to try to find a place that recieves mostly a linear flow in a particular direction so that I can try to isolate where the sweepers can go.

 

[ewaldm]

Great ideas on the flow.

How do you frag this coral? Do you use a dremel drill, and cut around the individual corallites?

 

[David Grigor]

Either way. Very forgiving coral when it comes to fragging.

It grows kindof like a blastomussa merletti where each on has a little stalk but then grows a flat surface kindof between them where you can't really see the underlying stalks.

I personally like to cut several individual stalks off and mount them in a symetrical way so it grows into sort of a symetrical ball look vs. just flat plating look when just sawing it in half so to speak.

I'll post a pic later when I'm home so you can see how it develops a nice symetrical lookafter 6-12 months from fragging this way......

 

[Kat R]

If you have any pictures of how you frag yours I'd really like to see them. I've got a huge galaxia about 6" across & need to reduce the size. Thanks.

 

[ewaldm]

Thanks for the information.

Pictures would be great!

 

[David Grigor]

Here's the picture. Started out as about 8 polyps/stalks, I superglued each stalk seperately into a flower type arrangement on the rock. As it grows it fills in the gaps to form a nice symetrical look vs. a flat plate that most grow in. Plus helps keep it under control. This is about a years worth of growth, when gets out of control I'll do the same thing and trade the rest of the coral. This is my way on containment so it doesn't get to big and sting other stuff.

 

[ewaldm]

Awesome idea. It looks sweet.