Can this Coral can be used as a weapon?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Had a local buddy over last night and he wanted my frag of hydnophora coral so he could use it as a weapon to control other corals that may grow out of control or are impeding upon areas he doesn't want them to grow. He said he keeps a frag of hydnophora on a frag plug and simply turns the frag plug upside down on the "offending" coral and the hydnophora will beat it back! Let's talk about this today!

Have you ever used hydnophora as a means to keep other coral under control?

image via @WWC

 

[Alexraptor]

I present to you... Exhibit A!

Note, it did not manage to kill the GSP outright, but it did stop it in its track.

 

[i cant think]

I didn’t even know this coral existed… I mean I have no means to use any coral to combat others (Yet). I have GSP and mushrooms yet for some reason in my nano they won’t spread unlike my SPS and LPS that love it in there.

 

[Reefing102]

I haven’t used hydnopora but I have used torches, Galaxea, and others as a means of control

 

[Hairyteeth]

I haven’t used hydnopora but I have used torches, Galaxea, and others as a means of control

I also use galaxeas to keep things back…..like the whole tank lol, their sweepers are outrageous

 

[RichReef]

I use Ricordea. Especially around encrusting SPS.

 

[reefnfun]

i have used it to kill aiptasia. It works real good. I like Hydnophora and have a huge colony. I certainly does not play well with others.

 

[Theulli]

I just use poor aquarium-keeping skills as a way to manage coral growth

 

[Just John]

I just use poor aquarium-keeping skills as a way to manage coral growth

That has worked really well for me too. I also use dinos at least once a year to make room for replacement corals.

 

[Duncan62]

I didn’t even know this coral existed… I mean I have no means to use any coral to combat others (Yet). I have GSP and mushrooms yet for some reason in my nano they won’t spread unlike my SPS and LPS that love it in there.

I've pushed back palys with a torch before but never heard of this beautiful coral. I'll be shopping for it.

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

i have used it to kill aiptasia. It works real good. I like Hydnophora and have a huge colony. I certainly does not play well with others.

Wow

 

[i cant think]

I've pushed back palys with a torch before but never heard of this beautiful coral. I'll be shopping for it.

Same! It’s like a totally new coral for me, wonder what it’s classed as out of SPS and LPS

 

[redfishbluefish]

I have green hydnophora and never thought of it as a "killer." All it's neighbors seem happy. However, a number of years ago I was told to pick up a war coral to use it to kill xenia that was getting out of control. The seller told me it's called War Coral for a good reason. So I cleared off a patch and put the war coral in and within a month or so the war coral was consumed by the xenia....it did nothing! The xenia was manually removed.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

 

[Reefing102]

Same! It’s like a totally new coral for me, wonder what it’s classed as out of SPS and LPS

I believe it’s classed as an SPS

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

I've got some zoas I've lost control of. If this is real a thing I'm all ears!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I've got some cheap hydnophora frags in Houston if anyone local wants to try this

 

[Treefer32]

I have a larger neon green hydrophora that I realized has great anti SPS powers. one of my Acros was spreading out (plating / encrusting) instead of growing upword. It got within sliver of touching the hydnophora's base and bam. The Acro spread died off about 3" from the Hydnophora. The acro is doing fine, spreading the other direction and upward. But it stopped the Acro in it's tracks! I didn't intend on that, but it was an o.k. move. It didn't kill the acro completely, just small portion of the plating area died.

I also have another SPS (I think it's laymen term was elphant ear or something like that) it grows upwards in ear shapes and has lots of half inch to one inch long tentacles. My chalice was growing right up against it and the sections of chalice that were in range of the elephents tentacles are dieing off or not growing further. So, I was amazed to see something capable of defending against a chalice sting. . .

I'm going to have to do something with my chalice. It's quite simply too big. Multiple plates around 10-12" in diameter with 6-8" tentatcles at night. . .

 

[uhgster1]

Galaxea does the trick for me.

 

[M Stein]

Anybody got some in the New York area???