Euphylia (hammer) Question

[bethzb]

Hi all.
So I have a lovely hammer coral that has been thriving for years. It has around 30 heads and seems quite content where it is located in the tank. The problem is that it developed one of the newer heads underneath the others. This is a full size head and has been there for months but, since it is heavily shaded by the rest of the animal, it never fully expands. My thought was to cut that head off and start a new coral nearbye. The problem is how to do this without disturbing the rest of the coral.

Any suggestions or should I just leave it be?

(BTW; has anyone ever had those little teeny ones at the base of the mature heads amount to anything? There are around 5 or 6 at the base of each mature head.)

 

[basiab]

As far as the small ones that come out and never seem to grow. I had a head that died and then after that the little one started growing.
It is easy to snip of a head. I use a pointy small nail scissor and begin nipping the branch where I want it to come off and just continue untill it breaks off. I try to keep the colony under water while I am doing it. The only problem is the debrie and the head will fall on other stuff. Just pick up the head and put it where you want and clean off debrie using a turkey baster.

 

[marrone]

If it's not getting enough light it's probably going to die over time or never get really large. If you can get to it with a pair of pliers or clippers you should be able to snap it off without moving the whole colony.

If you need to pick it up, so you can cut off the head, I wouldn't worry about it, as it will be fine once you put it down. I'm guessing the only concern would be that you want to put it back in the same place. What you want to do, if you plan on moving it to cut off the head, is to take some pictures so you know exactly how the coral was placed in the tank. Take the pictures when the colony isn't fully open, usually just when the lights come on, so you can get a good look at the skeleton structure.

As for the little babies, growing under the heads. Well they do grow but they take quite a long time to reach any size, and even then they're never as large as a regular heads. Some people have cut them off and glue them to a plug, so they can grow them out, not really sure if anyone really had any success doing this. I did have one, that grew to a good size, fell off and started a new colony.

 

[bethzb]

If it's not getting enough light it's probably going to die over time or never get really large. If you can get to it with a pair of pliers or clippers you should be able to snap it off without moving the whole colony.

If you need to pick it up, so you can cut off the head, I wouldn't worry about it, as it will be fine once you put it down. I'm guessing the only concern would be that you want to put it back in the same place. What you want to do, if you plan on moving it to cut off the head, is to take some pictures so you know exactly how the coral was placed in the tank. Take the pictures when the colony isn't fully open, usually just when the lights come on, so you can get a good look at the skeleton structure.

As for the little babies, growing under the heads. Well they do grow but they take quite a long time to reach any size, and even then they're never as large as a regular heads. Some people have cut them off and glue them to a plug, so they can grow them out, not really sure if anyone really had any success doing this. I did have one, that grew to a good size, fell off and started a new colony.

The placement is definitely my concern since the colony is so happy right where it is. I guess the only other question I have concerns light acclimitization. Since this head has been in the shade for so long, should I start it at the bottom of the tank partly shaded and gradually work it up towards the light level where the parent colony thrives?

 

[marrone]

Yes, I would start it low and then move it up. It may probably bleached a little once you move it out into the light, but I wouldn't worry about it as in time it should be ok.

So if you can't break off the one head, without moving it, and you do have some concerns about moving it, as it's doing really well, then I wouldn't worry about the one head that's not getting a lot of light. Just leave it, as it's not going to hurt the colony if the one head doesn't get a lot of light.

 

[bethzb]

Tis done. Had a friend pop by and break it off for me since I still only have partial use of my left arm. Put the broken off head down low and it is already expanding so I guess it is OK. Should I seal the broken off spot on the parent colony with something or leave it be? I worry about things growing inside the skeleton.

 

[marrone]

Just leave it be, things may grow on it but nothing to worry about.

 

[reefman]

to promote faster growth, it's better to frag it. here's my branching hammers all grown from a frag of 2 branches.

 

[bizarrecorals]

the smaller the head the less lights it requires, it might be better leaving it, but frag/cut is an option.

 

[bethzb]

to promote faster growth, it's better to frag it. here's my branching hammers all grown from a frag of 2 branches.

That is pretty impressive. I did get the one head off with some help from a friend and will start gradually moving it up over the next few weeks. It will eventually live a little bit lower than the parent colony and hopefully grow just as well.

Thanks to all for their advice and suggestions.