Forum Contest: Semi-Rainbow Acan Grow-out Contest - WINNER

[jonmos75]

Here is my July pic....and as the same as @swayd I to don't have any new heads but I have not killed it so there is the silver lining....lol

 

[wpeterson]

Still going strong with the adult parent and 9 child polyps. The first child polyp is over 1cm now and all of the babies are coloring up nicely.

 

[wpeterson]

Latest pics, the child polyps are big enough to color up and get more light for themselves:

 

[Corallus]

I suppose it's as good a time as any for my update. So... Mine was looking pretty good - not quite giving @wpeterson a run for the money, but good, nice color, with several small polyps budding off. Until around a month ago. Then, very quickly, it basically shrunk back to not much more than a shrink wrapped skeleton that lost it's color and turned a bleached out looking pink. I tried everything I could think of to get things right - even though the rest of my corals (easy sps, zoas, chalices, small euphyllia) were growing and looking good. The downturn did coincide with a drop in Ca/Alk because I was not testing as often as I should have been with coral growth in a small tank, and the addition of 2 fire shrimp. The shrimp, while I can't blame them yet, did make feeding more difficult. And I may have done more harm than good by moving it around and making other small tweaks. Eventually I realized it was not going to make it in my tank, so I asked @wpeterson if he would be willing to take it and see if it could recover in his tank. My reasoning should be obvious - these are from the same colony, mine was healthy to start with, he's obviously providing a great environment for his, and I really don't want it to die. Time will tell if it will turn around, but I am happy he was willing to make some space for it. Fingers crossed and thanks again!

 

[wpeterson]

Eventually I realized it was not going to make it in my tank, so I asked @wpeterson if he would be willing to take it and see if it could recover in his tank. My reasoning should be obvious - these are from the same colony, mine was healthy to start with, he's obviously providing a great environment for his, and I really don't want it to die. Time will tell if it will turn around, but I am happy he was willing to make some space for it. Fingers crossed and thanks again!

I'm happy to do what I can. I've been doing smaller zooplankton feedings 2-3 times a day since I acclimated your acan and I think he's recovering. As of this morning I saw feeding tentacles out and a solid feeding response on the parent and most of the baby polyps. ::fingers crossed::

 

[wpeterson]

Our acan is doing well. The largest of the child polyps is almost as big as the parent now.

@Corallus Acan is still kicking and recovering:

 

[Corallus]

So nice to see it coming back from whatever I managed to do to it!

 

[Enderturtle]

Looks super bleached. Maybe you had it too high up?

 

[Corallus]

I know, right? I never moved it from it's initial spot on the bottom of the tank until it started looking like that, then I moved it to the partial shade of a green monti, with no improvement. My guess is it was either something wacky with my temp/pH/chemistry that didn't really seem to bother anything else, or the introduction of a pair of fire shrimp. I'm hoping the addition of an Apex to my system will help mitigate something water chemistry related going forward. Maybe these guys are a bit on the sensitive side, sort of the "canary in the coal mine" in my tank of easy corals?

 

[iCon]

Well, it's alive. 1+6 ... I think.

 

[Enderturtle]

@iCon your acan always look shribbled? Or did you poke it to count polyps?

Nice to see you're catching up. Someone's gotta give wpeterson a challenge.

 

[iCon]

@iCon your acan always look shribbled? Or did you poke it to count polyps?

Nice to see you're catching up. Someone's gotta give wpeterson a challenge.

Dropped on the sand before taking a pic

 

[Prisonfood53]

Here is mine 3 babies that are growing nicely. All 3 have the bright green stripes in the center.

Ryan

 

[wpeterson]

Here is mine 3 babies that are growing nicely. All 3 have the bright green stripes in the center.

Looking good!

 

[Prisonfood53]

Looking good!

Thank you Peterson. Mean a lot coming from the master we're all playing for second place your tank is magical. Could I just place my whole tank in yours for like a week I'm sure everything will be fully grown colonies by then.


Ryan

 

[wpeterson]

Thank you Peterson. Mean a lot coming from the master we're all playing for second place your tank is magical. Could I just place my whole tank in yours for like a week I'm sure everything will be fully grown colonies by then.

Thanks for the kind words, Ryan. That always makes me nervous in a reef tank, because we're always right around the corner from a big setback.

My original polyp has been less inflated this week, but the juvenile heads continue to color up more and assert their space (I think the main parent is getting pushed back a bit when he used to blow up and flop over the babies):

@Corallus 's frag is still hanging in there, with good feeding response from the parent and babies:

 

[Corallus]

Looks amazing! From the pic, do I see little bits of red starting to creep back in?

 

[wpeterson]

Looks amazing! From the pic, do I see little bits of red starting to creep back in?

It's early to call it, but I hope it'll color up over time. I placed it near the other colony in the hope there might be some Zooxanthellae exchanged, not sure how colonies re-populate with photosynthetic symbiots after they've bleached.

 

[Enderturtle]

That would be very cool if corallus's acan came back. I think Its looking better rolf!

Wpeterson your frag is looking awesome and coloring up nicely!!!

 

[jctse]

Still alive...