Coral Behavior

[Foody]

I have a couple of hammer corals. This one I bought 5 months ago as a tiny little thing, just a tiny bit of skeleton with 9 polyps. It is obviously happy in my tank and has grown quite a bit. Recently I had to separate it from the vicinity of any other corals because of thet behavior shown in the picture. It was stinging everything in it's vicinity. Why does it do this? Why does my other one (MUCH bigger) not do it?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

are they both branching hammers?

 

[Foody]

Technically speaking, I have no idea. The other one, however, has 2 heads. This one so far is only one head.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

is your bigger hammer (with no sweepers) in the vicinity of other corals?

They develop sweepers when other corals are nearby.....

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

All species of Euphyllia corals can sting. (various species of Hammers, Frogspawns, Torches etc..) All can produce sweepers and sting near by corals. I've seen from many other hobbyists collections of various Euphyllias as well as my own experiences- that you can keep several different species of them together. Many different ones even completely touching each other and have no problems at all. "Usually", most Euphyllia are not that hostile to each other. However, they can sting other non Euphyllia corals in some cases.

Some even have a very powerful sting that has even stung their hobbyist tank owner. Many people do not experience this behavior in keeping them and are thus, unaware of it. But it "can" happen. Some of them (Euphyllia) never even "choose" to develop any "seen" sweepers. But some do. It's all based on factors unseen to us. Parameters in the water between corals- they can sense differences and each other. Sometimes they choose to sting another coral, to discourage it's growth. Keeping more room for it's own expansion. Some of them don't end up doing this at all.

I've seen them and kept many different kinds together with no problem. Other-non Euphyllia corals, I usually keep at a distance from the Euphyllias for safety sake. Then again, I've had some softies as well as Palys, Zoas etc grow right up near them.. and still No aggression.

Many people keep "tank forests" of them together of all different kinds. But all I can say is, anything could make one go off and decide to send out stinging sweepers. In the right setting/neighbors- they usually don't do it.

I only had 1 that ever stung another coral of mine. It stung a highend rainbow brain that sat on the bottom sandbed. Sent tentacles straight down toward it and hit. A beautiful but harmless coral(the brain) very non aggressive. But the Euphyllia made a rare extra effort in this case to sting it. It was actually No where even near it! Like about 9 inches away from the Euphyllia! Somehow it still managed to stretch sweepers far enough to touch a tip of one tentacle on the brain. I kept it at this distance for safety... but obviously this wasn't far enough in this case. The brain had cost me $250. I moved it immediately, after seeing it getting touched. Afterward it seemed ok. But then 5 days later it slowly began tissue recession and died. The Euphyllia never even grew in that downward direction either... It continued up and outward.

Since then, just for safety sake.. I keep all my Euphyllia corals at real good distances from other significant non Eup. corals. But that was my experience. I never had any other problems with Euphyllia species other than that. I've kept many different ones touching each other with No aggression at all.

My only suggestion is keep it a good distance away from any non related species. There shouldn't be a problem keeping it with the other one though. Just try keeping it off on it's own for a while. Let it grow more. Then you could try replacing it near another Euphyllia later.

Research Euphyllia corals if not in a good book, then online. There's actually a lot more to know than one would think about them. Though I thought I placed many of my other corals far enough away from them before.. I now keep Brains on the opposite side of my current aquarium. The Euphyllia that stung my brain was a lot cheaper than the $250. rainbow brain. I got that Euphyllia originally as 4 heads for only $40. It turned into a massive 200+ head beautiful monster after 2 years. Apparently, a monster that does not like other corals, except other Euphyllia species as it's close neighbors. I sold that entire tank before I moved like 2-3 years ago.. But I had done some research. The person that sold me that Euphyllia, sold it as a E. Cristata or Grape coral. I have not been abl;e to find another since. The original seller moved to the Carolinas. As did the buyer of mine- moved to Florida. Have not been able to locate another one like it locally since. It doesn't seem to circulate a lot. At least around here any ways.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

All species of Euphyllia corals can sting. (various species of Hammers, Frogspawns, Torches etc..) All can produce sweepers and sting near by corals. I've seen from many other hobbyists collections of various Euphyllias as well as my own experiences- that you can keep several different species of them together. Many different ones even completely touching each other and have no problems at all. "Usually", most Euphyllia are not that hostile to each other. However, they can sting other non Euphyllia corals in some cases.

Some even have a very powerful sting that has even stung their hobbyist tank owner. Many people do not experience this behavior in keeping them and are thus, unaware of it. But it "can" happen. Some of them (Euphyllia) never even "choose" to develop any "seen" sweepers. But some do. It's all based on factors unseen to us. Parameters in the water between corals- they can sense differences and each other. Sometimes they choose to sting another coral, to discourage it's growth. Keeping more room for it's own expansion. Some of them don't end up doing this at all.

I've seen them and kept many different kinds together with no problem. Other-non Euphyllia corals, I usually keep at a distance from the Euphyllias for safety sake. Then again, I've had some softies as well as Palys, Zoas etc grow right up near them.. and still No aggression.

Many people keep "tank forests" of them together of all different kinds. But all I can say is, anything could make one go off and decide to send out stinging sweepers. In the right setting/neighbors- they usually don't do it.

I only had 1 that ever stung another coral of mine. It stung a highend rainbow brain that sat on the bottom sandbed. Sent tentacles straight down toward it and hit. A beautiful but harmless coral(the brain) very non aggressive. But the Euphyllia made a rare extra effort in this case to sting it. It was actually No where even near it! Like about 9 inches away from the Euphyllia! Somehow it still managed to stretch sweepers far enough to touch a tip of one tentacle on the brain. I kept it at this distance for safety... but obviously this wasn't far enough in this case. The brain had cost me $250. I moved it immediately, after seeing it getting touched. Afterward it seemed ok. But then 5 days later it slowly began tissue recession and died. The Euphyllia never even grew in that downward direction either... It continued up and outward.

Since then, just for safety sake.. I keep all my Euphyllia corals at real good distances from other significant non Eup. corals. But that was my experience. I never had any other problems with Euphyllia species other than that. I've kept many different ones touching each other with No aggression at all.

My only suggestion is keep it a good distance away from any non related species. There shouldn't be a problem keeping it with the other one though. Just try keeping it off on it's own for a while. Let it grow more. Then you could try replacing it near another Euphyllia later.

Research Euphyllia corals if not in a good book, then online. There's actually a lot more to know than one would think about them. Though I thought I placed many of my other corals far enough away from them before.. I now keep Brains on the opposite side of my current aquarium. The Euphyllia that stung my brain was a lot cheaper than the $250. rainbow brain. I got that Euphyllia originally as 4 heads for only $40. It turned into a massive 200+ head beautiful monster after 2 years. Apparently, a monster that does not like other corals, except other Euphyllia species as it's close neighbors. I sold that entire tank before I moved like 2-3 years ago.. But I had done some research. The person that sold me that Euphyllia, sold it as a E. Cristata or Grape coral. I have not been abl;e to find another since. The original seller moved to the Carolinas. As did the buyer of mine- moved to Florida. Have not been able to locate another one like it locally since. It doesn't seem to circulate a lot. At least around here any ways.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

A little info and personal take:

All species of Euphyllia corals can sting. (various species of Hammers, Frogspawns, Torches etc..) All can produce sweepers and sting near by corals. I've seen from many other hobbyists collections of various Euphyllias as well as my own experiences- that you can keep several different species of them together. Many different ones even completely touching each other and have no problems at all. "Usually", most Euphyllia are not that hostile to each other. However, they can sting other non Euphyllia corals in some cases.

Some even have a very powerful sting that has even stung their hobbyist tank owner. Many people do not experience this behavior in keeping them and are thus, unaware of it. But it "can" happen. Some of them (Euphyllia) never even "choose" to develop any "seen" sweepers. But some do. It's all based on factors unseen to us. Parameters in the water between corals- they can sense differences and each other. Sometimes they choose to sting another coral, to discourage it's growth. Keeping more room for it's own expansion. Some of them don't end up doing this at all.

I've seen them in others tanks and kept many different kinds together myself with no problem. Other-non Euphyllia corals, I usually keep at a distance from the Euphyllias for safety sake. Then again, I've had some softies as well as Palys, Zoas etc grow right up near them.. and still No aggression.

Many people keep "tank forests" of them together of all different kinds. But all I can say is, anything could make one go off and decide to send out stinging sweepers. In the right setting/neighbors- they usually don't do it.

I only had 1 that ever stung another coral of mine. It stung a highend rainbow brain that sat on the bottom sandbed. Sent tentacles straight down toward it and hit. A beautiful but harmless coral(the brain) very non aggressive. But the Euphyllia made a rare extra effort in this case to sting it. It was actually No where even near it! Like about 9 inches away from the Euphyllia! Somehow it still managed to stretch sweepers far enough to touch a tip of one tentacle on the brain. I kept it at this distance for safety... but obviously this wasn't far enough in this case. The brain had cost me $250. I moved it immediately, after seeing it getting touched. Afterward it seemed ok. But then 5 days later it slowly began tissue recession and died. The Euphyllia never even grew in that downward direction either... It continued up and outward.

Since then, just for safety sake.. I keep all my Euphyllia corals at real good distances from other significant non Eup. corals. But that was my experience. I never had any other problems with Euphyllia species other than that. I've kept many different ones touching each other with No aggression at all.

My only suggestion is keep it a good distance away from any non related species. There shouldn't be a problem keeping it with the other one though. Just try keeping it off on it's own for a while. Let it grow more. Then you could try replacing it near another Euphyllia later.

Research Euphyllia corals if not in a good book, then online. There's actually a lot more to know than one would think about them. Though I thought I placed many of my other corals far enough away from them before.. I now keep Brains on the opposite side of my current aquarium. The Euphyllia that stung my brain was a lot cheaper than the $250. rainbow brain. I got that Euphyllia originally as 4 heads for only $40.(pretty good deal) It turned into a massive 200+ head beautiful monster after 2 years. Apparently, a monster that does not like other corals, except other Euphyllia species as it's close neighbors. I sold that entire tank before I moved like 2-3 years ago.. But I had done some research. The person that sold me that Euphyllia, sold it as a E. Cristata or Grape coral. I have not been able to find another since. The original seller moved to the Carolinas. As did the buyer of mine- moved to Florida. Have not been able to locate another one like it locally since. It doesn't seem to circulate a lot. At least around here any ways.

Just give yours some solitary room for a while.. it should do fine. Like I said, later- you should be able to safely place it amongst other Euphyllia species.
But always be mindful to the placement of neighboring corals- not related to Euphyllia. They seem to live just fine with some types.. But any individual "could" decide to sting another coral it felt was a threat for some reason. If at all, these targets are usually not other Euphyllia corals.

 

[Foody]

The bigger hammer with two heads is less than an inch from some anthellae and about 2 inches from a candy cane. Still no sweepers. The smaller one stung the poop out of a Digitata (velvet finger) as well as several colonies of zoanthids. Thankfully they came back. The digitata even filled out the skeleton where it had been stung.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Yep. Like I said, many people have other corals grow right up amongst them and No problems. Some (like the small head 1 in your specific case), have a reaction to "certain" other corals near by and choose to send sweepers out. This is a natural reaction to stay alive, to thrive. To grow.

Keep it happy, feed it a little (when you can) making up for what it doesn't pull from the water column on it's own. Pamper the little sucker. Give it time. I think it'll chill out after a while. In time, it could be re placed amongst other Eup. species if you wish. Just be mindful of future coral placement with other species.

Your other Hammer is obviously happy and not threatened by anything (at least now) so it lives peacefully with those other corals. Keep a watch out everyday/evening. It could go good indefinitely. But you never know. To keep it simple here: It has a lot to do with "Coral Allelopathy". Research the term as well as various coral species. It'll help answer a lot more questions as well as give some self studied ideas for coping and/or planning reef scapes that work well together.. minimizing some possible problems.

Very glad to hear your other corals are coming back. Your lucky. The sting was not strong enough yet on your small Hammer, as well as some resilient corals.

In the cases where it does occasionally happen, it's pretty amazing the amount of damage a sting from a large multiple heads specimen can do.. even only for a couple seconds.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

The thing about this hobby is, there's so much fun and reward if you don't rush anything.
Take it slow and research from everywhere, everyday. Like a way of life. There's never too much information.

I know a lot compared to when I first started like a decade ago. But that "a lot", is like a spec in the world of knowledge out there.
For some one who's kept Fish tanks for at least over 35 years, I'm still a greenhorn with "reefing".

 

[tmz]

Higher current induces more sweepers which should be avoided. The sweepers have nematocysts (protein like arrows that are intended to harm others)Swollen tentacle tips sometimes break off and float about landing on other corals an stinging them. Some think this may be a form of asexual reproduction but that hasn't been verified .

.Euphyllia usually come from relatively deep and turbid waters and seem to like moderate light though they tolerate a range of lighting well and like gentle current and food particles floating into their tentacles . . They feed eagerly. Likely if they are kept in lower light they can do fine with more food and vice versa.

They are also sensitive to the presence of certain soft corals, notably sinularia and several others.

Euphyllia appear in a variety species: ancora(hammer) , divisa(frogspawn) and glabrescens(toch) are the most common. Parancora, paradivisa and crysta have been around for a while too. But lately many new types are showing up not yet classified and simply called euphyllia spp. and a variety of common names.

Different species may have different tendencies for sweepers .

Whether or not they can harm other euphyllia with their stingers depends on the particular species involved and the closeness of the make up nematocysts . If they are similar the stung euphyllia will just take them in and use them later. If they are significantly different the stung coral will be harmed and may develop as subsequent brown jelly infection.. It's best to give the their own space and watch them if sweepers extend toward a neighboring euphyllia.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

I think this is excellent (the above). Some more that I could not say specifically or the same way. But does not explain everything for every situation either.

The E. Cristata I had was in a sub-moderate to low flow area every since I added it. It was amongst very different frogspawns and torches.. most of them always touching. (no sweepers) Other corals like various zoanthus grew all over right up to their bases. Including a couple green tree corals practically next to them as well. Not touching but very close. Even a large toadstool coral was in reaching distance. None of the Euphyllia including the E. Cristata culprit.. ever attacked anything before or after the incident with the one stinging attack on the brain. The Brain was actually quite far away and the E. Cristata attacked only that 1 brain. In quite an effort to seek it out that far away when so many other things were in it's space... which it could have cared less about. It never stung anything else after that either. The sweepers disapeared just as quickly as they briefly appeared. Only out for those couple days and never before or after during the whole 3 years I had it.

It was interesting just because that coral specifically(the brain) was sensed and not liked. Many others were in much closer stinging range and ignored. (Never touched)

But your definitely right about giving them the space once you know they've exhibited sweepers. In my case, most of the corals were very large colonies and at least semi permanent placement. That is, I really didn't want to move anything right away if I didn't have to. As soon as I moved the brain though (which was immediate since it was being attacked), the behavior ceased.

My Euphyllia seemed very tolerating of many other kinds of corals. There was even some Favia it could have reached and didn't bother. The brain would never have competed for space either. Since the Euphyllia was higher up and just grew further out as well as up and not downward.

All I'm saying is, the behavior was just kind of interesting since other corals that were much closer "could" have actually been more threatening than what it chose to pick on.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

Is it the server or my computer tonight???
Possibly time for a new laptop...
Gotta love all the double posts above (NOT)
As if my typing wasn't long enough as it is!

Ok, I'll shut up now. ;P
Goodnight everyone.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

They are also sensitive to the presence of certain soft corals, notably sinularia and several others.

Different species may have different tendencies for sweepers .

Whether or not they can harm other euphyllia with their stingers depends on the particular species involved and the closeness of the make up nematocysts . If they are similar the stung euphyllia will just take them in and use them later. If they are significantly different the stung coral will be harmed and may develop as subsequent brown jelly infection.. It's best to give the their own space and watch them if sweepers extend toward a neighboring euphyllia.

I learned these 3 points by Tom the hard way years ago.

The problem I noted with Foody's larger hammer is the presence of the Anthelia he mentioned, which is most likely a Clavularia.
Clavularia is extremely toxic and there's really no way a hammer is going to beat it. If the Candycane (Caulastrea) develops sweepers it will send them out at night.

 

[DEEP BLUE SIX]

OK. Good info for sure on those points. I've seen sweepers on candy cane corals before. Never had any issues per say. Always gave them space.

I never kept any Anthelia. Never had an interest.
Although I did keep some Xenia back then. It's a completely different coral.
With distinct differences. But they are similar and I think somewhat related species, though a different species all together in general.

Xenia is pretty toxic too. Question: Does it fit in the category of something that would irritate Euphyllia as well? I mean, I'm assuming so.
Though I didn't have colonies of Xenia that really took off huge or anything, they were still healthy enough, even pulsed. I know we can't explain everything.. But the little I had did not seem to bother any of my Euphyllia corals to any extent.

But perhaps this is just because the Xenia were really kept in check and never really grew to epic proportions. In other words- maybe the "toxins" were Low?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Dbs

Dbs

IME each and every species of coral reacts differently to one another.
For example: I grew Echinophyllia and Echinopora just fine sitting on top of a field of Xenia. The same Xenia grew a narrow "attack strand" and killed off my Montipora.
I would think most Euphyllia appear normal right up until they turn to brown jelly almost overnight.
Note: there are many species of Xeniids and Clavularia. I'm sure toxicity varies within each family.
Add in the fact that everything is sitting in an aquarium of allelopathic "soup" and I don't think anybody really knows what's going on!

 

[tmz]

I agree with the idea of "allelopathic soup" and would broaden the menu to total organic soup. There are hundreds of thousands if not millions of variations of changing organic compounds which can occur in a reef tank:some very good ;some very bad. It's an ultimate enigma. IMO, good reason to use granulated activated and skim well and clean up detrital accumulations.
I also think they will sweep in reaction to certain corals. Placements can ony get you so far particularly in densely populated tanks.

I noticed some green tubing near the sweeping hammer . Does that connect to anything that might raise flow in the area of that particular coral or deliver more particlalte or dissolved detritus to the surrounding area.