Whisker Corals

[sweetrav18]

I just picked up one of these guys, and I can seem to find a lot of information regarding their care and placement. I have a 24g tank with 150w MH. Please post your pics and experiences

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Duncans are very easy to take care of. Feed mysis with meduim lighting and flow. Feeding is key for their reproduction.

 

[dragonette]

ya, thier real name is duncanospammia (I think I spelled it right)

They are a aussie coral. Although, I know that the 'doctors' site sells them aquacultured.

-Jess.

 

[seapug]

a place near me had a huge one for $300 that nobody bought so they fragged it up into $20 nuggets, much to my joy. I bought one and dropped it in my tank (literally-- fell in with no acclimation). A week later it had already started developing 2 new polyp heads. Pretty impressive.

thecichlidpleco pretty much summed it up. They are weakly photosynthetic so don't need too much light and appreciate some food. Mine catches and eats frozen mysis with gusto. Strange they are so hard to come by because they seem to be one of the easier corals to care for.

 

[sweetrav18]

So I should place them on the sand? I have a 150w MH over my 24g AP?

Do I have to feed them or not? I wasn't sure what you meant by weakly photosynthetic?

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Meaning they will grow slightly with just lighting, but are better to be supplemented with food.
I put mine on the sand and have never moved them.

 

[ssavader]

They are easy to care for and grow quickly, if fed. I have a colony of 12 that I fed 2x /week and it is doing great. I have a single polyp that I recieved as a free frag with an order and it grew 6 new polyps from just below the crown after only 4 weeks of feeding. By the way, mine are at mid-tank level under 2 250W MH and have never shown any signs of "light-stress".

 

[ssavader]

They are easy to care for and grow quickly, if fed. I have a colony of 12 that I fed 2x /week and it is doing great. I have a single polyp that I recieved as a free frag with an order and it grew 6 new polyps from just below the crown after only 4 weeks of feeding. By the way, mine are at mid-tank level under 2 250W MH and have never shown any signs of "light-stress".

 

[Echidna09]

Duncans are not as expensive as they used to be. While there are some places that still sell them for 30+ per polyp, I wouldn't spend more than 20.

 

[sweetrav18]

what does everyone feed the duncan corals?

 

[fishysteve]

I feed mine mysis and brine shrimp.

 

[Thurge]

Mine is growing like mad on Mysis. I bought it with 3.5 polyps (had a baby) and now its over a dozen heads, in maybe two months. I have mine down low in my 58 on a rock outcroping.

 

[litllespot]

mines midway and i feed brine and cyclops, it has good growth

 

[sweetrav18]

anybody got pics??? LOve to see the variations and placements

 

[thecichlidpleco]

Sand placement is good in my opinion, 16 inches away from my T5s.

 

[fishysteve]

 

[sweetrav18]

gorgeous pics...i need to post the ones of my new arrival. I have it blowing in the current on the sand right now. I would like to move it up off the sand though.

Does anyone know if lighting/positioning affects the color? For instance if you place it under higher liht will it become "greener"? Just wondering

P.S. KEEP THE PICS COMING

 

[Mental1]

I can't believe it -- I bought a white torch and 3 Duncan heads yesterday. Paid $65 for the Duncans. Will post a picture when I can figure out how to take decent pictures with the T5's. So far my pics look washed out so I need to get the manual out and figure out how to adjust the camera in manual mode. Anyway -- I have them about half way up in the tank, I put them in last night and they greedily ate this morning. They look funny when they eat! They had other Duncan frags in the LFS that were priced really high -- this was a frag brought in by someone so was cheaper and I grabbed it -- and it has green tints.

 

[Mental1]

Can't believe it -- just went over and looked at them and they were all withdrawn. One of the little gorilla crabs that are still in my tank was on top of it -- tried to spear the little %#*!! but didn't get it -- moved them higher in the tank. Will see how they do...

 

[maxalmon]

Duncans are another one of those corals that I consider a "coral of the month" They used to command top dollar but now there are so many less than desirable colors like the basic tan with greenish hints that you can pick up for $15 per polyp or the ORA's that can run up to $80 per polyp, they grow rather fast, I don't care what anyone says, even with the trick green ORA's.
ORA

basic $15 perpolyp on the left and then ORA and ORA