Duncan Coral? How do i care for it?

[mattfox27]

Someone gave me a duncan coral about three weeks ago but it will only open a tiny bit. I have it in a low flo low light area but it just doesn't seem happy. I have moved it around and no luck. My water params are good and when it was in my freinds tank it was open fully...what else do they need?

[varanus37]

My guy isn't in heavy flow but he's in a fairly high light area. Seems to really like it. I would make sure noone else is touching it. They don't seem to like being in close proximity to other frags. Not sure beyond that. Maybe a pic would help?

 

Good luck,

 

Bill

[mattfox27]

Do they need high light? I heard they like low light so i have him at the bottom of the tank...should i move him up?

[The Propagator]

Unlike their relatives ( tubastrea ) Duncans need light.

They also need REGULAR spot feedings per head a couple times a week.

Personally I wouldnt blast them with light.

This is because they are found in deep water. So I would assume they would achieve thier best under medium to low lighting conditions with medium to low flow.

They do suck up the calcium as well.

[mattfox27]

I put it low in the tank in the shade and it wouldn't come out at all...i have moved it around and it just doesn't want to come out...my calcium is good. I'm trying it kinda high in the tank now we'll see what happens.

 

Anyone one else have any experience with these?

[chiahead]

mine has been doing the same thing for about a week and a half now. I need some answers also.

 

my setup is 150w over a 24G with 50-60x turnover..good water param's..tried it high low with more and less flow. it just doesnt like my tank.

 

Mattfox27...have u tested ur Nitrates or Phosphates? just wondering if you have anything detectible?

Edited December 24, 2007 by chiahead

[mattfox27]

No i havent tested recently but i do weekly water changes and all my other coral is doing great. Right now since i moved it to the top its kinda opening its open about the size of a dime right now...i have it under 250w MH...I'm pretty sure all my 'trates are good...I will keep you posted...

[mattfox27]

So i just checked on the duncan after moving him up to the top under higher lighting and a tiny bit of flow and he has opened up as much as i have seen so far...so maybe he needs high light that seems to be working...but he still isn't opened all the way...hopefully tomorrow he will be in his new spot during a full photoperiod and open up all the way. I hope so becasue i have never seen him open since i bought him...I will keep ya posted.

[deadfishy]

My duncan is about 6-8 inches deep, under 150w metal halide + 48w actinic. Pretty decent flow, too. I spot feed him mysis and cyclopeeze every day, but I feed spot feed all my corals daily because it's fun and because I can. I also feed phytoplankton and golden pearls daily to the entire tank, and dose with B-Ionic to keep KH/Calcium up.

 

Salinity: 35ppt

Calcium: 440

KH: 9.5

Temp: 79.5

Ammonia: 0

Nitrates: 0

 

Mine grows like crazy...new polyp every couple weeks.

[mattfox27]

thats so weird my stupid one just wont open up...i'm gonna try a diffrent spot...

[shaggydoo541]

Duncans can handle quite a bit of water movement as long as it isn't direct. I also spot feed mine as much as possible and have seen tremendous growth. I've only had it for a month or two and the single baby head I have has tripled in size and should probably split soon (I hope).

 

Also what good is a thread on duncans with no pics???

 

Edited December 28, 2007 by shaggydoo541

[jkreefer]

Duncans can handle quite a bit of water movement as long as it isn't direct. I also spot feed mine as much as possible and have seen tremendous growth. I've only had it for a month or two and the single baby head I have has tripled in size and should probably split soon (I hope).

 

Also what good is a thread on duncans with no pics???

 

 

i've never seen one split but i have seen them bud...

[mattfox27]

should i keep moving it around until it finds a spot it likes? or do i just have a bad one? I mean should it do well pretty much anywhere in the tank? When it was sold to me i was told that its sooo hardy it will thrive anywhere, you cant kill this thing...but so far its the most sensitive coral i have ever owned.

 

also theres nothing too see on my duncan i can post a picture but all it would be is shriveled up tube...LOL

Edited December 28, 2007 by mattfox27

[andersonkc]

Hey Guys -

 

Here are a few pictures of my Duncan. I took one before I fed it and after I fed it.

 

I feed it once per week at the moment.

 

 

Hungry

 

Full

[Mstefa1]

Feed it. Mine only closes when I don't target feed it. I've got too many heads. Lol

[basser1]

While they will eat and enjoy eating, feeding is not necessary. I have a duncan colony my clowns use as their host and I don't feed it all. Mainly because it's big enough already and I'm trying to slow down the growth.

[Mstefa1]

 

While they will eat and enjoy eating, feeding is not necessary. I have a duncan colony my clowns use as their host and I don't feed it all. Mainly because it's big enough already and I'm trying to slow down the growth.

lol. I use my duncan as a place to distract my cbs so that I can feed my Sun coral.

[spazizz]

They can handle flow and light as long as they slowly acclimated to the new conditons. In high flow they get really long tentacles.

 

Feeding it is what got mine to open up.

[Nocturnal]

I have mine towards the top in a Biocube 29 HQI. It get's a fair amount of light and medium flow. It started out as a single head maybe 6 months ago and now it has about 7 full sized heads. I feed it a lot and it always seems happy.

[Ivery]

Mines on bottom and started as 2 heads. Now I have 16! Med. Light and a little flow is all the need. Leave it in 1 spot for about 3 days at a time. If it looks like its starting to come out at all leave it there longer. Mine closed up for about a week when I first got it. To much light and it will really lock down tight.

[Sunar357]

Old topic is old.

[Mstefa1]

Old topic is old.

 

lol, wow I didn't even realize that somebody dug up an old thread beause I was mobile.

[jorahx]

Mines doing some weird stuff! I haven't moved my duncan and recently it has spent the last 4 days unhappy and closed up most of the time. Or when it's open just bairly. Nothing has changed between water parameters and flow and light. No coral with In four inches of it. 

 

It used to be so happy in the exact same spot

[Lognor]

I have a Coralife 29 Nano AIO, stock lights.  I've had my Duncan coral for about a month.  All parameters are in normal range.  It gets full light and medium flow.  I just started using reef roids and will be looking into targeted/spot feeding in the near future.  It has a number of heads on it and they will randomly be opened or closed.  Sometimes all of them are open, sometimes all of them are closed, but most of the time I have a combination of open and closed.  The Frogspawn, Duncan, and Kenya tree in my tank are all sensitive to activity in the tank.  On water change day, they all close up quite a bit.  My red stripe shrimp likes to visit them from time to time, the corals are not fond of his assistance and close up.