acropora palmata elkhorn coral special needs?

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The most successful person I know keeping them is Bill Hoffman from Smithsonian in Ft Pierce, Florida. He received some palmata from Mitch Carl. Mitch had grown them from egg and sperm from the Sea Core project on some small tiles about 3". In a 1 1/2 years Bill has grown a couple several inches tall and a little over 12" in Diameter.
 
Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.
 
Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.

Do you have a picture of it? I personally would never want this coral in my tank, they grow too big for an aquarium.
 
My plan is to grow it in my 20L til it needs to go into my 40R and then it gets fun when I get to upgrade :bigsmile:. Let me dig around for a pic...
 
I just looked at it. And since my girlfriend was nice enough to frag it for me (on accident) its not super impressive. At this point its about 2" in diameter
 
I think this is what your looking for...

The picture was taken last year just before a fraged it all out...

IMG_4241%252520%252528Large%252529.jpg


they do grow fairly quick and they are also very east to brake.
 
I just looked at it. And since my girlfriend was nice enough to frag it for me (on accident) its not super impressive. At this point its about 2" in diameter
It would have to reach between 3-4+ feet to look impressive.... I would love to see a pic of it, even if it's tiny.

I think this is what your looking for...

The picture was taken last year just before a fraged it all out...

IMG_4241%252520%252528Large%252529.jpg


they do grow fairly quick and they are also very east to brake.

Nope, that is a nice Montipora hirsuta , not the critically endangered Acropora palmata (Elkhorn Coral)

This is the coral I'm talking about. I want to see pics of it in a closed tank/system.
I took this video in different places on the north coast of Puerto Rico. Apparently they are thriving here
[video=youtube;IfXldYrkE5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfXldYrkE5U&feature=youtu.be&hd=1[/video]
 
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I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!
 
I fully acknowledge that realistically it wont be super impressive in a closed system. My plan is that my piece is a life-time coral allowing it to mature. I want to be able to say I have 50+ year old colonies. My plan is to grow a couple of pieces of acro for a lifetime. For me its more to be able to have a piece of the species I grew up reading about, I don't care if its impressive, its sentimental. But I whole heartedly agree its gotta be huge to look impressive.
 
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I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!
The Keys used to look just like Luis's video.
 
I have seen Elkhorn in various places in the Caribbean. Saw quite a bit of it around St. Thomas. Also did a really nice dive in Curacao where there were lots of formations of this. Have taken a few shots of it. I am looking to find this for my tank, but I'm still new to the hobby so I'm not sure either of my tanks are stable enough to handle it. Also not sure how easy it is to come by.

I'm also looking for Caribbean staghorn coral for my tanks. I know the fused-staghorn coral looks similar to the Elkhorn.
 
i'd be inclined to say any acro, or any coral for that matter, after 50 years would be impressive
 
I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!

I wasn't swimming in circles, A. palmata is very abundant here in PR but I do like that its protected. I would say that A. cervicornis is really really endangered. I was diving yesterday, and most of it is dead or really bleached after the floods from Hurricane Irene, only a handful of them were alive.

Video of A. palmata from yesterday, in a completely different spot.
[video=youtube;ClEwZI9R_QM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClEwZI9R_QM[/video]
 
Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.
How did you get ahold of the Elkhorn
 
A. palmata is highly protected species that is not found in the hobby, it is generally only kept by reef restoration projects for research, like Dr. Vaughns successful experiment with micro fragmentation in A. palmata, A. cervicornis and A. prolifera. I have seen Acropora cervicornis at MOTE in Sarasota, I have seen all but A. prolifera while diving in C. America and the Caribbean..
I'd imagine considering A. palmata's density and it commonly found on the Crest of the reef its water flow demands would be substantial, like a surge device would be most ideal.

Good luck obtaining some, if you do, you would be in violation of federal law.
 

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