Pocillopora breeding in my DT.

[Auquanut]

I purchased a pocillopora about 7 or 8 months ago, and it's done very well. About a month ago I noticed a new one. It is growing very fast, and I figured after a while I would frag it off and take it to the LFS for store credit. Within the past week, I have found 4 more. All of them are in crevices in the rock that would make them impossible to frag. I'm still a noob to the reef scene (the tank is about 14 months old). How do I remove the new corals? I really don't want a tank full of pocilloporas. Should I remove all of them or remove them as they appear? I like the look of the original colony.

 

[TUSI]

You can clip the ones you don't want and glue the remaining pc on the rock unless you can clip the coral with the rock attached.

 

[trido]

Pocillopora does tend to multiply. I usually let them grow large enough to cut them off the rock with the bone shears and then take them to the LFS for store credit. I'd be surprised if you end up with a tank full of them, they dont grow that fast.. If you really dont want them, you can kalk paste them like an aptasia when they are small.

 

[saltyhog]

I ended up with a tank full of them. Took me a long time to eliminate them. If you just cut them off the encrusted part will quickly grow back or spread...or both!

Closest thing to an SPS pest I can think of. Beautiful coral but not worth it to me.

 

[Auquanut]

My biggest concern is that all of the new ones have taken up residence in crevices in large rocks that would be impossible to clip off without ruining my rockscape.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I made the mistake of putting in a poccilopora in my tank and it’s growing everywhere. They grow very fast and spread everywhere.

 

[Auquanut]

Trying to post pics. The first new coral should be easy enough to get to. The rest are really wedged in there.

 

[ca1ore]

It's more likely polyp bailout than actual spawning. Good news is your tank is a happy place for SPS; bad news is that pocilopora is a weed.

 

[Auquanut]

Guess I'll nuke the new ones and keep the original colony for now. If things get out of hand, I'll have to get rid of the original. I should have done more research before getting the first one.

 

[jp_75]

are they really good stingers? thought sps are usually peaceful ?

 

[Gareth elliott]

Most corals have some method for outcompeting a neighbor. Sps this tends to be a close battle vs the long sweeping tentacles of lps, or toxins of soft corals.

 

[Katrina71]

One man's trash is another man's treasure. I think it's very pretty.

 

[Capitol Reef Corals]

I had my pocillopora pretty much take over my tank. It literally grew everywhere and would fight my other SPS. I ended up replacing all of my rock to get rid of it (and some xenia). I would not put it in my tank again. I tried to use Aptasia X but it wouldn't actually kill it, it would stop it from opening for a while but it would always bounce back.