Growth Rates...

[JazzZero]

Hi, im very much interested in LPS espiecially those for austrailia. My question is on growth rates of several corals.

please answer those you had experience with.

Acan lord
Date of Arrival in tank:
-Number of polyps started with:
-Number of polyps ended with or now have:
-Number of months it took:

Elegance
-From what orgin:
-size in inches when first had:
-size in inches now:
number of months it took:

Duncan
-Number of polyps started with:
-Number of polyps ended with or now have:
-Number of months it took:

Dendrophyllia
-Number of polyps started with:
-Number of polyps ended with or now have:
-Number of months it took:

Micromussa
-Number of polyps started with:
-Number of polyps ended with or now have:
-Number of months it took:

Blastomussa
-Number of polyps started with:
-Number of polyps ended with or now have:
-Number of months it took:

I understand that corals grow at different rates depending on their health and water quality. I just want a close guess on how long it takes and I also think other people would benefit from this thread.

 

[revautosports]

The aussie acans are growing pretty fast for me. Some faster than others. Have one i started with 5 polyps in may and now i have over 20+ and i already sold 3 frags of it.

 

[vessxpress1]

rev, what kind of lighting and flow do you have these under? I'm thinking about getting a 24 gal AP and just making it an acan tank with the 150w HQI and no fish. But I don't want to fry them.

To answer the OP, I have my aussies under T-5s. The colors are really spectacular, but overall growth rates are VERY slow for me. I don't know if the mixed tank is affecting them or what.

So far I've bought 10 of them. 2 quite expensive ones I lost to brown slime. Simply deteriorated over a two week span.

4 have exhibited virtually no growth in the last 4 months to a year.

1 rainbow frag, red and green center with bright white edges has done nothing but exist in the tank for over 6 months. The existing polyps don't even look bigger. And I've target fed a lot.

One frag I got 4 months ago with dark red and white striped edges with blue and pink in the middle, target fed a lot, is just starting to fill in on the edges where it was fragged. Nothing new.

And for whatever reason, two of them I got 6 months ago have sprouted quite a few baby polyps. Like 7 around one frag and a few on the other. But they don't grow fast.

I think part of it is how they're mounted on a rock. So many frags come in and you've got the polyps with a half inch or more of shear faced, sawn, skeleton behind them. So you glue that on a rock and it's harder for the polyps to grow vertically, usually at a completely right angle to the frag, down the skeleton to get to the rock surface than it is for them if they were already level with the rock it's mounted on.

That's what I'm discovering. Now any new ones I get, I will take the dremel to the skeleton underneath so they will sit more flat on the mounting rock and hopefully the polyps will spread better/easier. The one I have with all the new baby polyps surrounding it was very flush with the rock I put it on. The rest are not . HTH

 

[revautosports]

I have mine under 250MH in a 29gal. I think the key in keeping them healthy and grow fast is feeding them. I hand feed mine every other 2 days. If you want them to grow faster then feed more.

 

[cristhiam]

Acan Lords, I have them for about 3 years started with 8 polyps now I have about 50+/- and several frags.

Duncans: Roes duncan 1 year old started with one polyps, I have about 11+/-
ORA duncan 1 year old, started with one polyp I have three now

Dendro, 1 year old, started with one polyp, I have 3 now (I fed this one for the first 3 months and got 2 babies out, I don't feed it often now)

Elegance 8 - 9 months: not sure where it came from, it was about 3" (skeleton) I don't think the skeleton is growing but the corals extension is about 6"+/- long by 4"+/- wide

My Blastos, went from 3 heads to one, about 6 months in my tank, ha ha not sure why it's receiding.

 

[bigevill1]

I have had a frag of 5 heads of aussie acans for a month and it has two new heads growing on it already. Very small but they are there.

 

[JazzZero]

Wow aussie acan are beasts and thx that was some useful information and now i can get my dad to get me like 3 aussie frags. XD lol. If people have more info on these corals please feel free to share.

 

[kay-bee19]

Not sure of the origin or quantity of polyps of this red-brown blastomussa wellsi, but here are some photos of it over a year's time:

Jan 2007 (as purchased)

Aug 2007

Jan 2008 (position reorientated)

 

[JazzZero]

Wow nice.. hey you no the second one has it gone all the way around?

 

[vessxpress1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11648953#post11648953 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by revautosports
I have mine under 250MH in a 29gal. I think the key in keeping them healthy and grow fast is feeding them. I hand feed mine every other 2 days. If you want them to grow faster then feed more.

See, now I think that's huge. Every other two days is a lot more often than I have fed mine.

I've found feeding them to be a long, tedious task. I try to feed every polyp I can but if you accidentally bump it, feeding is over for that one. They do feed well at night. They definately would eat a lot more than I have been feeding them. Just wish there was an easier way. Some of them are hard to get to and I have nowhere to go with stuff as it is.

You're also giving them much more light than I am. This is kind of why I'd like to give them their own AP 24 grow out tank under a halide and then maybe it would be more convenient.