So I just ordered a neon favia online, it hasn't arrived yet, but tomorrow I will be getting things ready for it and I have a few questions about its growth/placement. I have a 29 gallon sumpless tank, I most of the rock work is on the left 2/3 of the tank, and then there is an open space, and then I have another fair sized rock on the other side of tank. There is currently a mushroom on that rock that I was going to move, and I was going to dedicate this rock to the favia, assuming it needs a rock to grow on. However, I got to thinking, does it grow onto itself a fair amount?, if so, I was just gonna put it on a small rock and put it in the middle of the open area rather than on the rock on the far side of the tank.
Favia Placement
- Thread starter grant778
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Reef Bass
colors and textures
In my experience, they will whoop on whatever is near by, so no, not like Euphyllia.
Some generalizations about favia aggression from what I've observed. They don't all behave the exactly the same. A typical healthy favia of more than a handful of polyps in size can produce sweepers nightly but not always. The length of sweepers tends to vary some. Typically they'll extend say 2/3 of their max length but sometimes they get crazy long. Sweepers seem involved in both food capture and defense.
Sweepers are current dependent, or like grass bending with the wind, go with the flow. They will sting other things they touch. A random tag once and a while can generally be tolerated by most victims, but when it's night after night, you'll often see polyp retraction on the victim where the sweepers touched, followed by loss of color and eventually tissue necrosis. Sweepers do seem to have a tendency to eventually attach to something they are tagging frequently, and that can accelerate tissue loss in that area. It seems the favia notices it's hitting something, and it appears more sweepers are lengthened or recruited then.
I don't notice as much aggression from small (less than 1") favia and I have a several of that size within a couple inches of each other. It may be they require some size before they can be very aggressive. Checking them for sweeper length is part of my morning routine. More than once (shame on me) I have been lulled into a sense of security with a particular favia "I haven't seen any long sweepers from it in ages", only to move something closer and have it be tagged.
Some generalizations about favia aggression from what I've observed. They don't all behave the exactly the same. A typical healthy favia of more than a handful of polyps in size can produce sweepers nightly but not always. The length of sweepers tends to vary some. Typically they'll extend say 2/3 of their max length but sometimes they get crazy long. Sweepers seem involved in both food capture and defense.
Sweepers are current dependent, or like grass bending with the wind, go with the flow. They will sting other things they touch. A random tag once and a while can generally be tolerated by most victims, but when it's night after night, you'll often see polyp retraction on the victim where the sweepers touched, followed by loss of color and eventually tissue necrosis. Sweepers do seem to have a tendency to eventually attach to something they are tagging frequently, and that can accelerate tissue loss in that area. It seems the favia notices it's hitting something, and it appears more sweepers are lengthened or recruited then.
I don't notice as much aggression from small (less than 1") favia and I have a several of that size within a couple inches of each other. It may be they require some size before they can be very aggressive. Checking them for sweeper length is part of my morning routine. More than once (shame on me) I have been lulled into a sense of security with a particular favia "I haven't seen any long sweepers from it in ages", only to move something closer and have it be tagged.
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kelrn98
Member
Mine is the same coloration. I may have seen one sweeper tonight when I checked, but I'm not sure. There was this little sand sized white ball floating around near the center, I didn't see the stem part of the tentacle so I'm not sure if it was sand or a tentacle. I don't think it was sand though because it stayed right around the center of the polyp the entire time I was watching.
Tweaked
FUP&A Member
Great aliens reference "Newt" :lolspin:
Reef Bass
colors and textures
Glad someone got that! 
When a favia gets serious about extending its sweepers, you won't have to look hard to see them. While they tend to be fairly clear, they show up pretty well in a flashlight beam.
Table shrimp can work, as long as it's raw and has had nothing added. Chopped mysis are a good food choice. I used to peel large Mysis and then chop them. I've also used small pellets and other chopped meaty foods (shrimps, clams, mussels, etc.). They can be quite gluttonous. In my opinion, a small piece or two per polyp is plenty. Keep in mind also that there is only one way into (and out of) the polyp - through the mouth. The polyp will often expel any indigestible bits after a while (shrimp carapace, etc.).
I have heard that chronic overfeeding can cause food to rot in the polyp's gut sack. That would be bad.
The other issue I've run into feeding favia (and lps in general) are shrimp, crabs and snails stealing the food from the grasp of the polyp before the polyp can swallow it. I've also seen shrimp put their claws into the mouth of polyps and pull freshly ingested food back out. Grrrrr. As beautiful as they are, and as much as I love fire and cleaner shrimps and believe they can be a part of a balanced reef population, at the moment there are none in my tank.
When a favia gets serious about extending its sweepers, you won't have to look hard to see them. While they tend to be fairly clear, they show up pretty well in a flashlight beam.
Table shrimp can work, as long as it's raw and has had nothing added. Chopped mysis are a good food choice. I used to peel large Mysis and then chop them. I've also used small pellets and other chopped meaty foods (shrimps, clams, mussels, etc.). They can be quite gluttonous. In my opinion, a small piece or two per polyp is plenty. Keep in mind also that there is only one way into (and out of) the polyp - through the mouth. The polyp will often expel any indigestible bits after a while (shrimp carapace, etc.).
I have heard that chronic overfeeding can cause food to rot in the polyp's gut sack. That would be bad.
The other issue I've run into feeding favia (and lps in general) are shrimp, crabs and snails stealing the food from the grasp of the polyp before the polyp can swallow it. I've also seen shrimp put their claws into the mouth of polyps and pull freshly ingested food back out. Grrrrr. As beautiful as they are, and as much as I love fire and cleaner shrimps and believe they can be a part of a balanced reef population, at the moment there are none in my tank.
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Reef Bass
colors and textures
CUC should handle it. Depending on the food there's not usually much. Just don't be surprised if something odd looking comes back out of the polyp after feeding.
I've also seen polyps ingest something, and then expel it within minutes. I took that as a sign that the food was unsuitable for them.
I've also seen polyps ingest something, and then expel it within minutes. I took that as a sign that the food was unsuitable for them.
One more thing. Where can one get whole mysis shrimp? I feed my fish the frozen variety, but I'm not sure where I can purchase whole mysis. And also if I were to feed the polyp a whole piece of shrimp at a time (when I say whole I mean the entire amount but chopped), how often a week should I feed?
