how to encourage hammerhead growth?

[mtnflyguy]

I have a neon green hammerhead. Is there a way to encourage it to grow new heads? Or do I just have to be patient? Thanks!

 

[c.rob]

Spot feeding helps. Making sure all heads get food. I feed the fish first then spot feed the euphillia in the tank so the fish do not eat all goodies.

 

[mtnflyguy]

What are you feeding them? I have just been dosing phyto-plankton.

 

[organism]

Phytoplankton doesn't do much of anything as far as feeding corals, great way to get algae blooms though. There are a lot of reasons you might be getting slow growth, including the possibility that phosphates or nitrates are too high from overfeeding phyto and fish, alkalinity and calcium not being high enough, not enough water changes, etc...

imo newer hobbyists shouldn't feed since it's very easy to overdo, your corals do not in any way need it to grow well since they're photosynthetic, and it can cause long lasting algae issues that can make people end up quitting the hobby. Hammers tend to grow like crazy without food, just let it settle in and worry about keeping your parameters stable. Just my 2 cents...

 

[c.rob]

[QUOTE your corals do not in any way need it to grow well since they're photosynthetic[/QUOTE]

So why do they have mouths and eat mysis, flake food , fish flesh ......so on?

 

[c.rob]

Thats a real question . Not an arguement.

 

[Joe's Coral Reef]

Whats produced good results from me is clean water, a full blast of my kessil a360 tuna led and just a little flow. Very rarely will I feed them.

I think its sort of like an anemone, yes it has a mouth and can eat, but that takes allot of energy to absorb food this way, its main source is photosynthesis.

 

[organism]

So why do they have mouths and eat mysis, flake food , fish flesh ......so on?

There is an enormous difference between "need" and "can be fed," and a lot of hobbyists tend to get those two things very confused with each other. LFS are all too happy to help with that confusion since it helps them sell people more stuff they don't really need, especially to newer hobbyists.

 

[organism]

Whats produced good results from me is clean water, a full blast of my kessil a360 tuna led and just a little flow. Very rarely will I feed them.

I think its sort of like an anemone, yes it has a mouth and can eat, but that takes allot of energy to absorb food this way, its main source is photosynthesis.

Same here, crazy growth and they never eat. People really underestimate the benefits of clean water