uhuru
New member
One of the challenges of having Dendronephthya in a small tank is its hard to predict how much space they will take up when fully expanded. When I bought this dendro, it was just a little ball in the corner of the tank at my LFS. It looked healthy though, with polyps fully expanded, and I knew the shipment was fresh (very important). Over the next couple of weeks, it expand into a beautiful cream/dark purple/black color with contrasting white sclerites and polyps:
It was already much larger than how it appeared at the LFS, and I figured it will probably expand a little more. I moved it to a spot where it would have more room:
Lately . . . I have noticed that it is the biggest coral in the tank, in fact, too big for the tank:
Not only is it rubbing against the sand, but pressing against the front glass! The crazy thing is, it does this predictably, after the lights go out, and all the way until morning/noon when the sunlight hits the tank.
Once daytime comes, it shrinks back down, until the darkness returns. This is unlike any of my other dendros, which will expand and contract without regard for any schedule.
So, either this coral has an internal clock, it is sensitive to light, or it is sensing something else in the water that only comes out at night, which it feeds on. The interesting thing is, it does this in response to ambient room light and sunlight from outside, as I have not been using a tank light for the past several days now.
It was already much larger than how it appeared at the LFS, and I figured it will probably expand a little more. I moved it to a spot where it would have more room:
Lately . . . I have noticed that it is the biggest coral in the tank, in fact, too big for the tank:
Not only is it rubbing against the sand, but pressing against the front glass! The crazy thing is, it does this predictably, after the lights go out, and all the way until morning/noon when the sunlight hits the tank.
Once daytime comes, it shrinks back down, until the darkness returns. This is unlike any of my other dendros, which will expand and contract without regard for any schedule.
So, either this coral has an internal clock, it is sensitive to light, or it is sensing something else in the water that only comes out at night, which it feeds on. The interesting thing is, it does this in response to ambient room light and sunlight from outside, as I have not been using a tank light for the past several days now.
