I'll show you some of my Micromussa if you'll show me some of yours

[b_vanfossen]

thanks onad75

 

[vvolfe1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12149378#post12149378 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by b_vanfossen
To get your colony to grow large- are you guys letting it build its own skeleton or are you putting it on a rock and letting it encrust it?
Although I do want to grow it out into a stellar colony it is very hard to resist making a few frags to trade for others. I really do think more people should be growing micros out. They sure get pretty when you grow them out.

Thanks
Brian

Both in a way. I glued it on a rock that was an old skeleton of some sort of brain. If it is on a smooth rock they will encrust fast. If the rock has any groves, holes, crevices, and so on the varients will slow the encrusting behavior down and let it grow more skeleton. I ended up taking the little colony out a month ago to break down the old coral skeleton to let it encrust faster. It is about to grow into the smoother part so I'm hoping to have faster growth again.

 

[b_vanfossen]

thanks for the info.

vvolfe1 are you finding a piece of smooth live rock or a rock from outside found on the ground? Would that work?

 

[vvolfe1]

Just live rock. Id be worried about just picking a piece of rock off the ground to use. Most live rock is pretty soft so it is easy to smooth off with a tool.
And just to stay on topic.

 

[JenDub]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12160138#post12160138 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by b_vanfossen
thanks for the info.

vvolfe1 are you finding a piece of smooth live rock or a rock from outside found on the ground? Would that work?

Yikes! Never put stray rocks into your tank from outside.

Try to use an old skeleton or a piece of rock rubble, if you don't have any of these your LFS surely does =)

 

[JenDub]

A quick question:

How many people have successfully got a micro to encrust into a flat colony?

All of the micro frags I have seen to date seem to grow into a swollen golfball but don't seem to spread out and grow flat like the wild colonies...

 

[JenDub]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12136899#post12136899 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sara B
Thanks! It's a Canon 30D with a Sigma 180 Macro lens. I'm ashamed to say I've had it for a year and just have not used it!

Very nice work, shooting through a bowfront is a nightmare!!!

I have been batting around the idea of getting a 40D...sooo tempting...might have to go with a 30D just to keep on budget

Do you shoot anything else? I'm looking for a good lens for outdoor/nature photography as well if you have any suggestions

 

[RokleM]

 

[vvolfe1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12163643#post12163643 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JenDub
A quick question:

How many people have successfully got a micro to encrust into a flat colony?

All of the micro frags I have seen to date seem to grow into a swollen golfball but don't seem to spread out and grow flat like the wild colonies...

They can be grown flat. I've just started using my dremmel to cut holes in rocks the size of the frags to be mounted. I'm hoping that this will eventually make the frags appear to look more natural when grown out. I hate the way poorly mounted frags look when grown out. Just that perfect circle or square just does not seem natural.

 

[b_vanfossen]

mussa

mussa

here's mine. Some pics look much bluer than looking than the tank really is....???


Thanks

 

[TandN]

Great Thread

 

[Justin74]

Very nice acans b_vanfossen, but Im not seeing any micros??

-Justin

 

[JenDub]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12164402#post12164402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by vvolfe1
They can be grown flat. I've just started using my dremmel to cut holes in rocks the size of the frags to be mounted. I'm hoping that this will eventually make the frags appear to look more natural when grown out. I hate the way poorly mounted frags look when grown out. Just that perfect circle or square just does not seem natural.

I'm just curious if anyone has grown out a flat colony, most of the captive frags I have seen get unnaturally fluffy and seem to be quite bulbous. It is always a good idea to mount a frag flush with the encrusting surface but I haven't seen many that will encrust flat rather than growing bulbous.

My guess is that the frags get fed to push growth so the tissue swells up and out rather than slowly encrusting the rock...

 

[vvolfe1]

JenDub,
I agree with you. I have seen a pic of two micro colonies growing flat. I'll see if the owner will post pics. You are right most look like golfballs. I've always thought that was from people just letting grow down the sides of there mounts. I can not say I have seen any larger micro colonies that have been grown from frags. Which is sad since most of them grow so fast.
Here is a new one I got from Miguel,

 

[tunicata]

Hey all!
These are not pictures of them in MY tank, but pictures of the person I bought them from. Can anyone also help me ID them??

They are growing pretty well, and as they grow I see so many colors just popping up. The white and green one has an orange circle somewhere in it, and I find that I like orange now and I'll be saving up to get some orange/etc micros!

 

[musty baby]

I really, really, really apologize for the completely lousy picture. Lost the battery charger for my better camera.

This is the mother colony of the frag I posted before:

The mother colony does not have quite the color that my frags do directly under the lighting.

I started this colony with about 5 polyps, glued to the rock. waited for them to encrust, then popped the original frags back off the rock. The frag above is one of the original frags.

As you can see, they're encrusting very nicely. About a year of growth, including a couple months of widespread tank death when I moved. Also, they don't look too happy in this photo, it was a quick shot to post in a chat room a week or so ago (for vvolfe).

I think the reason you see so many bulbous colonies is that no one ever bothers to take them off the frag plugs!

 

[sindacate]

my new babies

 

[ReefDoctorMicromussas]

Great stuff everyone


sindacate I LIKE THOSE!

 

[Jabol75]

Does it have a name?

Does it have a name?

What is that?

 

[The Beaut]

I have a couple of colonies, all encrusting onto the rock nicely and flat.
Moved this one for the pic
.