splitting hammer

[anndi]

What does branching hammer coral look like when it splits, does it get a second mouth and split or does it make new branches out the side...????

[00 deven]

pics!!!!!!

[andykee]

What does branching hammer coral look like when it splits, does it get a second mouth and split or does it make new branches out the side...????

split: one large single head splits down the middle (at the mouth) and each head begins to grow in separate directions.

 

new growth: new heads grow out of the side of another branch. these are usually VERY slow to grow since thy often live in the shadows of the larger heads.

[Fishfreak218]

when it splits it gets a second mouth and then it bubbles up where it is going to seperate (somewhere in between the 2 mouths)

[anndi]

cool, thanks...waiting and waiting for something to happen with my one single head...it has a huge bump on the side that i have been waiting for something to happen out of, but so far...nothing.

[Fanof49ASU]

Mine is getting close to splitting. I believe the mouth is already formed.

 

[anndi]

cool...so they get less round and more oval...mine is so full and fluffy, you can't see the mouth at all...yours look like they are pure white!

[Fanof49ASU]

The color is a little off....it's not that 'pure' white. It's a 'off' white.

 

I'll try and get a top down shot tomorrow.... the tank is at work. It would give a better view of the shape. At the moment, it has the figure 8 shape.

 

I've noticed that mine is quite sensitive about being moved. It looks bad for a hour or so, then it's back to normal.

[Fanof49ASU]

cool...so they get less round and more oval...mine is so full and fluffy, you can't see the mouth at all...yours look like they are pure white!

 

Do you hand feed your hammer? So far, I've only added calcium....and like you said, I can't see the mouth unless it gets upset with me moving him.

[anndi]

I do feed it. I feed it sweet water zoo plankton and it also eats flake foods...I have tried mysis shrimp, but they end up being released by the hammer...the thing it seems to eat the best is flake food. Every piece of it goes into the mouth. Have you noticed that when you feed other tank inhabitants the hammer sort of relaxes and opens for food? Thats when I feed it.

[Fanof49ASU]

OK....stupid question.

How do you actually get the food to the mouth? Syringe? Tweezers?

[01-544]

Here's a pic of my hammer with new heads forming, they start off as small bumps on one of the main heads and over time the the main head slowly pulls upwards as if receding of it's stem and then the new head starts to attatch to the hard skeleton. The end result is the new small head formed with it's own hard stem.[/img]

[01-544]

Sorry about the pic above. Try this link to the pic in the gallery, i hope it works.I'm computer illiterate...i'm an idiot. If i doesn't work search for "new hammer heads" in the corals gallery.new hammer heads

[anndi]

Thats a cool picture... wow I hope mine does something soon.

 

fan--- when i feed my hammer, I actually place with my fingers the flakes right into that area, my hammer closes up around it for awhile and then loosens when the food is in the mouth part way. The zooplankton I use a syringe for...i do it all with the pumps off.

[Fanof49ASU]

Here's a really poor shot of them, but at least you can see the shape.

 

[Cuba Libre]

OK....stupid question.

How do you actually get the food to the mouth? Syringe? Tweezers?

 

I usually just drop food onto its tentacles, and then it brings the food to its mouth

[anndi]

That is an awesome pic to show the shape tho...yours look so nice and full, thats cool thanks!