Hydnophora Care? (Pictures)

LJA

New member
I just stopped by one of my LFS and picked up about a 3" frag of what he called Hydnophora. I had actually never heard of this type of SPS before and I'm not sure how to treat it.

It was incredibly cheap, $10 for this frag so I gave it a shot. Should I treat this like any other SPS? I read one website that said they are very very aggressive and should not be kept with other Acropora or Montipora corals? The guy said this is the branching type but I have no idea.


Whats the deal with this animal?


Thanks for the help.



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Anyone have any problems with this coral stinging? How far away do you have it from your other corals? Should I keep this at normal length away or more than the every day coral


Thanks for the help so far.
 
Hydnophora while needing conditions similar to sps is not a true sps. Its more of an lps. It does have sweepers that will extend at night and has a potent sting.

If thats the branching blue hydnophora $10 is a steal. That coral typically goes for closer to $50 at my regional LFS's.
 
It looks like a Hydnophora to me too. Hydno sweepers can reach 9" and they aren't shy about firing them out. I think their aggression is part of the reason for their low price. Around here, big (softball sized) colonies go for ~$40.

It's probably not a problem with a small frag like that, but it is something to keep in mind for later.
 
I wouldn't be so quick to toss it. I've got a football sized colony I just transferred from my 90 to my 360. It's a beautiful and fast growing coral and as long as it's 2-3" away from my other sps, I've been fine. The more light I give it, the happier it seems.
 
I kept ours about 2-3" from other sps corals and never had a problem. The only problem I had was when one of my sps frags detached and fell on top of the hydo. It was toast in less than an hour.
 
Yep, encrusting Hydno, and I too keep mine within a couple inches of other coral with no issues. I have found that if you keep it in mdi to high flow, the sweepers stay more contained. Mine is a very fast grower too.
 
There are encrusting hydno's and I've seen plating hydno's. It could also be a remnant that is starting to encrust and may grow upward at some point. Either way IME hydnophora is a nuclear cranky coral. If anything gets too close...WHAMMO those sweepers come out and do their damage. I also think the toxins they release into the water can be irritating to neighbors affecting their growth patterns so give em a wide birth.

To further steal a quote from one of our LFS owners, "that stuff will grow in a toilet if you threw a light over it". It's extremely hardy and will pretty much grow anywhere from what I've seen.

Lastly, I'm with bosborn1 depending on what school of thought you subscribe to hydnophora's coralite morphology make it more an LPS than SPS. Some experts hate that terminology as it's too confining (SPS/LPS). Lets at least say it's a tweener(MPS perhaps medium polyp scleractinian), but acts like an SPS for the most part, except for those looooong sweepers, more LPS in my opinion.
 
I have both a branching Green Hydno and a Purple Hydno in my sps tank. I wouldn't get rid of them for anything else. They have a different texture and just pop. Not to mention some of them are so super fast growing they take up space very nicely.

For that matter I have a loripes growing right next to the Purple one without a problem. Its a few inches away and its out of zapping range. Seems to do well.
 
I have a blue one next to a rose millie and the rose millie has a very odd, if not affected, growth pattern. It doesn't look like it's caused by flow. It did grow a little to close one day and it got nailed. Had to frag it up.

If anything falls on hydno- look out! Hydno wins everytime.

Scott, you get in on that order???
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14613818#post14613818 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by GSMguy
I have one living and growing in 10 par. So I'm not sure the toilet would even
Need a light.
:lol:
 
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