acropora palmata elkhorn coral special needs?

Alabama Reefer · Aug 22, 2011

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revhtree · Aug 24, 2011

smpolyp · Aug 24, 2011

The most successful person I know keeping them is Bill Hoffman from Smithsonian in Ft Pierce, Florida. He received some palmata from Mitch Carl. Mitch had grown them from egg and sperm from the Sea Core project on some small tiles about 3". In a 1 1/2 years Bill has grown a couple several inches tall and a little over 12" in Diameter.

AcroholicReefer · Aug 24, 2011

I have heard that these are actually rather hardy in captivity.

Medium lighting with decent flow and you should be good.

chris 67 · Aug 24, 2011

^^^ +1

UCedumacasion · Aug 28, 2011

Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.

Luisra · Aug 28, 2011

UCedumacasion said:
Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.

Do you have a picture of it? I personally would never want this coral in my tank, they grow too big for an aquarium.

UCedumacasion · Aug 28, 2011

My plan is to grow it in my 20L til it needs to go into my 40R and then it gets fun when I get to upgrade :bigsmile:. Let me dig around for a pic...

UCedumacasion · Aug 28, 2011

I just looked at it. And since my girlfriend was nice enough to frag it for me (on accident) its not super impressive. At this point its about 2" in diameter

sweetride · Aug 28, 2011

I think this is what your looking for...

The picture was taken last year just before a fraged it all out...

they do grow fairly quick and they are also very east to brake.

Luisra · Aug 28, 2011

UCedumacasion said:
I just looked at it. And since my girlfriend was nice enough to frag it for me (on accident) its not super impressive. At this point its about 2" in diameter

It would have to reach between 3-4+ feet to look impressive.... I would love to see a pic of it, even if it's tiny.

sweetride said:
I think this is what your looking for...

The picture was taken last year just before a fraged it all out...

they do grow fairly quick and they are also very east to brake.

Nope, that is a nice Montipora hirsuta , not the critically endangered Acropora palmata (Elkhorn Coral)

This is the coral I'm talking about. I want to see pics of it in a closed tank/system.
I took this video in different places on the north coast of Puerto Rico. Apparently they are thriving here
[video=youtube;IfXldYrkE5U]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfXldYrkE5U&feature=youtu.be&hd=1[/video]

markie mark · Aug 29, 2011

I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!

UCedumacasion · Aug 29, 2011

I fully acknowledge that realistically it wont be super impressive in a closed system. My plan is that my piece is a life-time coral allowing it to mature. I want to be able to say I have 50+ year old colonies. My plan is to grow a couple of pieces of acro for a lifetime. For me its more to be able to have a piece of the species I grew up reading about, I don't care if its impressive, its sentimental. But I whole heartedly agree its gotta be huge to look impressive.

Lateral72 · Aug 29, 2011

markie mark said:
I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!

The Keys used to look just like Luis's video.

DiverJohn · Aug 30, 2011

I have seen Elkhorn in various places in the Caribbean. Saw quite a bit of it around St. Thomas. Also did a really nice dive in Curacao where there were lots of formations of this. Have taken a few shots of it. I am looking to find this for my tank, but I'm still new to the hobby so I'm not sure either of my tanks are stable enough to handle it. Also not sure how easy it is to come by.

I'm also looking for Caribbean staghorn coral for my tanks. I know the fused-staghorn coral looks similar to the Elkhorn.

tnyr5 · Sep 3, 2011

i'd be inclined to say any acro, or any coral for that matter, after 50 years would be impressive

Luisra · Sep 18, 2011

markie mark said:
I've seen the A.palmata in the keys a few times and its not that abundant from what I saw...plenty there,but unless you were swimming in circles,and don't think you were because some of the shots you could see endless fields,I don't know why this coral is endangered....the whole bottom was covered...I'm referring to the YouTube video...nice !!!!!

I wasn't swimming in circles, A. palmata is very abundant here in PR but I do like that its protected. I would say that A. cervicornis is really really endangered. I was diving yesterday, and most of it is dead or really bleached after the floods from Hurricane Irene, only a handful of them were alive.

Video of A. palmata from yesterday, in a completely different spot.
[video=youtube;ClEwZI9R_QM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClEwZI9R_QM[/video]

florida reef · Sep 18, 2011

This coral is absolutely beautiful!

sweetride said:
I think this is what your looking for...

The picture was taken last year just before a fraged it all out...

they do grow fairly quick and they are also very east to brake.

Kaddis Mitchell · Sep 30, 2019

UCedumacasion said:
Mine grows like wildfire where ever I put it as long as it has good light and flow. I've even broken it (well the gf did) and that piece grows like crazy. When its happy you'll see growth almost daily it seems like.

How did you get ahold of the Elkhorn

C. Eymann · Sep 30, 2019

A. palmata is highly protected species that is not found in the hobby, it is generally only kept by reef restoration projects for research, like Dr. Vaughns successful experiment with micro fragmentation in A. palmata, A. cervicornis and A. prolifera. I have seen Acropora cervicornis at MOTE in Sarasota, I have seen all but A. prolifera while diving in C. America and the Caribbean..
I'd imagine considering A. palmata's density and it commonly found on the Crest of the reef its water flow demands would be substantial, like a surge device would be most ideal.

Good luck obtaining some, if you do, you would be in violation of federal law.