Growing Acans on Tiles + Propagation Tips!

[ginoandres]

So I've got the Acan bug. It all started with a humble, common Indonesian Acan frag... fast forward a month and I've nabbed several Australian Lords, with my personal favorite, a striking Rainbow variant. I've done some research on the benefits of growing them on the substrate vs. a bit of live rock, and it appears giving them a flat, hard surface promotes faster growth. I'm not crazy about the irregular appearance when growing on live rock, but the main reason I'm avoiding that is it would make fragging in the future difficult. So I read about a few people on here using small, square bathroom tiles to grow Acans--giving them a hard surface to grow on, while making skeleton formation a little easier. The tiles apparently make it simpler to frag them down the line, too!

So, have you used square tiles to propagate Acans? Mind sharing some details about the best way to do this? I've never fragged these corals, and know little about their growth patterns. Do you just lay the tiles down adjacent to the Acan or do you glue them together? Once set down, I imagine you can't really move the tiles until skeleton grows over them? When fragging time comes, is it just a matter of lifting or breaking the frag off? Just a little more detail about this method would help me tremendously.

Also, if you have any other tips or secrets to explosive Acan Lord growth, by all means: share! I've been feeding mine frozen mysis and the occasional NLS pellet with very good growth over the past few weeks. They're currently sitting on the sandbed until I figure out the best way to use these bathroom tiles I read about.

 

[ginoandres]

Bump! Anyone?

 

[that Reef Guy]

I Feed 4 Different Foods to my Acans

1. Reef Roids
2. BRS Reef Chili
3. Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)
4. Larry's Reef Frenzy Frozen Food (LRS)


Here is my Feeding Schedule

Tuesday -

- Reef Roids
- BRS Reef Chili
- Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)

I mix all 3 Together in some Tank Water and Target Feed Each Individual Polyp.

Friday -

- Reef Roids
- BRS Reef Chili
- Seachem AquaVitro Fuel (Vitamin and Ammino Acid Supplement)

I mix all 3 Together in some Tank Water and Target Feed Each Individual Polyp.

Sunday -

- Larry's Reef Frenzy Frozen Food (LRS)

LRS is what Acans go CRAZY For!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Target Feed Each Individual Polyp after Chopping it Up Fine with a Razor Blade

Next Day New Heads.

It is Ridiculous How Effective This Food Is!

 

[that Reef Guy]

I used to Get NO Growth Before LRS.

Now They Explode since I started Feeding them Larry's.

It is Ridiculous!

If you are going to Frag Them in the Future Get the Gryphon Frag Saw.

 

[ginoandres]

I used to Get NO Growth Before LRS.

Now They Explode since I started Feeding them Larry's.

It is Ridiculous!

If you are going to Frag Them in the Future Get the Gryphon Frag Saw.

Thanks for all the tips! I wish LRS were available here in Taiwan, but it isn't. Looks like a blend of fresh seafood? That would be easy enough to make, I imagine, with a food processor.

 

[Braves Fan]

My tank used to be mostly all SPS corals,, now its mostly all Acans I have all of my frag's mounted to my Live Rock ,,, frag's are mostly fairly new frags ,,, 1, 2 3 up to 5 polyps frags,,, My plan is to have them encrust over the LR like an encrusting coral as opposed to the round dome shaped frags you see in other tanks,,, no plans for any propagation as they grow,,, I like to think of my tank as the roach motel ,,,

I have two one polyp frag's ,,, one from Cherry Corals and one from ASD ( both really nice looking acan's,, thanks guy's ) that have put on a baby each,,, both babies are hugging the LR ,,, both babies are close to becoming full adult polyps,,, mostly adult size right now,,, they have not reached the adult coloration of the mother polyp though,,

Both babies are hugging the LR really close,, I am interested in seeing where and how long it will take for the next babies to pop out from under the babies that I now have,, will my encrusting idea work or should I have mounted them and let them grow as a doomed shaped colony in my tank Will they take forever to grow like this ,,, kinda interesting for me to watch and see what happens