how successful have you been with ppes?

[jimsflies]

Just wondering how successful you guys are with ppes?

I have a few questions:

1. For those that have kept ppes have they grown, died, or stayed the same?

2. How long have you had them?

3. How big was the frag when you got them?

4. Would you say they are harder, easier, or about the same as other palys?

 

[dc_909]

I have had a 2 polyp frag for roughly 5 months. I just started to get a 3rd polyp.

 

[Kaos]

Sorry, I can't answer most of your questions but I can say they are pretty tough. Mine detached themselves due to an unidentified critter that kept messing w/ them because it lived in the same rock. Long story short they blew around the tank for awhile, got stuck in the sand bed, spent allot of time out of the water while I tried to re-attach them, and suffered a few bad attempts to glue them to some LR w/ the wrong stuff. In the end they survived and by the next day (after re-attaching) were back to normal. So I would say they are just like any other zoo's/paly's. I've had them about a month, it's a 2 polyp frag, and it seems they have gotten a little bigger, but that could be them opening completely since acclimation.

 

[MarvinsReef]

Re: how successful have you been with ppes?

1. For those that have kept ppes have they grown, died, or stayed the same?
- most of the time, they have grown... approx 1-2 polyps/month... they have also done a few die backs where all of a sudden a few polyps would close, and never come back.. they also do this thing where they close for some reason, lose their head, and a few weeks later would look normal... I've notice this same behavior with True RPE's..

2. How long have you had them?
- I've had my PPE's since May 2006, I believe...

3. How big was the frag when you got them?
- 2 polyps.. grew the third polyp in the first month, but remained three polyps for 3-4 months... then went from 3 polyps to 40+ polyps in 7 months.. that was an awesome time, but had a 9-10 polyps die back... they haven't recuperated from that since.. currently, I have a few frags with 4-5 polyps each... hoping to grow them back again to their old glory..

4. Would you say they are harder, easier, or about the same as other palys?
- for the most part, pretty easy.. but there are those few moments where I can't figure out what the heck is going on....

here's the mother colony in their glory days... this was the last good photo I have of them.. dated 04-14-07...

 

[FunGuy]

Hmm. I'm on my 2nd frag of them. My first frag didn't make it after shipping. I got a 2nd frag shipped and I didn't dip it to avoid extra stress. It's done fine but it hasn't been that long. I had it at 10 or so polyps when I bought it. Sold 5. In a few months, it's grown 2 babies which are not full size yet. Personally I don't think they are as hardy as things like AOGs.

In summary, I'd say they're expensive, slow growers and not as hardy as other palys.

 

[1QuickSubaru]

I have red and green PPEs they are pretty nice and doing great!! Growing well and no problems what so ever. If you want you should contact www.aquaticexpress.com they get them regularly for a fair price!

 

[gsechen]

i got 5 haha from FunGuy...the polyps are nice and big but I have had them for over 3 months and still no babies.

frustrating to say the least...

 

[650-IS350]

I actually have 4 different frags.
1st ones started at 2-3 now have 12 or so and was fragged 3 times.

2,3,4 were started at 1 polyp got them 4-5 months ago.. ( they have roughly 5-6 polyps each now.

I used to feed them everyday.. now only every couple of days... tank started to run nutrient high.

some dime size while some a bit larger.

 

[jimsflies]

What were you feeding them? Never noticed a lot of reaction out of mine to food.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Lets hear from more people...

 

[gflat65]

I've not had the luck of others on these...

1. For those that have kept ppes have they grown, died, or stayed the same?
Mine have mostly stayed the same. The first frag took about 5 months to add a single polyp. I went from 4 to 8 in about a year (they seemed to be on a growing trend once the first polyp showed up-though slow). The second frag (current frag) is holding steady (and has been for about four months).

2. How long have you had them?
First frag about 12-14 months, second frag 3-4 months

3. How big was the frag when you got them?
First frag 4 polyps, second frag 3 polyps

4. Would you say they are harder, easier, or about the same as other palys?
Wouldn't say harder to keep, per se, but finickier about some things. It seems like fragging them when they are small in polyp count can quickly lead to death of the entire frag with no apparent cause (that's what happened to the first frag). I had cut the first frag several times successfully, but when I reduced it down to four or five polyps again, it wasn't happy. I've had other special cuases in my tanks, too, so there is nothing to say I didn't kill them somehow.