Acan/Micromussa Care

[Ed Chan]

Let me start by saying that Acans/Micromussa are some of my favorite corals!

Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me figure out what I need to do in order to keep the fleshy parts plump. I target (and broadcast leftovers) feed coral frenzy 2 times a week and reef roids once a week after the evening blues go out. I've placed them just above the sand bottom in an area of low to moderate flow and all parameters are great.

I keep my fish well fed (3 times a day), but I do have a flame angel which I've never seen peck at any of the acans.

Any reefers out there with success in caring for Acans/Micromussas have any advice they can give?

I will be switching to doing Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy, and Reef Nutrition R.O.E. each once a week. Target feeding the first two and broadcasting the latter.

Thanks!

 

[Jman76]

Acans are awesome! How long have you had them? Mine took a little bit to establish, but after a couple months, they really took off. They are positioned much like yours, down towards the bottom in moderate flow. Feed Reef frenzy to fish daily, ReefRoids 2x a week, and Reef Energy A+B daily for corals. Used to spot feed Mysis, but the shrimp steals it

 

[OlderManSea]

Let me start by saying that Acans/Micromussa are some of my favorite corals!

Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me figure out what I need to do in order to keep the fleshy parts plump. I target (and broadcast leftovers) feed coral frenzy 2 times a week and reef roids once a week after the evening blues go out. I've placed them just above the sand bottom in an area of low to moderate flow and all parameters are great.

I keep my fish well fed (3 times a day), but I do have a flame angel which I've never seen peck at any of the acans.

Any reefers out there with success in caring for Acans/Micromussas have any advice they can give?

I will be switching to doing Reef Roids, Coral Frenzy, and Reef Nutrition R.O.E. each once a week. Target feeding the first two and broadcasting the latter.

Thanks!

Acan lords (OK, Micromussa) are my favorites as well. I have found mine to do well in medium flow and lighting, although they seem to do well in high lighting as well if they are acclimated slowly. I feed Reef Roids once or twice a week - during daylight. I find that my Acan lords eat well during the day but are closed up tight at night. On the other hand I have an Acan echinata that is wide open all night, every night. Since I have a few other corals open at night, e.g. Caulastrea, I feed Reef Roids once a week at night as well. If I target just a little Reef Roids to the nightimers about 5 minutes before main feeding during the day, they do open somewhat and eat but they greatly prefer night feeding.

I find that Acan lords are sometimes the target of nipping by fish. I wonder if your angel is nipping once in a while. I have found that Acan's are very intolerant of that and close up for days after a single incident. Another thing I have found with my lords is that they are very poor at defending themselves (of course echinata will damage or kill most things around them if riled). Even a small Aiptasia next to a lord for a couple of days will kill most of a polyp to the "bone" although I find that mine are healthy enough that once I remove the offending coral or Aiptasia, the damaged polyp recovers over a couple of weeks.

Once you get them happy the lords will grow fast, I have several that went from one or two polyps to 20 in the course of a year. They would probably grow even faster if I fed more often. Echinatas grow moderately fast as well. I do have a couple of Micromussa that I have not successfully identified that go through spurts - they will add two or three polyps then sit that way for three or four months, and then do it again. I think I have simply not found what they like - I went from moderate light to bright light with one and it has really revved up. I will move the other one soon.

 

[Ed Chan]

You weren't kidding about them taking off! They look great!

I've only had my tank for 3.5 months and the acans for less than 2 weeks. Here are a couple of pics of them when I first put them in the tank.

I'll post pics of how they currently look when I get back home. Pretty much the same, but looking a little thin.

Acans are awesome! How long have you had them? Mine took a little bit to establish, but after a couple months, they really took off. They are positioned much like yours, down towards the bottom in moderate flow. Feed Reef frenzy to fish daily, ReefRoids 2x a week, and Reef Energy A+B daily for corals. Used to spot feed Mysis, but the shrimp steals it

 

[Ed Chan]

Thank you for the reply!

Appreciate that you mentioned that you feed during the day time when your lights are on. The general consensus is that most feed at night or early morning when lights are still off, but I've found that the acans appear to be more open during the day and receptive to feeding? So I may adjust my feeding to them to feed during the daytime.

I've also made sure there are no aptasia near the acans and that no other corals are near by. I've still have yet to see the angel nip at the acans and I don't see any parts of the acan showing signs of flesh loss. But I'll continue to keep an eye out.

Thanks again!

Acan lords (OK, Micromussa) are my favorites as well. I have found mine to do well in medium flow and lighting, although they seem to do well in high lighting as well if they are acclimated slowly. I feed Reef Roids once or twice a week - during daylight. I find that my Acan lords eat well during the day but are closed up tight at night. On the other hand I have an Acan echinata that is wide open all night, every night. Since I have a few other corals open at night, e.g. Caulastrea, I feed Reef Roids once a week at night as well. If I target just a little Reef Roids to the nightimers about 5 minutes before main feeding during the day, they do open somewhat and eat but they greatly prefer night feeding.

I find that Acan lords are sometimes the target of nipping by fish. I wonder if your angel is nipping once in a while. I have found that Acan's are very intolerant of that and close up for days after a single incident. Another thing I have found with my lords is that they are very poor at defending themselves (of course echinata will damage or kill most things around them if riled). Even a small Aiptasia next to a lord for a couple of days will kill most of a polyp to the "bone" although I find that mine are healthy enough that once I remove the offending coral or Aiptasia, the damaged polyp recovers over a couple of weeks.

Once you get them happy the lords will grow fast, I have several that went from one or two polyps to 20 in the course of a year. They would probably grow even faster if I fed more often. Echinatas grow moderately fast as well. I do have a couple of Micromussa that I have not successfully identified that go through spurts - they will add two or three polyps then sit that way for three or four months, and then do it again. I think I have simply not found what they like - I went from moderate light to bright light with one and it has really revved up. I will move the other one soon.

 

[OlderManSea]

Here is one of my Acan's happily eating Reef Roids during the day

 

[Ed Chan]

Now THAT is what I have yet to see from my acans!! ;Wideyed

How are you caring for your acans?

Here is one of my Acan's happily eating Reef Roids during the day

 

[Hemmdog]

Target feeding with mysis at night is what I do. These were all single heads less than a year ago.

 

[Ed Chan]

Amazing....When you target feed at night, are you doing this when all lights are off or when the blues are on?

Are you feeding them anything else other than mysis? What lead you to choosing that particular time to feed and did the acans immediately take to feeding at that time?

Target feeding with mysis at night is what I do. These were all single heads less than a year ago.

 

[Hemmdog]

Amazing....When you target feed at night, are you doing this when all lights are off or when the blues are on?

Are you feeding them anything else other than mysis? What lead you to choosing that particular time to feed and did the acans immediately take to feeding at that time?

Thanks. I do it at least 2 hours after lights off, with the lights still off in the room. I put the polyp lab lens on my phone and use the flashlight and it kind of filters the light making it not to bright. I feed my fish mysis during the day and reef frenzy every other day. Reef roid broadcasted weekly. Target feed lps mysis once a weekly.
I started doing this just from trial and error. My acans dont always have their feeder tentacles out during the day, other lps like favias and chalices rarely have them out either during the day. During the day there’s also the issue with fish trying to steal food from corals as its attempting to digest it.
At night all feeder tentacles are out on all corals so it makes target feeding much easier. I use aquavitro stainless steel surgical tongs and give each lps head/mouth a single mysis weekly. I turn powerheads off for this but leave the return pump on. After 15 mins the powerheads come back on and the mysis should be mostly sucked into the coral by then.

 

[Ed Chan]

Great info.

I might pay attention to when the lights are on to see if any feeder tentacles are out. If not, I'll try waiting at least an hour after the blues go out to feed.

Great idea about using the filter to dampen the intensity of the light. I always wondered how people could feed in the dark!

I currently turn off the power heads and will try target feeding mysis and broadcasting R.O.E., coral frenzy, and reef roids.

Have you used Polyp booster? Apparently it helps aid in triggering a feeding response out of the corals.

Thanks. I do it at least 2 hours after lights off, with the lights still off in the room. I put the polyp lab lens on my phone and use the flashlight and it kind of filters the light making it not to bright. I feed my fish mysis during the day and reef frenzy every other day. Reef roid broadcasted weekly. Target feed lps mysis once a weekly.
I started doing this just from trial and error. My acans dont always have their feeder tentacles out during the day, other lps like favias and chalices rarely have them out either during the day. During the day there’s also the issue with fish trying to steal food from corals as its attempting to digest it.
At night all feeder tentacles are out on all corals so it makes target feeding much easier. I use aquavitro stainless steel surgical tongs and give each lps head/mouth a single mysis weekly. I turn powerheads off for this but leave the return pump on. After 15 mins the powerheads come back on and the mysis should be mostly sucked into the coral by then.

 

[Hemmdog]

Great info.

I might pay attention to when the lights are on to see if any feeder tentacles are out. If not, I'll try waiting at least an hour after the blues go out to feed.

Great idea about using the filter to dampen the intensity of the light. I always wondered how people could feed in the dark!

I currently turn off the power heads and will try target feeding mysis and broadcasting R.O.E., coral frenzy, and reef roids.

Have you used Polyp booster? Apparently it helps aid in triggering a feeding response out of the corals.

Sounds like a plan!

I haven’t used it personally, I’ve heard good things though.

 

[Steven Garland]

I fed my Acan's a mixture of Reef Roids,Polyp Booster,Red Sea 2 part amino's,LPS Max 2-3 times a week.

Started out with 1 feeding a week but saw incredible response in fuller polyps,better colors and pretty insane growth within 2 weeks.

I had a mini colony with about 10 polyps that hadn't popped out any babies in months explode in growth when I upped the feedings.

 

[Chipp]

I target feed twice a week with mysis. Medium flow and light.

 

[las]

What kind of lighting are you all using? I’ve read that some people keep them at 25-50 par. And other claim 100-150 par. And, how does one tell what par they have without buying a super expensive par meter????

 

[Nano sapiens]

'Lords' are awesome:

The 'Acan Wall' started as three 1-2 polyp frags nearly a year ago (the two large orange 'bookends' were added later).

90 - 120 PAR (full-spectrum LED), intermittent medium flow and 2x/wk feeding with various frozen foods (they're not picky eaters).

Consistent parameters and especially try to make sure that nothing irritates them (very prone to polyp die-off if the irritation is persistent).

 

[las]

'Lords' are awesome:

The 'Acan Wall' started as three 1-2 polyp frags nearly a year ago (the two large orange 'bookends' were added later).

90 - 120 PAR (full-spectrum LED), intermittent medium flow and 2x/wk feeding with various frozen foods (they're not picky eaters).

Consistent parameters and especially try to make sure that nothing irritates them (very prone to polyp die-off if the irritation is persistent).

Are pellets useful for feeding? or do they burn them easily?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Are pellets useful for feeding? or do they burn them easily?

Just don't want to flood them with pellets since it's a concentrated food source.

2 or 3 mini-pellets per full sized polyp is plenty.