Anyone else feel guilty about ripping out all the montiporas in their aquarium?

Skibum · Sep 16, 2019

So I've just hit the 28 month mark in my aquarium. Now it's completely mixed, I have everything in there from SPS, LPS, and softies/palys. Last night I just ripped out a huge section of digi, vercuosa, and caps, they were completely taking over all the space. I still have some inn there, but i'm going to be severely limiting them to the slower growing kind. I'm curious to see if anyone else has had a similar experience.

SeaDweller · Sep 16, 2019

Bubblegum digi will always have a spot in my tank.

I don't mess with caps and encrusting anymore though

Katrina71 · Sep 16, 2019

I murder mine before that happens.

Mastiffsrule · Sep 16, 2019

Sell, donate frags?

Mayerlyn A · Sep 16, 2019

Initially felt bad cutting back the caps but now they constantly become coral rubble.

Graffiti Spot · Sep 16, 2019

Defiantly not, the space any monti takes up in just a few months is crazy and acropora gives me much more pleasure to look at enjoy.

Skibum · Sep 16, 2019

I think the problem is proportion. To make caps look *really* good you need a lot of real estate. I kind of think they're the xenia of sps now. I really wish I hadn't taken my friends sunset monti frag. That thing just won't die. It keeps popping up in spaces where I never expected. Grows *excellent* in super shady spots. Doing it all over again, I think I would stick to other sps when starting out, like stylo's or even digi's.

Skibum · Sep 16, 2019

Mastiffsrule said:
Sell, donate frags?

I live in the Mountains, not many reefers up here. The ones I do know have everything I have ;-).

Skibum · Sep 16, 2019

Pedoconfuego said:
Defiantly not, the space any monti takes up in just a few months is crazy and acropora gives me much more pleasure to look at enjoy.

Coming around to this way of thinking.

Skibum · Sep 16, 2019

SeaDweller said:
Bubblegum digi will always have a spot in my tank.

I don't mess with caps and encrusting anymore though

BBG digis are nice, I have a little frag that I'm growing out now ;-). I also have some tubbs stellata that's nice and slow growing.

Cassian · Sep 16, 2019

Send them to me!!! I love montipora!!! Haha! Jk

Graffiti Spot · Sep 17, 2019

The only monti that grew slow for me was the old metal polyp digi. Good luck finding it these days but it takes a good while before it’s growth is annoying. Very rare and odd coloration too. This is the only monti I would ever put in my tank again.

kevlow · Sep 17, 2019

No guilt at all. I have the remains of Orange Cap, Poker Star, Mystic Sunset in my tank. When they grow out, I remove it and give it to a friend who sells it. The remanent left behind starts growing all over again.
I am happy for my buddy and I recover space.
I do not like selling for myself, I like this being my hobby.

tmynice · Sep 17, 2019

I am having the same issue right now. I really liked them at first because you could almost see them grow from day to day, but know they are shading out some other corals..... I placed two of them too high and that's a problem. I was thinking of just gluing a acro on top of one, and seeing what happens.

Silent · Sep 17, 2019

The monti caps are great for having at the bottom of the tank as a shelf fish can swim under and bring dimension to the lower levels while keeping other sps above. Other than that they will shadow everything else.

tmynice · Sep 17, 2019

Silent said:
The monti caps are great for having at the bottom of the tank as a shelf fish can swim under and bring dimension to the lower levels while keeping other sps above. Other than that they will shadow everything else.

One of mine actually grew into my gravel bed, and created a cool cave.