? on acans

[sadie]

I had an acan in my 6 gal about 15 yrs ago.  It was small, but had big heads.  The acan I just got yesterday is small with small heads.  Will these heads get bigger or will it just be a bigger colony of small headed acans?  

My acans I had before and the acans I have now.  And why the difference?

 

[sadie]

anyone?....will these little heads get bigger?

[Tired]

There are different kinds of acans, which have different sized heads. I don't know how to tell the difference between the species, but you should get someone to help you figure out which it is- some of them are really aggressive stingers. Given that there are multiple heads, all that size, I'd say that's a type with smaller heads. Also, the frag in your second picture isn't fully expanded yet... and I'm not 100% sure it's an acan. It looks sort of weird. The centers seem odd, it's very small for an acan, and it doesn't look like it has the usual mounded skeletal structure. Did you see it when it was fully expanded? It almost makes me think of a blasto instead, though the picture is a bit blurry. 

 

Has it expanded more since that picture, and can you take another one? I could be wrong, it just looks odd.

[sadie]

I just looked at my invoice and this is the blasto!!  I thought it was the acan.  Even still, I thought blastos had a bigger head.  This is what it looks like now.  HOpe it's a good pic

[Tired]

Ah, there's your problem/answer. It's still not fully open, but looks a bit better. Looks like you got one of the blastos with small heads anyway, at least if that's a regular frag plug.

[sadie]

okay, thanks for the reply.  Its full name is Blastomussa Merletti.

[Ratvan]

Are they on a 1 inch plug? They might be what I'm looking for

[sadie]

yup, I would say a 1" plug.

[Reefkid88]

They look like baby heads that were once part of a colony and then the colony receded and tissue was still left and they grew back. Lighting and flow will be a big part of how big the polyps expand and puff up. 

 

 In my experience,low/medium lighting and moderate to strong flow make them get super huge,expanding to capture as much food as possible and happy fat acans lol. 

 

 Definitely a nice variant of Acan you have though,I see potential in that one. How is your feeding ? Are you feeding daily,how many times a week,what are you feeding,what is your lighting and flow like ? 

 

 I feel like if that Acan is getting about 100-150 par,see's feedings of 2-4 times a week and has good flow that would be a crazy looking Acan. I spot fed each polyp of Acan (I had about 20-30 mini colonies) 3-4 times a week and broadcast fed the whole tank post w/c on Saturday's and I had just phenomenal results. Exploding growth,huge polyps and insane colors. 

 

 My largest polyps I ever had were about 1.5-2" around. 

[Tired]

Psst- look at the other posts. That's not an acan frag, it's a blasto frag. 

[Reefkid88]

Ummm,no. Definitely a Acan.

[sadie]

41 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Ummm,no. Definitely a Acan.

Your acans look amazing!  And I was confused when I got my order and mixed up my acans and blastos.  So the picture I posted was my blasto and NOT my acan.  But thanks for the response and the pictures of your acans.  

 

The very first picture is a picture of my orange crush acan I had like 15 yrs ago, THAT is def an acan, but the picture with the small heads is my blasto.

 

[Reefkid88]

Those were actually my old Acan's,but thank you. 

 

 Can you get a closer picture ? I'm really not convinced its a blasto. It looks more so along the lines of a Micro/Acan rather than a Blasto. 

[Tired]

I had a blasto (rehomed it), and when it was closed up tight, that's exactly what it looked like. The differently-colored solid lump of a center, the red ring around that, and then the whitish area. And something about the shape, that I'm not sure how to describe, is definitely more like a blasto.

[sadie]

46 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Those were actually my old Acan's,but thank you. 

 

 Can you get a closer picture ? I'm really not convinced its a blasto. It looks more so along the lines of a Micro/Acan rather than a Blasto. 

I can't get a better picture, though I have tried.  

18 minutes ago, Tired said:

I had a blasto (rehomed it), and when it was closed up tight, that's exactly what it looked like. The differently-colored solid lump of a center, the red ring around that, and then the whitish area. And something about the shape, that I'm not sure how to describe, is definitely more like a blasto.

how big did yours get when they were fully open?

[Tired]

About half an inch across, I think, and I think the polyps were roughly as big as yours? Maybe a little larger. 

 

Have they opened up yet? If not, put them in a spot with less flow. If that doesn't work, try less light. Blastos, and things shaped like blastos, often don't seem to like much flow and light. 

[sadie]

They look a little better, but I already glued them to the main rock.  I NEVER do that!  I always start them in the sand bed and move them up.  This time I figured the lights they came from were probably way stronger then mine so I just did it.  I was looking to fill up the mid to upper level of my tank and was told both acans and blastos would work.  My acans look like crap though. 

 

I was hoping they would get about that size, 1/2", so that's good. 

 

Thanks

[Tired]

It might be good to put some sort of shade over them. Is there a lid you can put something semi-opaque on top of? Both of them might need some time to adjust. 

[Reefkid88]

Just remove the plug from the glue... I have moved frag plugs that have been glued down for more than a year. Its not hard at all.

 

Move it down a few inches or to the sand bed depending on how deep your tank is. 

[sadie]

I decided to just leave it.  I think I might do more damage trying to get it off the rock (I glued other coral to the main rock as well).  It looks like it's opening up a bit and I think I saw some extension.  I wish I could get better pictures of it.  I have a really nice Nikon camera and a lot of cell phones take better pictures now. 😁

 

 

[Reefkid88]

Okay that pic is so much clearer,definitely stand corrected. That would be a blasto 😅.

 

 I would give it some time,it may become happier within a week or so. 

 

 

[sadie]

8 minutes ago, Reefkid88 said:

Okay that pic is so much clearer,definitely stand corrected. That would be a blasto 😅.

 

 I would give it some time,it may become happier within a week or so. 

 

 

yea, they were really closed up when I got them and covered in kinda a white film.  Hard to tell what they were.  I'm really liking them and I think they will do good there.  Now I just ahve to get some acans...maybe in a month or two.

[Tired]

I think the white film is part of the blasto? Mine did that every time it closed up. 

[Tamberav]

+1 blasto. This type has smaller heads but grows pretty fast. They do have large head blasto's tho (seem to grow slower).

 

Blastomussa wellsi

 

Blastomussa merletti

 

 

 

 

They come in many colors but some morphs are quite rare and pricey.