Dendronephthya & Scleronephthya aquaculture

[andrewkw]

Hopefully in a few years you can write a book on keeping these guys. Hopefully they will be available then too...

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Hopefully in a few years you can write a book on keeping these guys. Hopefully they will be available then too...

That why I'm trying to get my hands on rare ones when they come on market. I know what I'll be doing when close to retiring. Hahaha.....Lotta frags to unload.

About a book. Better, I see website so all can learn how to raise them. I can't raise them so others kill them. I started this because I think in 5-10 years very few corals available and possibly only the rich will be able to enjoy. Bummer

 

[NPS_Bulu]

Cool @Dr. Dendrostein, would you show your procedure/ practices about fragging dendronepthya?

Here's a spider sponge at my lfs

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Cool @Dr. Dendrostein, would you show your procedure/ practices about fragging dendronepthya?

Here's a spider sponge at my lfs

That looks very healthy, WOW!!! how much does that cost where you live,, and how big is it. One time last year I was at a wholesaler and they gave me a tour of the area and they had one of those there was about 4 in 5 in tall by 4 or 5 in wide but most of the polyps were open. I wanted that specimen so badly. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Cool @Dr. Dendrostein, would you show your procedure/ practices about fragging dendronepthya?

Here's a spider sponge at my lfs

Last week I showed everybody the type of container I used to hold the frags
If you have a healthy specimen great if not as long as it looks half decent that's fine it will grow some polyps but it'll never look like it did when it was healthy at least not for now I can see. So what you do is get a good set of scissors and start cutting wherever you like and that's it and then put them in the container that I showed everyone last week with rubble on the bottom and give them 2 weeks or maybe 3 and they will cling onto Rubble.
Then figure out what type of frag plug you want to use, glue rubble to plug, I use Super Glue gel type sold for corals

Always protect your eyesight with goggles before starting

 

[NPS_Bulu]

Oh? that sounds kinda straight forward. The spider sponge goes for 67usd here, which is relatively expensive for coral in this region. I'll pass that.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Oh? that sounds kinda straight forward. The spider sponge goes for 67usd here, which is relatively expensive for coral in this region. I'll pass that.

Here double or more. Bummer

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

This morning, checked my babies of the sea. Haha
I found this tiny dendronephthya, glue her to plug. Now she's with the big boys. Survival of the fittest.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Forgot to share my other children of the sea.
Yellow circle has tiny dendronephthya

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

This Dendronephthya, the one by penny, I checked it few minutes ago. It's plump, but sure is an ugly baby. Hahaha

I see no polyps yet.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here we go, don't say, I don't share, some what.

The 6 keys to success with dendronephthya in a close system

1. Filtration
2. Flow
3. Foods
4. Healthy specimens, if possible
5. Reduce stress the first 2-3 weeks. Testing
6. Testing

5 & 6 to be announced when testing finished

#6 test, I just started 3days ago. Promising.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

What am I doing today? Found some man made rocks, I had put away. Going to use on frags, preparing another container for more frags. Also, adding second line to feed carnation corals in sump.

And introducing you to more children of the sea. Pepe and Pippi

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Found this little guy, going to glue on frag plug

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

One of my children of the sea

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

went to Car Wash hose down the de filtration cartridges every 3 weeks replace them

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here we go, more babies of the sea. My babies. Hahaha
They survived stage one of aquaculture, now stage two, see if they can run with the big boys. I think 5 frags. From rare dendronephthya colonies, rare in the sense, not easily available in USA.

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Here's pair of black sun cup corals, going on a frag

Eventually a small carnation coral with it

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

So the weather is cooling down, going to set up few display tankss at the Backwoods lab. I'm trying to determine if tank design effects these corals, if these corals can thrive in different display tanks that's a big plus. So that's the next thing I need to try

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

Found these photos on the web.

 

[NPS_Bulu]

So the weather is cooling down, going to set up few display tankss at the Backwoods lab. I'm trying to determine if tank design effects these corals, if these corals can thrive in different display tanks that's a big plus. So that's the next thing I need to try

Cool... what was the reason behind cylindrical tank? Is it so that the flow don't get obstructed causing turbulence?

Here's a flame scallop i picked up last week, they cost usd9 here... there's also a thorny oyster at the lfs that I'll go have a look later (though I'm leaning towards passing this)