Blasto info

JGoslee · Mar 2, 2007

Are blasto's hard to keep? I've been seeing a few nice one's lately so I think I'm going to give them a try. I've read a few threads on RC that said they are hard to keep. If you keep blasto's can you post your experience with them?

mbunaman · Mar 2, 2007

Blastos are super easy to keep. But most people say they have problems. The reason is they have tissue recession. The main cause is to much light. When you recieve you specimen give it the darkest part of the tank with a little visiable light. Then within two weeks slowly move it out to the part of the tank you want it in. They are slower growing than Acan Lords but they are one of my favorite corals along with zoas. You can feed them at night usually one hour after the lights are out, the feeding tentacles come out usually around that time frame when the lights are out. If you need more questions answered let me know.

JGoslee · Mar 2, 2007

Light did seem to come up alot in the info I read. Also something about mounting them vertically? Not sure what thats about. What about flow. Do they like high, med, low?

colinadam · Mar 2, 2007

Are we talking Welsi's or Merletti's?

I think Welsi's are one of the picky corals to keep. I at one time had 6, it's down to 2 now and will soon be down to one after I trade one away.

Don't mount them vertically, I tried it with my favorite one and it died within a week even after I moved it back.

Low Flow, Low Light & Feed a couple times a week with mysis.

Pufferpunk · Mar 2, 2007

Here was my pride & joy:

Actinics

It now has barely any flesh left on it, after keeping under T5s.

Finally caught on & moved it under PCs again. I hope I can salvage it.

JGoslee · Mar 2, 2007

Jeremy what lights were you using?

Puffer those are are nice! I hope they recover for you.

Darren · Mar 2, 2007

I have lots of softies / lps (Lords, Micros, Zoas, Blasto's). Blasto Merlitti (SP?) are very easy and will like / tolerate lots of light. Blasto Wellsi are a little more finicky. I have my 2 red colonies at the bottom of my 58G and in a little shade. I run a 150W 20K and 2 x 65W actinics. So low light and low to moderate flow.

AirIck · Jan 31, 2023

mbunaman said:
Blastos are super easy to keep. But most people say they have problems. The reason is they have tissue recession. The main cause is to much light. When you recieve you specimen give it the darkest part of the tank with a little visiable light. Then within two weeks slowly move it out to the part of the tank you want it in. They are slower growing than Acan Lords but they are one of my favorite corals along with zoas. You can feed them at night usually one hour after the lights are out, the feeding tentacles come out usually around that time frame when the lights are out. If you need more questions answered let me know.

This is a very old post, but i’m hoping you could help give me some suggestions/ideas. I bought an aqua rocks frag rock with 10 holes (meant for zoa garden). Anyway, I plan on havink 4 Blasto‘s on 1 side of the rock, is there another coral I could fit in the extra 6 frag slots on the other side of the rock knowing that in about 1 or 2 years they could end up touching the Blasto‘s. Almost like it would be 2 different coral gardens growing together, is this possible with anything compatible with blasto’s? Particularly low light since that’s what my blasto’s love, maybe Ricordeas? I have no experience with micromussa’s as I always hear horror stories they all turn red, but could they be an option?

Nano sapiens · Feb 1, 2023

AirIck said:
This is a very old post, but i’m hoping you could help give me some suggestions/ideas. I bought an aqua rocks frag rock with 10 holes (meant for zoa garden). Anyway, I plan on havink 4 Blasto‘s on 1 side of the rock, is there another coral I could fit in the extra 6 frag slots on the other side of the rock knowing that in about 1 or 2 years they could end up touching the Blasto‘s. Almost like it would be 2 different coral gardens growing together, is this possible with anything compatible with blasto’s? Particularly low light since that’s what my blasto’s love, maybe Ricordeas? I have no experience with micromussa’s as I always hear horror stories they all turn red, but could they be an option?

Firstly, there are three common Blastomussa corals more commonly available to us in the hobby: B. merletti, B. wellsi and B vivida. Getting to know these three types is important since while they have somewhat similar care requirements (lower light, low to medium/low flow), in other respects they are different.

B. merletti typically has smaller corallites/polyps (polyps around 1"), polyps grow on stalks and is the most aggressive. B. wellsi typically has 2x larger corallites/polyps, polyp often grow on relatively short stalks and is a bit less forgiving and B. vivida has the largest polyps (up to 4"), polyps don't grow on stalks and I've found it is quite sensitive to injury, so needs more free space around it.

I have a B. wellsi right next to a 'Lord' and it burns it a bit where they touch. Over time the Lord has habituated to this slight irritation and just carries on fine budding around the base and growing. Others have reported that their Blastos and Lords had to be separated. So, I think the best one could say is that it's possible, but may not be so likely that they can peacefully co-exist.

Rics, definitely not as they'll seriously damage less aggressive LPS like Blastos and Lords.