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Easy Coral that can compete successfully with Sarcothelia ('blue clove polyps')?


Adiantum

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Has anyone had experience with corals fighting off smothering by "blue clove polyps," i.e. Sarcothelia sp. corals? Or things that are not really prone to being overtaken by this particular coral? I want to put some Sarcothelia in a jar with some light and let it go wild. But it'd be nice to have something else in there for some other color or interest. I know Sarcothelia has a reputation for growing over other corals and killing them. Are there any things that could compete as equally weedy or aggressive?

I'm thinking maybe yellow Parazoanthus, GSP or purple star polyps, waving hand Anthelia, or some sort of mushroom as possibilities. Maybe a leather, like Sinularia dura? I have already been suggested Xenia and Pocillipora. I want things to just be weedy and grow wild and not need much attention. I really want to grow Sarcothelia but not in a tank with anything else or with just a single other coral. 

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6 hours ago, mcarroll said:

I feel like it's an obvious answer, but will get the ball rolling: mushrooms.

An obvious answer is fine!

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growsomething

These green zoa have outgrown my gsp and xenia.  I don't know what they are, a single one popped up in an aquacultured Indonesian zoa rock a few months after being in the tank and smothered the pink ray zoa.  I had to isolate a few pink ray on their own rock.  This is around 10 mo after adding the zoa rock, maybe 8 mo after the 1st one popped up.  I believe they wouldn't smother the blue clove, but would be able to grow in spite of them.

 

20210207_123534.thumb.jpg.efdf6189fd707032ced5ce95e7957436.jpg

 

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1 hour ago, growsomething said:

These green zoa have outgrown my gsp and xenia.  I don't know what they are, a single one popped up in an aquacultured Indonesian zoa rock a few months after being in the tank and smothered the pink ray zoa.  I had to isolate a few pink ray on their own rock.  This is around 10 mo after adding the zoa rock, maybe 8 mo after the 1st one popped up.  I believe they wouldn't smother the blue clove, but would be able to grow in spite of them.

 

20210207_123534.thumb.jpg.efdf6189fd707032ced5ce95e7957436.jpg

 

Those are at least fairly attractive for a hitchhiker zoa! I have heard of blue clove smothering zoanthids but it may be worth a try. 

 

1 hour ago, DaveDe said:

I've heard bad things about spread/invasiveness of Nuclear Green Paly's too. 

As have I. Invasive is good, in this case!

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3 minutes ago, growsomething said:

These are slightly bigger than the tip of the frogspawn.  Are you sure they're paly? 

Now that you mention it - no - they don't look quite the same. I'm not used to hearing about Zoas spreading that fast but I haven't been around the block that long. 

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I love this idea! In my experience, smaller zoanthids, even fast growing ones, tend to get smothered by cloves/Xenia, but larger polyp palys do ok even when a bit covered over by cloves.
 

What about sand dollar porites (blue/green with purple polyps)? I haven’t had it in a jar, but in my mixed 10 gallon it has been very hardy, very colorful, and very aggressive towards what I think are some sort of anthelia or clavularia clove polyps (not the tiny ones or neon ones). This isn’t a great picture, but you can see it (on the left) actively sliming the cloves (on the right) to clear the rock in front of it as it spread. I do think it prefers moderate to high light, but it was one of the first frags I put in shortly after cycling and over the past year+ has been colorful and happy through all the ups and downs of a new tank. 


Other hardy encrusters are probably also good. If you can find a handful of the small white hitchhiker feather dusters, those are easy, grow quickly, and don’t seem to mind getting crowded, but you’d probably want to feed a bit. You could also do a mix of different types cloves, anthelia, and Xenia. If you’re going to have the right light and aerate/feed/water change, a rock flower anemone would not be outcompeted by the cloves, and would be fun with some anemone shrimp in a jar.

 

 

A5F00745-8874-47AD-8DC9-DAE7B7E13532.jpeg

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On 3/1/2021 at 1:22 AM, Adiantum said:

Has anyone had experience with corals fighting off smothering by "blue clove polyps," i.e. Sarcothelia sp. corals? Or things that are not really prone to being overtaken by this particular coral? I want to put some Sarcothelia in a jar with some light and let it go wild. But it'd be nice to have something else in there for some other color or interest. I know Sarcothelia has a reputation for growing over other corals and killing them. Are there any things that could compete as equally weedy or aggressive?

I'm thinking maybe yellow Parazoanthus, GSP or purple star polyps, waving hand Anthelia, or some sort of mushroom as possibilities. Maybe a leather, like Sinularia dura? I have already been suggested Xenia and Pocillipora. I want things to just be weedy and grow wild and not need much attention. I really want to grow Sarcothelia but not in a tank with anything else or with just a single other coral. 

I would call upon @teenyreef......he has had experience dealing with blue clove polyps.......check out his journals, I believe that he documented the struggle in there.

 

also, @Cannedfish dealt with them a few years back as well.

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The clove polys I had did not grow over stony corals, but at the same time made it really difficult (if not impossible) for them to encrust. The plus side of this is that it forced acros to grow up instead of out. Soft corals were no match for blue clove polyps, they would grow up and over zoas choking them out. Blue clove polyps are really kind of neat, but at the same time there is a reason people consider them pests. 

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4 hours ago, Cannedfish said:

The clove polys I had did not grow over stony corals, but at the same time made it really difficult (if not impossible) for them to encrust. The plus side of this is that it forced acros to grow up instead of out. Soft corals were no match for blue clove polyps, they would grow up and over zoas choking them out. Blue clove polyps are really kind of neat, but at the same time there is a reason people consider them pests. 

What do you think about Protopalythoa (palythoa) grandis? I'd like to try growing them, too, and I wonder if they would be fine, since they are so large. It sounds like a stony coral may be a better option, outside of other corals in family Xeniidae.

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@teenyreef Any input for me, as WV reefer suggested? I did have a look at your journals but didn’t find anything like they describe.
 

I’m leaning towards a stony coral as my other inhabitant, maybe Pocillopora, Porites, or something else. A branching Psammocora, maybe. 

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growsomething

https://www.live-plants.com/corkyfinger.htm

These guys? They can be invasive from what I've read.  Maybe they need water movement though?

Rfa aren't coral, but they might grow in spite of the clove polyps, if they don't need much water movement.  Might be a nice contrast, too.

I'd send you some of those neon green zoa if you live near FL and want to try some.

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Yes, that’s the type of gorgonian I was talking about. This jar should have plenty of water movement since I’ve got a small pump lying around to use in it. Unfortunately, I’m in CO. 

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Could be fun to try something that's not fast-growing, but does have a hell of a sting. Acan echinata comes to mind, but might sting everything in the tank once it got big. Really, most LPS would have a go at it. 

 

RFA should do fine. They don't need much flow. Get an ultra, they (anecdotally) stay smaller than shallow-water non-ultras, so would be better for a jar.

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58 minutes ago, Tired said:

Could be fun to try something that's not fast-growing, but does have a hell of a sting. Acan echinata comes to mind, but might sting everything in the tank once it got big. Really, most LPS would have a go at it. 

 

RFA should do fine. They don't need much flow. Get an ultra, they (anecdotally) stay smaller than shallow-water non-ultras, so would be better for a jar.

I will think about the RFA and acan. What would you think of Euphyllia or Hydnophora? Both can be very aggressive, so I hear. Galaxea, as well. I am definitely not against something slower growing but that will sting anything else that gets close. 

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It also occurred to me today that a Hollywood stunner chalice or similar Echinopora would be plenty aggressive to grow with blue cloves. Does this seem correct? From what I’ve read about Echinopora it also seems to be a fast grower. 

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