about corals, etc

[dpatte]

Ive never had a saltwater tank, but i get the impression from the classified that people can now actually propogate corals and anemones in their salt tanks (by propogate, i mean grow and reproduce).

Years ago people would buy these things, and they would liv, but i dont think they could grow or reproduce them in the home.

What has changed to make this possible now and how quickly do they grow (how long before they double, for example)?

[328iGuy]

Interesting question, I Would be interested in knowing the answer as well.

[DARKPHREAK]

As an example I'll use a "pulsing zenia" that I got for free from MarineScape, cause it was so small. It had 2 very small hands on it when we got it 3 months ago and now there are 3 separate heads containing atleast 15 hands per head. Certain corals grow very fast and one can cut peices off the main coral and grow more. A link to garf to show how easy it is to frag.

http://www.garf.org/

goto How To - Movies... to see it done
or
Propagation for other types of corals.

[dpatte]

good movies! How long would it take for a coral to double in size? Can you multiply anemones the same way?  In fact, whats the difference between a coral and an anemone?

[Marx]

Anemone is a animal.. that requires food.. corals are a type of plant the uses mostly photosynthisis (spelling) for food..

and my 20 gal tank produices 10 stalks of Pom Pom xenia a month.. even after cutting them back..

i have 1 toadstool coral that had twins.. (there growing off it base)

my torch coral is splitting 4 ways..

and my frog spawn aswell..

my mushrooms move up to the rocks leaving pieces of themselves to grow into new mushrooms.. its awsome...

[DARKPHREAK]

There are many corals that rely on light to feed, they use internal algea that feeds from the light. But there are also other coral that needs to be fed, like this one for example which I feed atleast 4 times a week. It has grown 5 times its size in 4 months, started with 3 heads.

[Marx]

sun polyps require lots of work.. and patience.. nice one dark..

[dpatte]

corals are plants? i thought they where animals like anemones

[DARKPHREAK]

Thx "Fisherman", its still small but the color is awesome.

[Mel]

Hey Dark.. can you frag that Xenia?  I was at your place for MASO 9 and it was a cool piece! I also want to help with some of those tubes you have there before they over-run the tank

[DARKPHREAK]

Sure Mel, sometime in January it will be ready to frag 1-2 peices. I had to cut it away from the Xmass tree rock cause it was growing on it. Im not sure how to frag the sun polyp, but once I can safely take a few heads off I'll let you know.

[Sue]

Coral's are not classified as plants.  They are animals.

paste  "coral, small, sedentary marine animal, related to the sea anemone but characterized by a skeleton of horny or calcareous material. The skeleton itself is also called coral. Although most corals form colonies by budding, there are some solitary corals; in both types the individual animals, called polyps, resemble the sea anemone in form"

paste: "SEA ANEMONE [sea anemone ] , any of the relatively large, predominantly solitary polyps (see polyp and medusa ) of the class Anthozoa, phylum Cnidaria. Unlike the closely related corals, these organisms do not have a skeleton."