Coral Colonies… What do you look for?

[i cant think]

As this thread doesn’t specify and isn’t meant to specify a certain group of corals I guess it can go here.
I’ve been reading up on corals a lot more as now I’m coming to the end of my fish stock on both tanks (Unfortunately), obviously I’ve been growing coral but have never really been able to grow colonies of corals until the previous two/three years. So I’m now getting into colonies as I’m trying to grow this one SPS frag that is beautiful under no lighting except the ones outside (Room and day light) and when the tank light is white.
The question I have is…
What makes a colony well, a colony in your eyes?
I.E. Size? Colour? Movement?

What do you look for when growing out a colony and what size do you class as a colony.
Here’s the SPS I’m trying to grow out (The tips are actually blue but the lighting in the photo makes it look purple).

 

[Tonycass12]

For sps specifically- multiple branches and size. At least 3-4" is a small colony for me. Ive had a couple frags graduate to colony size but I've also had some luck snatching up larger 6/8" colonies for my grow out and frag tank. I only add frags from those to the main tank or they would be 3-4x the size of everything still growing out.

 

[i cant think]

For sps specifically- multiple branches and size. At least 3-4" is a small colony for me. Ive had a couple frags graduate to colony size but I've also had some luck snatching up larger 6/8" colonies for my grow out and frag tank. I only add frags from those to the main tank or they would be 3-4x the size of everything still growing out.

That’s interesting to hear, do you mainly look for 4/6” in height or do you also look at acros that are tabling and growing out 4/6”?

I’m only starting to head into SPS and have the dream of getting this guy to a small colony if not a large colony size.

 

[Tonycass12]

That’s interesting to hear, do you mainly look for 4/6” in height or do you also look at acros that are tabling and growing out 4/6”?

I’m only starting to head into SPS and have the dream of getting this guy to a small colony if not a large colony size.

4-6" in any direction height/width whatever. Of course a stag won't look like much of a colony if its only 1 branch going 4-6"

Here is one of my frags ive had for about a year. This aussie gold started out as a less then half inch flake on a plug its now 4" across. Still trying to lower the lights slowly to get the green to come back.

 

[i cant think]

4-6" in any direction height/width whatever. Of course a stag won't look like much of a colony if its only 1 branch going 4-6"

Here is one of my frags ive had for about a year. This aussie gold started out as a less then half inch flake on a plug its now 4" across. Still trying to lower the lights slowly to get the green to come back.

That’s one sweet looking small colony! And actuallly just acros in general.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I would consider something a colony when it could be fragged into something reasonable basically. But maybe another point of distinction could be the size where it's true growth form appears. This would depend on the coral and some would never reach that point in the average sized tank but it could be one thing to shoot for.

 

[F i s h y]

I'd say for me because there are so many frags out there a colony is in that 3 to 6 inch range depending on structure. Here are a few of mine.

 

[i cant think]

I would consider something a colony when it could be fragged into something reasonable basically. But maybe another point of distinction could be the size where it's true growth form appears. This would depend on the coral and some would never reach that point in the average sized tank but it could be one thing to shoot for.

By true growth forms do you have any I guess examples?
I assume you mean the growth you’d find in the wild, it’s interesting to hear many in captivity don’t get that though.

I'd say for me because there are so many frags out there a colony is in that 3 to 6 inch range depending on structure. Here are a few of mine.

I’m jealous! How long have you had some of those SPS?

My 1 year old nano is growing SPS and yet my 2 year old 4’ is still struggling (I hope if I can grow the Acro in my nano then I can frag a small piece for the 4’ tank).

 

[i cant think]

Of course a stag won't look like much of a colony if its only 1 branch going 4-6"

Stags can look ridiculous if they don’t split off into several arms (I had a nice thick stag that grew into several arms before my 4’ tank went through the weird period where it grew nothing except mushrooms and easy LPS). Here’s the best photo I got of the Staghorn I was managing to grow.

It seemed to grow better on its side than when it was pointing right up and I’ve seen that similar growth with other acros before. The stag was growing like there wasn’t going to be a next week, every week there was a new head to another arm and it was about 4 inch tall when I got it. Grew to about 6-7 inch tall before I did a melafix accident.

 

[Tonycass12]

Stags can look ridiculous if they don’t split off into several arms (I had a nice thick stag that grew into several arms before my 4’ tank went through the weird period where it grew nothing except mushrooms and easy LPS). Here’s the best photo I got of the Staghorn I was managing to grow.

It seemed to grow better on its side than when it was pointing right up and I’ve seen that similar growth with other acros before. The stag was growing like there wasn’t going to be a next week, every week there was a new head to another arm and it was about 4 inch tall when I got it. Grew to about 6-7 inch tall before I did a melafix accident.

Fragging can have the same effect. Ill cut my green slimer if it grows straight and stops producing branches. The cut point will turn into at least 2 but usually 3 or more new branches.

 

[i cant think]

Fragging can have the same effect. Ill cut my green slimer if it grows straight and stops producing branches. The cut point will turn into at least 2 but usually 3 or more new branches.

I’ll keep that in mind then, currently I have a Acropora yongei but instead of green slimer it’s the blue slimer and I assume it’ll grow similarly.

 

[F i s h y]

By true growth forms do you have any I guess examples?
I assume you mean the growth you’d find in the wild, it’s interesting to hear many in captivity don’t get that though.

I’m jealous! How long have you had some of those SPS?

My 1 year old nano is growing SPS and yet my 2 year old 4’ is still struggling (I hope if I can grow the Acro in my nano then I can frag a small piece for the 4’ tank).

That tank has been up since Oct of 21 so 8 months. A few of the peices I had prior in one of my other tanks but all less than 18mths. I run high flow high light high alk high calcium high magnesium and normal no3 and po4 levels. I dose in between weekly water changes baking soda, I do a 15 gal change a week, the system is 125 total gallons and I dose acro power and reef ab+ about once a week. The shot below was Feb 9th 2022

This shot is from right now.

Don't mind the glass haven't cleaned since Saturday

The most notable growth is the green acro on the frag rack. 2 months and its nearly doubled.

 

[damsels are not mean]

By true growth forms do you have any I guess examples?
I assume you mean the growth you’d find in the wild, it’s interesting to hear many in captivity don’t get that though.

It's a time + size thing. Corals could get there in captivity but most people don't have the space (or the dedication to a single colony I supose) to let it get there. Here is a pretty healthy acropora turaki I found on google images. It's in a tank, and most acropora turaki in tanks look like this. Bushy little branches that twist and turn. This looks great in a tank.

But in the wild, colonies are allowed the time and space to really grow out and the macro growth form is very different. Those major branches from our tanks are revealed to just be twigs!

Another example is "wall" hammers. In our tanks they are just walls of hammer for the most part. But find an old wall hammer in the wild and you will see that these "walls" ware just lobes of a brain!

 

[iquitreef]

For sps specifically- multiple branches and size. At least 3-4" is a small colony for me. Ive had a couple frags graduate to colony size but I've also had some luck snatching up larger 6/8" colonies for my grow out and frag tank. I only add frags from those to the main tank or they would be 3-4x the size of everything still growing out.

Where did you get frag tiles?

 

[fishgutz]

This is what I consider a colony.

 

[Tonycass12]

Where did you get frag tiles?

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/coral-frag-tiles-oceans-wonders.html

I get the 3" from ocean wonders. I really like the smaller hexi disc's too they are super porous and easy to carve a little notch into for your frag to sit but they may not be available for much longer.