Duncan coral, overcrowding?

ejl2529 · May 5, 2020

I have a Duncan coral, pictures below. I was wondering if it is fine for the heads to be jam packed together as shown and if the tentacles could be blocking some of the light from reaching other heads? Is that a problem for the coral? Thanks for any help.

DudeBoy · May 5, 2020

any chance you can take pictures with white light?

ejl2529 · May 5, 2020

DudeBoy said:
any chance you can take pictures with white light?

These are the best I have at the moment.

ejl2529 · May 5, 2020

I am mainly wondering if they can overcrowd themselves? They open and close normally every day still. I spot feed them at least 2-3 times a week.

kyleinpdx · May 5, 2020

Heads blocking light from other heads has never been an issue for me. I'm sure if you have a single LED thats creating a point of light rather than even spread it could be problematic for any coral that is too shaded, but this is how it works in nature and these organisms are well adapted to these struggles. The duncan will receive some nutrients from suspended particulate in the water column and some via photosynthesis from your lights. The heads that are smaller/younger will grow to where they need to.

ejl2529 · May 5, 2020

kyleinpdx said:
Heads blocking light from other heads has never been an issue for me. I'm sure if you have a single LED thats creating a point of light rather than even spread it could be problematic for any coral that is too shaded, but this is how it works in nature and these organisms are well adapted to these struggles. The duncan will receive some nutrients from suspended particulate in the water column and some via photosynthesis from your lights. The heads that are smaller/younger will grow to where they need to.

That’s what I figured. Thank you for the detailed response!

Albertan22 · May 5, 2020

That’s how they grow. Mine is a big ball of tentacles.

Albertan22 · May 5, 2020

I had to turn the lights on to take that photo so it’s not very open. Mid-light cycle when everything is opened the outer heads cover up the inner ones. It actually adds colour as the inner ones are kind of purple and the putter ones are green. If I remember I’ll take another photo in a few hours.