Help with my Fox coral

[Lavey29]

I just got this cool indo fox coral. It had a long skeletal stock which needed to be trimmed for tank placement. Their stocks are very brittle and it crumbled a bit on me. A portion of flesh tissue is hanging with broken fragment of the coral stock. Should I just let nature take its course here or cut that dangling piece of tissue off?

 

[Nano sapiens]

You could cut it, but there's always the risk of infection.

If you leave it long enough, gravity will do it's job and it's kind of neat to watch the process unfold. I'd just keep the bottom clear of other corals so that it doesn't accidentally drop into one.

Here's the same process, just occurring naturally with my Blastomussa merletti colony:

The dropping polyps already have a bit of skeleton inside, so they are ready to start new colonies right away.

 

[Lavey29]

You could cut it, but there's always the risk of infection.

If you leave it long enough, gravity will do it's job and it's kind of neat to watch the process unfold. I'd just keep the bottom clear of other corals so that it doesn't accidentally drop into one.

Here's the same process, just occurring naturally with my Blastomussa merletti colony:

The dropping polyps already have a bit of skeleton inside, so they are ready to start new colonies right away.

Yea cutting infection concerns me. I guess I'll just let it hang and see what happens these skeletal base are so brittle with this coral it just splinters and crumbles.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Yea cutting infection concerns me. I guess I'll just let it hang and see what happens these skeletal base are so brittle with this coral it just splinters and crumbles.

Yes, true, one of the most brittle coral skeletal structures for sure.

It might take weeks or even months to drop off completely, but when it does consider letting it stay on the sand bed. Most people mount their Fox Coral to the rockwork, but their natural location is actually in deep, rather dimly lit waters with lower flow and situated horizontally on coral rubble piles/platforms on the sand bed.

Indonesian Coral Habitats

'Where is Fox coral found and collected? It is found in vast dense tracts on the seafloor bottom 33-35m down, mixed equally with free-living Goniopora spp. Other corals in smaller numbers consist of Alveopora, Sarcophyton, zoanthids, Sinularia, Euphyllia, and a possibly new species of Lobophyllia. Nemenzophyllia turbida is found in fields, sitting on the bottom with polyps facing upward. The colonies are mostly broken apart, and they are perhaps asexually populating these fields by bioerosion-induced fragmentation as no buds were seen on colonies. The entire area is bathed in silty deposits and sits perhaps a half-meter above the surrounding seafloor, a platform composed entirely of the dead skeletons of corals found there as silt and bioeroding organisms bury and erode previous growth. The corals are all free-living, none are attached.'


Based on the horizontal placement, low flow and silty surroundings, the coral very likely relies heavily on continual gravity deposited organic material.

I recently moved mine from the rock work (where I had it at a 30 degree angle and it barely grew) to the best approximation of this natural environment in my system. Since it's now horizontal, I can more effectively feed it (they are relatively slow feeders).

 

[Lavey29]

Yes, true, one of the most brittle coral skeletal structures for sure.

It might take weeks or even months to drop off completely, but when it does consider letting it stay on the sand bed. Most people mount their Fox Coral to the rockwork, but their natural location is actually in deep, rather dimly lit waters with lower flow and situated horizontally on coral rubble piles/platforms on the sand bed.

Indonesian Coral Habitats

'Where is Fox coral found and collected? It is found in vast dense tracts on the seafloor bottom 33-35m down, mixed equally with free-living Goniopora spp. Other corals in smaller numbers consist of Alveopora, Sarcophyton, zoanthids, Sinularia, Euphyllia, and a possibly new species of Lobophyllia. Nemenzophyllia turbida is found in fields, sitting on the bottom with polyps facing upward. The colonies are mostly broken apart, and they are perhaps asexually populating these fields by bioerosion-induced fragmentation as no buds were seen on colonies. The entire area is bathed in silty deposits and sits perhaps a half-meter above the surrounding seafloor, a platform composed entirely of the dead skeletons of corals found there as silt and bioeroding organisms bury and erode previous growth. The corals are all free-living, none are attached.'


Based on the horizontal placement, low flow and silty surroundings, the coral very likely relies heavily on continual gravity deposited organic material.

I recently moved mine from the rock work (where I had it at a 30 degree angle and it barely grew) to the best approximation of this natural environment in my system. Since it's now horizontal, I can more effectively feed it (they are relatively slow feeders).

Can you post some pics? I did mount the stock vertical because that's how it seemed the flesh was positioned to be but my bubble coral which is similar is horizontal and the base is on the sandbed. I'm kind of stuck where the fox coral is now because I trimmed off half its base to rock mount it.

 

[Tcook]

That thing is going to grow like a weed.

 

[Lavey29]

That thing is going to grow like a weed.

Looks very nice, so you mounted that horizontal as the post above recommended?

 

[Nano sapiens]

Can you post some pics? I did mount the stock vertical because that's how it seemed the flesh was positioned to be but my bubble coral which is similar is horizontal and the base is on the sandbed. I'm kind of stuck where the fox coral is now because I trimmed off half its base to rock mount it.

Personally, if I were you I would just leave the original mounted where you have it as it should do just fine. Just make sure to feed it regularly and keep other critters away from it as they are slow eaters. The piece that eventually drops down you can try leaving on the sand bed and see how that works out.

This frag did okay with nice opalescent color for months on the rockwork in medium light/med flow.

In it's natural environment, it would be more of a dull greyish/brownish color.

Although they are physically somewhat delicate, they are quite a resilient and adaptable coral that can touch many other corals without full-blown warfare.

 

[Lavey29]

If anyone wants to share some fox coral pics or info I would appreciate it. Mine seems to be doing OK in its current rock mount location now. They are interesting corals.