|
|
|
|
 SPS:
Pavona (cont.) |
| told
us that he'd discovered a
rather large colony of it, but
after having to surface for air,
couldn't find it again. So
Ali and I are admiring the
piece, wondering if there was any
way we could get a frag of it someday.
As Jeff himself wasn't there,
Ali said that he'd work on
it. Well, three weeks later after
I had returned to CT, he notifies
me that he DID manage to secure
a piece that he would further frag
for me and a couple others. The
feeling was since this was such
a rare coral, the more it was spread
around, the better the chances
would be for successful propagation
('Why doesn't EVERYONE
think like this'?). Anyway,
a few weeks later, these two little
frags arrived. Both had some dead
spots but also enough viable tissue
on them to be excited about. Now
came the problem as to where to
put them. And after trying out
a couple areas ('Not good,
I know'.), Ali mentioned
that his pieces seemed to do best
in indirect light. This meant I
had to find a place near the bottom
of the tank. Well, it has been
about a month now and both pieces
seem to be doing okay. No sign
of growth of course, but no sign
of recession either. Obviously,
it's still too early to tell
if one or both of the frags will
survive but if this species is
as hardy as the green Pavona, things
look pretty good. I'd
like to thank Ali, Jeff's
Exotic, and everyone who was involved
in getting out frags of this coral
for the sake of its survival. Maybe
if we now do our jobs, that diver
can stop trying to find the rest
of that lost colony as there'll
be plenty of this one to go around. |
|
Pocillopora Go!
 Well,
here's a little study
in resilience for you. Once
a part of a large and beautiful
colony
,
this piece has been a victim
of more bad luck and poor
husbandry than any other
stony in the tank. First,
it was decimated by a Majano
attack then fragged to
just a few branches that
immediately got infested
with chronic algae and
cyano problems. There were
a few times I was really
tempted to just let it
go, but it was with me
for quite sometime so I
felt I owed it more than
that. Dutifully then, I
would use the turkey baster
to blow out the accumulated
debris and even tweezers
(an old pair of stamp tongs,
actually) to gently remove
the algae that would grow
in the crevices. Finally,
I moved it down in the
tank to hopefully retard
the problems then quite
honestly forgot about it.
Now look at it! And it's
actually growing again
in a location I'd
think was a bit too dim
and with a bit too little
water movement. Shows how
much I know. Really glad
to have it back and problem
free though. |
Porites Go!
Still
hanging in there in spite of
being encroached upon and crowded
by just about everything around
it. But while it doesn't
appear to be aggressive, it does
seems pretty opportunistic, so
I'm betting that it'll
always find someplace to survive. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
