Duncan wont branch

S

scionreefing

New member
Can i do anything to make my duncan branch? its growing in tight clusters.
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1295040575.jpg
 
Looks like you have the start of a couple dozen branches there. The dense growth is most likely caused by placement. Keeping it in lower flow and lighting might encourage it to stretch out a bit.
 
I have been wondering if there are two forms of Duncans. My colony is a tight ball like yours but with no spacing between polyps- the skeleton is more like that of Favites. Yet, DD has shown Duncans that are totally branched like a Frogspawn. I have some doubts as to whether this large discrepancy in form could be due to flow only.
 
IMO there have got to be different kinds of duncans. I too have a duncan growing the same as yours. I've seen a few pics or them growing in a branch form but I think it is rare. Mine is in a low flow area.
 
it just takes a while. i've been waiting for mine to branch and have been keeping decent tabs on my parameters. so far i have a small branch 1/4" since it started budding 6 months ago.
 
I saw my duncan fragged from a spaced out branchy mother colony and the 1 polyp i recieves looks just like thte origional posters pic. Conditions can def do it.
 
I agree with conditions causing the shape in mine it looks to me that the skeleton forms in the direction that the polyps stretch out towards the light.

DSCF0453.jpg
 
kingfisher62 said:
I agree with conditions causing the shape in mine it looks to me that the skeleton forms in the direction that the polyps stretch out towards the light.
Click to expand...

So in a circumsatance where the duncan was in next to no flow and a lite lighting environment you would expect to see the branching growth tword the light. so......with that said, hypathetically with a higher flow and a bright lighting conditions you would expect to see the polyps grow away from the light. What do you think?
 
scuba guy ron said:
So in a circumsatance where the duncan was in next to no flow and a lite lighting environment you would expect to see the branching growth tword the light.
Click to expand...

That seems to be what is happening to mine.

I am thinking with a lot of light they dont need to stretch away so much and the polyps grow more tightly.

I recently fragged mine and put one colony in my 29G biocube with more flow and more direct light. It will be interesting to see if they will grow differently.
 
I am curious. When my polyps reach maximum size and loving life they are almost silver dollar size not including the skirt.
A lot of the pictures I see do not look as large but it is hard to tell because there might not be anything that shows scale in the picture.

Are there different varieties?
When your's are looking really good how large are your polyps?
 
mine started out with just 3 heads and has about the same amount of heads as yours but smaller. it's still clustered and growing well but slowly turning stoney at the base of each polyp. i don't know why the mother colony does not branch like kingfisher62's. a different type maybe? i'll see if i can take a picture of the mother colony's base when i get a chance. dan
 
I have been keeping duncans for about 5 years. IME, higher flow yields more clustering of the polyps while medium/lower flow results in more branching. I haven't seen lighting make much of a difference. I have 4 colonies in my 300 in different depths and all in moderate/lower flow are more branching.
 
Im going to try to get a good pic of mine today. When mine is expanded the heads are huge. Probably around 3" across.
 
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