Can you buy fully grown corals
- Thread starter leo12345
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gbroadbridge
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Well they never stop growing so I'm not sure what you mean by fully grown.
You can buy established colonies which will continue to grow, if you have the cash to splash.
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Tired
2500 Club Member
Colonies tend to be harder to ship without them breaking in transit, and harder to adjust to new environments; they tend to have grown into a shape meant for exactly the flow and light they're in, and often don't handle that move well when you have anything bigger than a large frag. There also isn't really such a thing as "full grown" with stony corals, as they'll grow until they run out of room or something kills them.
That said, try calling Austin Aqua-Dome or Austin Aqua-Tek and asking what they have in stock. They often have some decent-sized colonies, and going to a LFS in person means no need to worry about shipping.
That said, try calling Austin Aqua-Dome or Austin Aqua-Tek and asking what they have in stock. They often have some decent-sized colonies, and going to a LFS in person means no need to worry about shipping.
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How big can an acro get before it breaks? Between the size of a table and the size of a car maybe, if you count an acropora forest as one colony then, well, forest sized.
Besides what the others have said, what do you want big colonies for? If they just so fit your tank now, theyll grow a bit and be too large and you'll need to cut them apart
Besides what the others have said, what do you want big colonies for? If they just so fit your tank now, theyll grow a bit and be too large and you'll need to cut them apart
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gbroadbridge
2500 Club Member
How long is a piece of string?
Depends on the coral, the conditions, and what you consider to be big
The green tangle below was a single stick 12 months ago in my tank.
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DIYreefer
Well-Known Member
There's a lot more to it than just perfect water. In fact; that term, "perfect" gets new hobbyists in trouble on a regular basis.
The thing is, even though your water may test well, new tanks (which is what newer hobbyists tend to have, lol) aren't going to typically be stable enough to adequately provide a good environment for a large coral bio load.
Additionally, newer hobbyists tend to zero in on keeping those perfect parameters and don't usually know how to counteract when things aren't "perfect".
Someone new to the hobby would be much better off with a tank full of frags with enough room to grow, and that would tend to provide a better end result as well aesthetically. Since you could frag/prune corals as deemed necessary to achieve the look you want rather than simply dropping in a bunch of colonies into a tank. I think that would very likely look unnatural.
Nothing good happens fast in this hobby, slow and steady wins this race.
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AydenLincoln
Pufferfish lover!
An infinite size at least in nature. Think of how big colonies of coral are in the ocean that have been around for millions of years. Coral when given the right conditions and room won’t ever stop growing and are the oldest living animals living for thousands of years in the wild. But yes you can buy very large colonies but they will never be full grown.
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vetteguy53081
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Many online retailers sell small colonies but I get my large ones from private parties or tank buyouts
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Tired
2500 Club Member
How fast a coral will grow depends on what species it is, and "colony" isn't a word that has a precise size definition.
How about this; what are you after? I'm guessing you're trying to get the tank to be nice and full of corals right off. I get the impulse, but you're better off starting with largely small corals, both because they'll grow into a more pleasing look if they grow in place and because that'll give you time to get used to their needs before they grow larger and have more needs.
How about this; what are you after? I'm guessing you're trying to get the tank to be nice and full of corals right off. I get the impulse, but you're better off starting with largely small corals, both because they'll grow into a more pleasing look if they grow in place and because that'll give you time to get used to their needs before they grow larger and have more needs.
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