Bought a hammer---I may have a frogspawn...

[Sk8r]

Both (and torch coral) are Euphyllias, and hammer is the fastest growing---I parlayed a 3-head coral into a basketball-sized creature inside a few years. So when I look for hardy stony, that's my choice. Feed them plenty of calcium and light and they do their thing. Frog and torch are a little less hardy.

But frog and hammer are so close to each other in chemistry that they can actually touch without warfare---for a while.

What does happen, however, is that you will see the nearest hammer tentacles begin to branch like frogspawn.

This peace will not last forever, however, and don't try it with torch: nothing gets along with torch.

I bought a several-head hammer, and lo! it puffed up with branches all over. But it is completely chaotic, not orderly in the manner of EITHER type, which are somewhat different from each other in the way their heads are organized. So I'm wondering if it's a confused hammer that just spent too long touching a frogspawn, or what. Time will tell. I've seen the extra buds just resorb or otherwise become less significant, but this is pretty well all over.

Interesting piece. At least it looks happy.

 

[CindyK]

Both (and torch coral) are Euphyllias, and hammer is the fastest growing---I parlayed a 3-head coral into a basketball-sized creature inside a few years. So when I look for hardy stony, that's my choice. Feed them plenty of calcium and light and they do their thing. Frog and torch are a little less hardy.

But frog and hammer are so close to each other in chemistry that they can actually touch without warfare---for a while.

What does happen, however, is that you will see the nearest hammer tentacles begin to branch like frogspawn.

This peace will not last forever, however, and don't try it with torch: nothing gets along with torch.

I bought a several-head hammer, and lo! it puffed up with branches all over. But it is completely chaotic, not orderly in the manner of EITHER type, which are somewhat different from each other in the way their heads are organized. So I'm wondering if it's a confused hammer that just spent too long touching a frogspawn, or what. Time will tell. I've seen the extra buds just resorb or otherwise become less significant, but this is pretty well all over.

Interesting piece. At least it looks happy.

This thread need pictures, Sk8r.

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[WatDatThing]

Can a Duncan get a long with these guys?

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[Tripod1404]

Bought a hammer---I may have a frogspawn...

I dont know if this is related but I have a grape coral (Euphyllia cristata) and torch coral (Euphyllia glabrescens). These guys grew into each other and was touching for about a year. My torch used to have very elongated tentacles, however, staring from the heads near the grape, they turned into shorter, more stocky tentacles, similar to that of a grape coral. I fragged the heads from both corals that are close to eachother, so they no longer touch. It will be nice to see if the torch t will eventually be more like a regular torch overtime. Here is a picture after the fraging;

 

[Sk8r]

Grape coral (euphyllia cristata) is yet another euphyllia---haven't met that one, myself, but yes, that's exactly the sort of thing that happens. I think they might do a little dna-swap right through the fairly permeable skin.

Usually hammer has neat little oblong-hammer heads on each tentacle, torch has skinny and single rounded ends, with a potent sting; and frog has fat rounded ends---frog being varied too: there's octopus coral, frogspawn, and probably others, all with the common them of being branched. They also tend to be orderly. My somewhat battered coral is an unmade bed. Tentacles go in every direction and lie down instead of standing up. I'm hoping with a consistent light pattern and steady chemistry---which I'm sure the store was also giving it: we have a very good lfs--it may discover true up and down.

 

[Sk8r]

Re the question on duncans---generally if you give a euphyllia 6" clear space it's safe. It's tentacles are wysiwyg...no hidden ones that come out at twilight (unlike bubble, which has an amazing reach!)

 

[Sk8r]

Such as it is...

The point being that the tentacles are usually arranged more upright and in order, not folded over each other.

 

[Sk8r]

I'm also working on the water: we're right at 1200 mg. I want to be 1350. We were at 7.8 alk; I want to be at 8.3. We're around 400 calcium, and I want to be 420. Once I have all that steady on, I'll dump some kalk powder into my reservoir...some as in 2 tsp per gallon, which will amount to about a cup for 30 gallons. Precision isn't necessary with kalk. Once the kalk is supplying the calcium, all will be good, til the mg runs down again. Maybe the poor frag will straighten up once I get the chemistry down pat. As a note, none of my readings are fatal to hammer, but they're not good. I'm headed for good, but I hand-dose independently, ie, first mg, then alk, then cal, and you can't put alk buffer in with cal or you get a snowstorm. It's old-fashioned, but it's the way I know what I'm doing. Once I get the kalk going, I'll be set up for weeks on end.

 

[Darth_Tater]

I bought a torch coral at an LFS that looked very much like a torch coral. Throughout a couple weeks in my tank (which I'm pretty sure is FAR more stable than any tank in this particular LFS...) it became very clear that it was not a torch, but a frogspawn. Changed polyp length and shape, and became a completely different color on top of that. Craziness.

I also have some acros that are a completely different color from when I bought them. As in from a peach color to a neon green. Another was aqua-bluish in the tank I bought it from and is now transitioning to a yellowish color.

The scale of changes corals can take in different environments is something I'm just beginning to appreciate.