My baby hammers

[inigotaojo]

Last January, I had these tiny things growing in my aquarium. They were spread out around my substrate, rocks, and glass. During this time, I thought they were majanos, but as they grew larger they started to look like hammers.

After posting it to the hitchhiker ID forum, all agreed they are hammers. So I will dedicate this thread to documenting their growth.

Enjoy!


February 23, 2025

 

[inigotaojo]

March 13, 2025

They are growing quite nicely. These were the photos I uploaded to the hitchhiker ID forum.

I have yet to count all of the heads growing around the tank. But for sure there are more than 20.

 

[inigotaojo]

Still unsure if they are hammers. But nevertheless I will continue documenting them.

Here I started measuring them with a ruler to get a clearer picture of their sizes. They do tend to coop up a bit when I put the ruler close to them, which makes getting their accurate sizes more difficult.

I also added a date and time stamp to the photos.

Let me know if you think they are majanos or something else other than hammers.

March 16, 2025

 

[inigotaojo]

I finally cleaned my glass to get a better photo of the growing hammers.

March 24, 2025

 

[Kasrift]

Definitely look like baby hammers to me. I had mine spawn and a few pop up like this. I didn't have them live as long as you though.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Wicked . Definitely look like hammer's. Can't wait to see the growing

 

[inigotaojo]

So I've finally had time to count them.

This is the main reason why I sometimes doubt they are hammers. They are just so many! Or maybe I really just had a spawning event.

I used royal blue lighting with a little white light to make them glow in the photos, making it easier to count them on my computer. However, I still wasn't able to capture everything in camera.

I counted 145 in the tank. In the photos there are at least 75.

If they do turn out to be hammers, then I am going to have more than 75 new heads.

 

[inigotaojo]

Update!

They're finally looking more like hammers.

 

[inigotaojo]

Here are their measurements this week. (I finally got a clearer ruler).


And a photo of the possible parent coral.




I am aware though that they can look very different when they are young, but this is the closest one I can find to the growing babies. More photos from the top.

I also noticed that the ones closest to the light seemed to grow faster than those that I measure, which is further down the tank.

 

[kevgib67]

Definitely look like little hammers but I’ve never seen this before. Following, I’m sticking around to see how this turns out.

 

[Shirak]

Wow that's awesome!

12 months from now we will see a post asking for help with a tank overrun by hammers LOL

 

[inigotaojo]

Wow that's awesome!

12 months from now we will see a post asking for help with a tank overrun by hammers LOL

Lol if only I could ship them out to the US. I would gladly give some out.

I might just build a tank dedicated to some of them that won’t fit in my current tank.

 

[inigotaojo]

Definitely look like little hammers but I’ve never seen this before. Following, I’m sticking around to see how this turns out.

Thanks for following! Join me on my journey to becoming Papa Hammer. Haha

 

[kevgib67]

Thanks for following! Join me on my journey to becoming Papa Hammer. Haha

This is going to be fun!

 

[inigotaojo]

Today I moved one to my 12 gallon tank to observe closely. It was cooped up in transport, but 20 mins in the tank and it's fully opened.



Just to scale, it's still this small.

 

[liddojunior]

This is amazing! Would be awesome to see if they all turn to full adult corals

 

[inigotaojo]

Update:

The one in the 12 gallon tank is doing really well. Polyps extended, there seems to be growth. It's an indoor tank so parameters are more controlled.




The ones in the big tank is going through a phase right now because of a recent heat wave. I might get a chiller for it. I will update soon once my tank recovers.

 

[hatteras hank]

This is so freakin cool. Congratulations. What a neat experience.

 

[inigotaojo]

Update!

After an immense struggle the baby hammers are now showing extended polyps again.

Around 1 month ago a heatwave came to our country, bleaching coral reefs all around. My tank, being an outdoor one, also got affected. It caused a chain reaction, starting with some coral deaths, then algae growth due to excess nutrients. The babies were all stressed and polyps retracted for weeks. Until now a lot of remnants from that battle remain.

But this week I’ve been seeing some progress. It’s not the best photo, but I’m too excited to share it, and I don’t have time to wait for the camera to fully charge.

 

[Goaway]

Im glad to see they are pulling through. You're doing great work with the events you've had to experience.

They are beautiful