Favia Garden?

PicassoClown04 · Mar 9, 2021

Hey guys! I recently got a few favia (spicy lemon, ultron, a few unnamed ones) and I was wondering if I could have them grow together on a small rock as a "favia garden". Is that possible? They're all throwing pretty long feeders at night so I'm wondering if that means they're incompatible with touching each other? I purposely bought ones that went well next to each other for this purpose but it just occurred to me that maybe favias cant touch each other. Anybody know if I can do this/ have what I'm describing? If you do, I'd love to see some pics!

JosephM · Mar 9, 2021

Oo ooo oooo. I have one!!!

Here’s mine

PicassoClown04 · Mar 9, 2021

JosephM said:
Oo ooo oooo. I have one!!!

Here’s mine

That looks awesome!!! When they start growing off the plugs, are you going to allow them to touch? Do you know if they sting each other? Im looking at a 5"x4" rock for 3-4 favias to grow on so they'll probably start touching each other pretty quick

JosephM · Mar 9, 2021

footgal said:
That looks awesome!!! When they start growing off the plugs, are you going to allow them to touch? Do you know if they sting each other? Im looking at a 5"x4" rock for 3-4 favias to grow on so they'll probably start touching each other pretty quick

I’m going to allow them to get awfully close to each other before I frag them. I do believe there can be a little bit of war once they actually touch but I’m not sure. I know their feeder and sweeper tentacles don’t affect each other. I’m not too worried as favia is an extremely slow grower. I love the color they bring though.

PicassoClown04 · Mar 9, 2021

JosephM said:
I’m going to allow them to get awfully close to each other before I frag them. I do believe there can be a little bit of war once they actually touch but I’m not sure. I know their feeder and sweeper tentacles don’t affect each other. I’m not too worried as favia is an extremely slow grower. I love the color they bring though.

Thank you!!

MohrReefs · Mar 9, 2021

Theyll sting eachother eventually, just keep the neighbors on their own property and you should be okay. Good luck!

Edit: some favia are less aggressive and can touch though. I'm not sure which species can do that though.

PicassoClown04 · Mar 9, 2021

MohrReefs said:
Theyll sting eachother eventually, just keep the neighbors on their own property and you should be okay. Good luck!

Edit: some favia are less aggressive and can touch though. I'm not sure which species can do that though.

Thanks! I’ll keep them separate for now, I’ll make small frags in the future so I can experiment without risking the main frags. The ultron seems especially aggressive though

PBnJOnWheat · Mar 9, 2021

I watched a video on grafting corals and one thing they did was cut favias and put them together on a single frag plug and let the colors just mush like play dough. Except it didn’t turn brown. Not sure if they grafted or morphed but they seemed to not sting so

Luciferene · Mar 9, 2021

There are definitely cases where it completely touches and not sting, but it would be a risk you're taking and you will need to keep an eye on them. Generally with corals if they are the same or close species they will be resistant to each others sting

What makes it difficult is that hobbiest name for favia often includes favites which is a completely different genus.

For one, spicy lemon favia resembles favites in my eye and clearly differs visually from other common favia.

I think generally all anecdotal successes have very similar looking but different colored favias touching each other. Here are some examples in this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/will-favia-species-sting-other-favia.90568/

MohrReefs · Mar 9, 2021

footgal said:
Thanks! I’ll keep them separate for now, I’ll make small frags in the future so I can experiment without risking the main frags. The ultron seems especially aggressive though

I wish mine were more aggressive, got a paly colony that goes unchecked whoever it wants. Hey you're pretty smart about zoas and palys, whats the best way to trim them back? Just pull the polyp off the rock? Or should I put something on it?

PBnJOnWheat · Mar 9, 2021

MohrReefs said:
I wish mine were more aggressive, got a paly colony that goes unchecked whoever it wants. Hey you're pretty smart about zoas and palys, whats the best way to trim them back? Just pull the polyp off the rock? Or should I put something on it?

I heard if you boil them over a stove top and breathe the fumes you can reduce theirs, and your growing speed permanently to 0.

MohrReefs · Mar 9, 2021

PBnJOnWheat said:
I heard if you boil them over a stove top and breathe the fumes you can reduce theirs, and your growing speed permanently to 0.

Desperate times call for desperate measures lol.

PBnJOnWheat · Mar 9, 2021

MohrReefs said:
Desperate times call for desperate measures lol.

Hahahahaha for anyone that didn’t catch it, it’s a joke lol look up palytoxin.

PBnJOnWheat said:
I heard if you boil them over a stove top and breathe the fumes you can reduce theirs, and your growing speed permanently to 0.

PicassoClown04 · Mar 9, 2021

PBnJOnWheat said:
I watched a video on grafting corals and one thing they did was cut favias and put them together on a single frag plug and let the colors just mush like play dough. Except it didn’t turn brown. Not sure if they grafted or morphed but they seemed to not sting so

Can you link that? Maybe ill try to replicate it!