What's your oldest coral?

[ReefQueen]

What is everyone's oldest (as in owned the longest personally) corals? Mine are a Kenya tree and a few pieces of cabbage that I have had since I first got my ears wet 5 years ago. They are definitely the least interesting things in my current tank, but I have had them for so long, and they have gone through so many ups and downs, that I can't seem to part with them

 

[Triggreef]

Cool topic. I really have to think about this one.

 

[brandon429]

my oldest coral is a small colony of blasto merletti that is 16 yrs old. it was passed down among pico reefs that got taken down/reset back up. not fancy looking at all, common red blasto morph but the key detail is 100% of the specimen is the tank grown mass, not any of the original polyps remain from the original frag its all tank grown mass. polyps withdrawn here, was mad at being placed in a bucket lol

Here below is the process as of June 20 2016, +1 micro new polyp mass seen sprouting off the side. Will be full size in twelve mos. Two more sprouted up underneath I can see in water changes.

A terribly slow process but the +1 hermatypic lps addition is the heart of reefing, painfully slow.

 

[ReefQueen]

my oldest coral is a small colony of blasto merletti that is 16 yrs old. it was passed down among pico reefs that got taken down/reset back up. not fancy looking at all, common red blasto morph but the key detail is 100% of the specimen is the tank grown mass, not any of the original polyps remain from the original frag its all tank grown mass. polyps withdrawn here, was mad at being placed in a bucket lol

Wow 16 years! I was in middle school at that time haha. Let's see some pics of it happy

 

[Triggreef]

Had to go rifle through photobucket and got to looking at my old algae infestation of a tank OMG I dont remember it looking so horrible!!

But these captain americas were my first I think, as far as something that I still have. Started with 3, grew to around 40 then I nuked them trying to kill an aptaisa that grew into the middle. Over a few months it dwindled down to about 2 very unhappy polyps and a couple years later only recently began growing again. Up to about 6 or 7 but they are healthy now. lol Here is an old pic.

 

[ReefQueen]

Had to go rifle through photobucket and got to looking at my old algae infestation of a tank OMG I dont remember it looking so horrible!!

But these captain americas were my first I think, as far as something that I still have. Started with 3, grew to around 40 then I nuked them trying to kill an aptaisa that grew into the middle. Over a few months it dwindled down to about 2 very unhappy polyps and a couple years later only recently began growing again. Up to about 6 or 7 but they are healthy now. lol Here is an old pic.

Very nice! Glad they've made a comeback! how old would you say these guys are?

 

[Paul B]

I think this gorgonian may be 15 years old, but I forget. I may be off either way by 5 years.

 

[ReefQueen]

I think this gorgonian may be 15 years old, but I forget. I may be off either way by 5 years.

I was hoping you would chime in you'll have to tell me your gorg secret. Mine look sad lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just donated two bubble corals to the Boston reefers fund raising auction that are about 20 years old.

 

[ReefQueen]

I just donated two bubble corals to the Boston reefers fund raising auction that are about 20 years old.

Very cool Randy, thank you. Do you have any pics? I love bubbles

 

[Joshky]

2-3 year old duncan colony, over 100 heads easily.

 

[ReefQueen]

2-3 year old duncan colony, over 100 heads easily.

Awesome! Hopefully mine will get that big one day. I just found a new tiny head,so I'm catching up lol

 

[Paul B]

I was hoping you would chime in you'll have to tell me your gorg secret. Mine look sad lol

If I told you the Gorg secret it wouldn't be a secret any more.

But it may have something to do with throwing mud and other stuff in there from the sea all the time and hatching brine shrimp every day

 

[brandon429]

Paul you could bottle the mud and sell it as legit as any other bottled doser on the market. one would have nitrifiers, miracle mud, pods, bac diversity and trace elements for sure in such a concoction./ it is actually scientifically beneficial to be added in some cases, say for example pico reefs aged using only synthetic water. those nature dosers/diversities are a legit leg up for the mini ecosystems more landlocked than you.

 

[TCFletch]

I bought a leather toadstool in 2005 about the size of my thumb and since then I have fragged it 4 times. And yet it's still the size of a dinner plate! 11 years old.

 

[brandon429]

Here's my euphys opened up in the usual setting.

When asked by action 7 news reporter how it feels to have lived only in a veritable fish bowl for ones complete life, the euphyllid responded only with "dude I dream of a 40 breeder"

 

[Paul B]

Paul you could bottle the mud and sell it as legit as any other bottled doser on the market. one would have nitrifiers, miracle mud, pods, bac diversity and trace elements for sure in such a concoction./ it is actually scientifically beneficial to be added in some cases, say for example pico reefs aged using only synthetic water. those nature dosers/diversities are a legit leg up for the mini ecosystems more landlocked than you.

I get requests all the time for mud. But unfortunately, I am not in the mud business although there is plenty of mud around New York. I am also not sure what would happen to the mud if you packaged it to mail.

 

[brandon429]

they'll say Paul you sent me an anoxic stinking mess and I blame my mini cycle on this formerly awesome mudd/.

 

[reef_grrrl]

Mine is a war coral I ordered off eBay in 2011, first coral in my first reef tank. Since then it encrusted over two rocks bigger than my hand, I traded one to the LFS, and the other I accidentally halfway nuked last year, but it's coming back.

 

[Prairie Dog]

6-7 year old branching hammer.