New Duncan Growth?

[tljokerst]

My Duncan coral is about two weeks old in my tank and I am beginning to have some questions. First, underneath the main head of the coral there seems to be a spot with three smaller bumps coming out of a bigger bump. I've read around and it seems like this is new growth. Am I assuming correctly? Second, I have an AI Prime HD LED light over the tank and the coral seems to love the intensity (It's only running around 30-40% intensity right now.) My question for that is what lighting temperature is best for coral growth? I seem to have been super fortunate in that my Duncan came home, I set him down in the tank and a couple hours later he was nicely extended and now I am seeing great coloration and extension about a week later. No trouble with him coming out to see the world.

I attached pictures of the "bumps"

 

[lokmar]

Yep, its sprouting another head. Feeding them IMO is more important then having just the right light. I've had mine under a 100 watt 10k ecoxotic canon, and a Radeon X30 Pro set on full spectrum as well as the same radeon set to a SPS specific spectrum. Didnt seem to make a difference which light I kept it under. I did feed it several times a week though. I trimmed a bunch of heads off of it a few weeks back since it was a big ball of about 50 heads after about 2 years from starting out as a 3 head frag. Very hearty coral, feed it! I'm now attempting the same with a fat head dendro. I feed it every night and just like the duncan, its forming 2 or 3 bumps under the main head which are clearly new offspring.

 

[farfromsea]

How long does it take for a small bump like this take to form a recognizable Duncan head? I thought I saw something on mine a couple weeks ago but there has been no physical changes since then so I'm guessing it was a false alarm

 

[Optionman]

duncan

duncan

i bought a 2 headed duncan frag 8 weeks ago and in the past 2 weeks it has sprouted at least 10 new heads. it seems happy in moderate flow about 18 inches down utilizing AI Hydra 26 LEDs. i feed the tank daily but dont specifically target feed.

 

[farfromsea]

i bought a 2 headed duncan frag 8 weeks ago and in the past 2 weeks it has sprouted at least 10 new heads. it seems happy in moderate flow about 18 inches down utilizing AI Hydra 26 LEDs. i feed the tank daily but dont specifically target feed.

Nice! I saw a very old duncan last week that had about 100 heads and felt quite envious lol. Do you dose?

 

[Optionman]

Nice! I saw a very old duncan last week that had about 100 heads and felt quite envious lol. Do you dose?

I havent started with any dosing yet. my tank has been running for only 15 weeks so far. looking into it though.

 

[farfromsea]

That's pretty impressive growth for just a few months in a tank. I'm considering switching my lights to some Mars Aquas (shallow pockets ha!) and I'm hoping that will help my reef out. I haven't needed to dose yet either but I just added a massive amount of Montis so I need to keep an eye on it

 

[lokmar]

How long does it take for a small bump like this take to form a recognizable Duncan head? I thought I saw something on mine a couple weeks ago but there has been no physical changes since then so I'm guessing it was a false alarm

Its been quite a while since I paid close attention to my duncan growth rate but I think it took about 1 month for me to see new growth with defined tentacles on my 3 head frag and I was feeding about 2-3 times per week. I have a single fat head dendro that I bought 5 weeks ago and I feed it every day. I started to see 2 bumps on it 2 weeks ago and tonight I noticed that it has a set of about 5 tenacles on one bump and the other has maybe 2 not so well defined tentacles. I say feed it at least every 3 days, give it good light and stable water and in 2 years you'll be stressing about how you'll bring yourself to take it out of the water and cut it up for frags because its too big! I just fragged mine and still have over 20 heads on it. I know it had over 50 before I fragged it. Good luck and hang in there! Heads will be all over it in no time!

 

[farfromsea]

Haha thanks. I do feed about twice a week so far. About time to feed again, my cleaner shrimp knows when it is almost time and starts going crazy stepping all over the Duncan as if he is looking for some of their food

I'm thinking I need to upgrade my lights, too. It is a crappy Chinese LED that the previous owner had and it is way to white not getting good color on my Montis. I think the Duncan is fairly happy as is but better lights might help it a little. Really like my Duncan it has giant heads.

 

[lokmar]

Haha thanks. I do feed about twice a week so far. About time to feed again, my cleaner shrimp knows when it is almost time and starts going crazy stepping all over the Duncan as if he is looking for some of their food

I'm thinking I need to upgrade my lights, too. It is a crappy Chinese LED that the previous owner had and it is way to white not getting good color on my Montis. I think the Duncan is fairly happy as is but better lights might help it a little. Really like my Duncan it has giant heads.

My cleaner shrimp is that way. I use a small flashlight to help me feed the corals at night and he's learned it means food. I put some food down in a spot to keep him occupied first, then I can feed without fear of him robbing the coral. I'm feeding a mix of eggs and brine so he's busy for a while with all the little bits and pieces.

 

[farfromsea]

My cleaner shrimp is that way. I use a small flashlight to help me feed the corals at night and he's learned it means food. I put some food down in a spot to keep him occupied first, then I can feed without fear of him robbing the coral. I'm feeding a mix of eggs and brine so he's busy for a while with all the little bits and pieces.

My Duncan is small (3 heads) so at this point I can quickly shoot them some brine shrimp and they close up and I can just ward him off by waving the baster around. I use that Kent Marine Sea Squirt or whatever it is called. I had to get something giant to reach the bottom of my cube but I'm quite happy with the design and ease of use. Eventually if it ever gets too many heads I will definitely have to distract him