Powergrowing Chalice

[LittleFidel]

I recently moved my LPS frags out of my community tank. The tank’s inhabitants, a pair of clownfish and a variety of snails and crabs, were causing trouble - stealing food out of the coral’s mouths, dirtying the water, and being generally obnoxious.

All I have in the new tank is live rock, two small Chalice frags and one small favia frag. It is bare bottom with no mechanical or chemical filtration. The favia has been doing well. It regularly extends its feeding tentacles and readily takes small pellet fish food. It’s quick enough that when I turn the power head back on, it has already finished its meal. The chalices, on the other hand, are weaker and do not seem to be able to digest the pellets. When the power heads turn back on, they lose their grip and the pellets float around. How can I target feed them to ensure better growth?

 

[MaxTremors]

Feed something besides pellets that’s smaller (try baby brine, oyster eggs, or something like reef roids) and give them as much time with the pumps off as they need to swallow it. That said, they don’t have to be fed, they’ll do just fine without.

 

[LittleFidel]

Got it. I’ll try to find some smaller food. I am particularly interested in feeding since I do not believe my lights are the best source of energy for them to grow. Also, I would like to get them large enough to consider a “display piece.” My 2 small frags of Xenia propagated enough over the course of a year to cover an entire rock and I now consider it one of my favorite pieces. I would like the LPS to follow a similar trajectory. Thanks again.

 

[LittleFidel]

I’ve also heard they’ll sting each other if they’re too close. The chalice and favia are only about three inches apart. When should I be concerned about the possibility of warfare and what are the telltale signs? I see feeder tentacles from the favia but they are never more than 1 or 2 centimeters long. The chalice tentacles are barely visible.

 

[MaxTremors]

I’ve also heard they’ll sting each other if they’re too close. The chalice and favia are only about three inches apart. When should I be concerned about the possibility of warfare and what are the telltale signs? I see feeder tentacles from the favia but they are never more than 1 or 2 centimeters long. The chalice tentacles are barely visible.

Yes. They are both aggressive (the chalice will likely win). Depending on the flow pattern, you might be able to keep them fairly close (it just depends on which way the flow directs the sweeper tentacles), but keep in mind some chalices have 6”+ sweeper tentacles (favias sometimes have some pretty long ones too). LPS are in general much slower growing than something like Xenia, though some chalices and favias are some of the faster growing LPS, for example the Hollywood Stunner chalice can grow incredibly fast, but it’ll likely still take a few years to grow them into show piece size.

 

[zuri]

haven't feed this one anything

that a month or so growth sorry daytime shots are hard to get the colors popping as the blue is hard to capture on cell.

 

[LittleFidel]

The colors in my Hollywood stunner are simply green eyes on light brown body. Coincidentally, these are the same two colors on my favia. I think it has to do with my lighting.