Balding Hammer

[JulesH]

Hi All

I have a lovely Hammer that has been in my tank since October 21. I have attached three images of the coral, one with no lights, one at the begining of the day and at the final image of it is when it is puffed up later in the day.

My tank specs fall into ideal parameters recommended by BRSTV. I have a single Kessil A360 TB at about 34% intensity for nine hours a day. 3 hour ramp up and down. My tank is all LPS or soft coral with a Bali Slimmer and a Forest fire and everything looks OK.

Now to the question, one of the heads on my Hammer has a bald patch, is that good or bad? My first Hammer.

Thanks for looking

Jules

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Hi Jules, hammers do have a "balls" spot around the mouth. Is that the area shown in the pic?

 

[JulesH]

Thanks for getting back, I was not even sure it has a mouth :) I will have to look more into that. Its has never accepted any food from me.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Thanks for getting back, I was not even sure it has a mouth :) I will have to look more into that. Its has never accepted any food from me.

They definitely do. It's a slit right here.

Hammers, frogspawn, and torches accept food a bit differently. When they sense food on their tentacles they will slowly move it toward their mouth while also secreting a jelly from the mouth that will encompass the food and they suck that back in.

For this reason they actually take a little bit longer to feed. If you pipette food directly into that area, Keep the flow off for a good 15 minutes. Otherwise you will see the mucous get blown away likely with the food in it

 

[JulesH]

Thank you, I shall look for that.

Jules