a BROCCOLI in a reeftank ?!

[Moonfruit777]

I got this Poccilopora aka the "broccoli" in my tank.
Vegetable joke aside
It's big. It's ugly. It's casting a huge shadow.



I don't mind a coral growing to a nice colony - not at all.

But this Pocci spawned twice in the last two years and I got loads of 2nd and 3rd generation poccis growing all over the rocks!

Everyone far and wide already has a piece of this pocci and I can't find anyone to take the whole thing of my hands (free ofc)

Every day I think about kicking it out. Until now I just let it be but I slowly need more real estate for other corals.

Maybe I can find a zoo who would take it :/
It is strictly against my philosophy to trash live coral - and I'd hate myself if I made an exception

Do you mind if a big colony does not look so good from some angles?
Would you keep it because its just what nature looks like?
Would you remove it because its your tank and you decide what stays and what goes?

Keep or remove the broccoli ?!

 

[SPR1968]

I think it’s personal choice and as you say it’s your tank, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say.

It looks ok to me

I’ve got a few corals in my system that are getting to big and overshadowing, so I’ll cut them back as required when I get fed up of them overshadowing and killing the other corals.

 

[Rispa]

If it's spawned regularly and you don't want it I'd find someone local who will take it. A lot of people are starting to experiment with spawning, so I'm sure people would jump on the opportunity to get this piece from you.

Did you happen to track when it spawned for you?

 

[andrewkw]

If this was my tank I'd have cyphastrea growing all the way up underneath it

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

It's going to be almost impossible to get rid of as-is. Most people don't have the room for a coral that big. If you want to get rid of it, frag the living tissue on top and sell the frags for $5 or so.

I disagree that it's ugly. The bottom half is dead from shading, but the living tissue has really nice blue/green and purple/pink coloration. If you can't sell the frags for fire-sale prices, I'm sure you'd be able to at least give them away.

EDIT: just noticed you're in Europe. So €5 then

 

[OriginalUserName]

Steam it for 15 minutes, and cover with melted cheese. Yum!

 

[Moonfruit777]

Thanks for all the replies!

@OriginalUserName Fake news... 15 minutes in the pot and still way too crunchy ;Hurting

@andrewkw What a great Idea! I thought about putting some corals around it to cover the dead area up - but actually a coral that grows on the dead skeleton would be amazing! Let's see if my Cyphastrea likes the idea as much as i do

@chipmunkofdoom2 The thing is, that people don't even want it for free :C I will try what @andrewkw mentioned and try to decorate the not so nice part

@Rispa Sorry to say I don't know any single person doing research in that field

@SPR1968 Cutting it back is not going to cut it... (sorry for the pun) The top 1 1/2 Inches are alive... the bottom 6 Inches are all dead. If I start cutting stuff of the top there will be no live coral left

 

[ZaneTer]

@Moonfruit777

I would happily pay for you to ship it over to the UK if you are interested? I think it is a beautiful piece.

 

[User1]

If it handles fragging then try that. I only say that because I don't know much about the coral nor owned it. Having said that I would buy a frag - looks cool and grows in a form I'm after in one area of my tank. So - thanks for sharing because I've added it to my list. Now, what you can't sale you can also give away which is what I've done with a couple of my rose bubble tip anemones and hammer. Sometimes things just get too big.

Now that I think about it - head over to the clam sub forum. That one lad over there has that HUGE clam and upgraded the tank to accommodate it. Pretty thing and an amazing video to watch.