Micro, Acan Behavior

[DonavonsReef]

Ok i have always been under the impression that this green piece is a micro but i'm not too sure now. The coralites are small like a micro but it Blows up huge! When fully expanded the polyps stick out like a trumpet almost a full inch. Has anyone else seen this behavior. The pic is not even a quarter extended. I'll get a better pic when it's fully extended.

 

[spsboy]

I was wondering the exact same thing. I bought a coral that was labeled a Micro but its so hard to tell. The feeder polyps it sends out can often be well over an inch long. And I wonder if thats normal. Glad to see someone else has a hard time keeping up with this stuff.
Drew

 

[DonavonsReef]

Yeah but i'm talking about the head of the polyp actually stretches out about an inch. The head flatten out & are the size of a quarter.

 

[RandyO]

From what I understand, Japanese Micromussa have larger polyps than the Micromussa from Taiwan. I think a good amount of the Micros in the US came from Taiwan. I also think that both Micros grow well, but the Japanese Mircos grow a little faster.

I don't really have much evidence to prove these statements, so don't take my words as facts.

I have the same purple and green morph as you Donavon and it has larger polyps than some of my other Micros. Though yours look really large.

I have one other Micro that I believe could have come from Japan, and it too has larger polyps and grew very fast for me.

 

[DonavonsReef]

Thanks Randy that would explian the differance. I'll get a better pic of the trumpet behavior i am refering to.

 

[RandyO]

I've noticed some of my Acans and Micros will trumpet up towards the light. They do this to stretch up to collect as much light as possible. I keep my collection under a lot of light, so only the ones lower in the tank do it, or on the larger colonies, the polyps on the bottom will trumpet up.

I had just posted this pic on another thread. You can see the lord to the far right is stretched out. This was a night shot.

Your piece is on the bottom, so that might be why it's so inflated. If you move it up a bit, it may color up more, but will not inflate as big.

 

[DonavonsReef]

The tank in the pic is a 12in high X 30in long grow out tank. w/175w M/H & 140W VHO actinics. Thats why it's so strange all my other micros & acans don't do this display only the green guy.

 

[RandyO]

How high above the water is the lighting?

These corals are collected from different areas. Some are used to high light, some used to low light. The corals that are not expanding up trying to get more light were probably collected in higher lit areas, while the others that are content were from deeper waters.

This is a pic of one of my lords under a 400 watt single 10K halide and 2 95 watt VHO's.

The coral was kept half way down in a 24" tall tank, directly under the halide bulb, which was sitting right on top of the tank.

 

[DonavonsReef]

The tank is only 12in. tall the light is about 2in off the water but my sand bead is about 2in deep so it's 12in under the light. It displays this even when the lights are off when i get up in the mourning i see it before the lights go on. I have had it for over a year now it was the size of a grape fruit but it been fragged a few times. And all my other micros including this one are growing fine as i target feed them once a week also.

 

[RandyO]

It's just my opinion, but it can't be that bright, judging by the animals in the picture. I see a patch of blue Ricordea that probably couldn't handle a very bright zone. The Blastomussa merletti on the left side also would be very unhappy 9" under a very bright light. I can also see a trachyphyllia and Scolymia on the top left. I had to remove both of mine from my tank because they were bleaching from too much light on the bottom of my 150.

It's really just my opinion, but going by what animails you are keeping, and their reaction to the lighting they are under, I'd say it's not as bright as you think.

If you move it up highter, it will not inflate like that. Though, I like it when they puff up like that, and still have good color, which yours does.

 

[DonavonsReef]

Well the Blue rics love the brighter light in my tank i have them under 250w M/H in another tank also at the top. I see these in 10-15 feet down here when i go diving in the keys. I know 315W isen't much light but the bulbs are less than 4 months old. On that small of a tank 29g long i thought that would be plenty of light for LPS as i thought most are low light corals. I'll try moving it up and see if it still trumpet (Even though it's pretty cool when it does).

 

[RandyO]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6740454#post6740454 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DonavonsReef
Well the Blue rics love the brighter light in my tank i have them under 250w M/H in another tank also at the top. I see these in 10-15 feet down here when i go diving in the keys. I know 315W isen't much light but the bulbs are less than 4 months old. On that small of a tank 29g long i thought that would be plenty of light for LPS as i thought most are low light corals. I'll try moving it up and see if it still trumpet (Even though it's pretty cool when it does).

It's definatly plenty of light to keep those animals happy. Only the Micro looks like it wants more. If you added more light to that shallow tank, you would probably harm some of those LPS.
Also, you mentioned it's a 29 gallon tank that's 30 inches long. Is it 12" wide? That would mean it's 19" tall. Just checking.

 

[DonavonsReef]

I'll double check the height when i get in, Thanks Randy!

 

[RandyO]

NP

 

[DonavonsReef]

Ok this is what i was refering to this thing looks like it will gobble up the little micro next to it.