Pectinia

Purple Platapus · Dec 31, 2015

Anyone here with any experience keeping pectinia? My LFS got a few frags for a pretty good deal but I don't want to risk killing them, and there isn't a lot of information on them online. Are they hard to keep? Flow and lighting wise?

Reefboy1 · Dec 31, 2015

If you look at my Avatar you will see my mother that I have had over 5 years now. This one has been very hardy for me. At one point I had this hidden under a frag rack for a year with very little light and it still was okay. I just cut 2 frags from it and both the mother and the frags were looking good the very next day. But with that said this is not true for all pectinia. I have another pectinia in my system right now for about 1 year it too is doing good. I have had a total of 5 colonys in my system over the years(4 I got direct). So that means 3 have died. It has been my experience that pectinia's have a habit of loving your tank for a bit (six months) and then they melt. One question I would ask your LFS is how long have they had the mother. If it has been over a year I think you will be okay. If they just have the frags and they just got them I wouldn't get it as more then likely the distributor they got it from. Got it in from a shipment, cut it and sold the frags out. It will not be used to being in an enclosed system and chances are it might not last in your system.
I hope this helps
I hope this helps!

Sabellafella · Dec 31, 2015

I got 3 different colonys and had crashes before and their still alive, watch out tho they send 8 inch sweepers

Reefboy1 · Dec 31, 2015

yeah, mine will get into a fight with anything next to it, except zoo's or paly's.

Tab28 · Jan 1, 2016

Pectinia is basically a type of chalice. Some are spikey others are platting. The platting are easier to keep. Once happy with your tank can grow at a decent rate. They can get use to medium light slowly but prefer chalice light levels. A healed frag stands a better chance at survival more true in spikey types. They can take a very long time to heal.

Purple Platapus · Jan 3, 2016

Are they very picky about water quality? If mushrooms are a 1 and acropora are a 10, how precise and stable would you say the water needs to be? I have a student's budget (read: pretty much broke) so I don't have a lot of equipment that maintains water quality, but what I have (lps, different zoas, mushrooms) like it fine. Do they stand some swings well or are they more sensitive?

tristanfish · Jan 3, 2016

Low light and even shade works. Keep away from Other corals, 4". Very hardy.

I love mine. And want more.

It's about 6"

Purple Platapus · Jan 3, 2016

tristanfish said:
Low light and even shade works.

How about flow?

tristanfish · Jan 3, 2016

Vaughn17 · Jan 3, 2016

I have only had the "spikey" growth form. IME, aquacultured specimens are extremely hardy. I've had one for 1.5 years and it's grown into a colony, while the other I had for over a year until it was stung by Indo elegance coral. I've tried two wild collected specimens, and both did well for awhile, then receded and died. I recently (about three or four months ago) bought another, and I've noticed that it seems to prefer lower Alk.

Tab28 · Jan 3, 2016

Purple Platapus said:
Are they very picky about water quality? If mushrooms are a 1 and acropora are a 10, how precise and stable would you say the water needs to be? I have a student's budget (read: pretty much broke) so I don't have a lot of equipment that maintains water quality, but what I have (lps, different zoas, mushrooms) like it fine. Do they stand some swings well or are they more sensitive?

I would put them at about a 4. I find them easier than most chalices. However i know of a handful of lfs that suddenly lost their space invader. No reason why just suddenly took a nose dive. Which i think is why the price tag seems to be on the up-swing. For awhile they could be had for around $50 now many places are over $100 for one eye.

My space invader has survived a few mis-haps. Always came back. They just take a bit of time to adjust to your tank. Just be sure the one you get is nice and healed and healthy. Since the higher end pectinia can be expensive for some. Platting ones are more hardy and less expensive. Platting ones look like a mycedium chalice and are as hardy as a mycedium.