Thoughts on Duncan corals

[DEL 707]

Been looking at some corals to put into my 4month old 56l tank.
Saw a really nice looking Duncan coral. I know it's an LPS, but how hard are they to keep?

 

[SamMule]

Duncan's are some of the easiest and fastest growing LPS corals.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

They are super easy, but almost a weed type. I had to get mine out of a 32 gallon after 1.5 years because it got too big. If your tank is 56 litres (14 gallons) personally I would not add it.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Definitely a good choice. Had one Duncan head and after a couple months had a whole colony. They're pretty easy to care for. Low light low to moderate flow.

 

[ScottJ]

If it gets too big, sell it back to the LFS.

 

[kevgib67]

Best one in my opinion to dip your toes into lps and my clowns love them!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Best one in my opinion to dip your toes into lps and my clowns love them!

Agree, they definitely do

 

[JPG Corals]

I think a duncan would be good, they seem very hardy. I had one head in my ten gallon for over a year, it never grew more heads though. I now have it in my new 40 gallon...

A candy care coral would also be a decent choice. For me candy cane coral was always an indicator of how my water is.

 

[kevgib67]

Agree, they definitely do

They don’t seem to mind being forced to host by the clowns!

 

[Uncle99]

Been looking at some corals to put into my 4month old 56l tank.
Saw a really nice looking Duncan coral. I know it's an LPS, but how hard are they to keep?

Dropped this ball type Duncan on the floor!

 

[kevgib67]

Dropped this ball type Duncan on the floor!

Accidents happen, this was yesterday.

 

[Uncle99]

LOL, At least it stayed in the tank!

 

[Crabs McJones]

They don’t seem to mind being forced to host by the clowns!

I was very surprised. I thought for sure the clowns would love them to death. Even got them an anemone to prevent that from happening

But thankfully the Duncan welcomed them and they both did fine

 

[exnisstech]

Duncans have been a roller coaster ride for me. I had a few heads that grew to over 20 then something happened and they started dying off. I managed to save a single head and grow it back out. I started having die off again so I cut it up. That was maybe a year ago. I have some nice frags / small colonies but I'm not sure if I'll mount them on rocks in one of the displays or not.

I tossed a few in here.

 

[kevgib67]

I was very surprised. I thought for sure the clowns would love them to death. Even got them an anemone to prevent that from happening

But thankfully the Duncan welcomed them and they both did fine

2 months ago they started splitting their time between the duncan and my frogspawn. The frogspawn are still ticked off.

 

[twentyleagues]

Been looking at some corals to put into my 4month old 56l tank.
Saw a really nice looking Duncan coral. I know it's an LPS, but how hard are they to keep?

You have gotten quite a bit of good info so far.
Duncans are pretty easy and are very adaptable to flow and lighting as long as its not constantly changing and not a quick shock so to say. They do like to eat so supplemental feeding a couple times a week seems to keep them quite happy. They are one of the most tolerant lps when it comes to neighbors and things like clowns trying to host them as seen above. I think part of the reason is the way the skeleton structure and polyps are arranged unlike a frogspawn or torch there is not really sharp edges directly against the polyp that if something presses on the polyps it immediately cuts the flesh. This can include flow, fish, you knocking it over or even just picking it up out of the water wrong. They dont have a potent sting so other corals that are "friendly" wont get stung to death should they come in contact, same goes for fish.

 

[SaltyKuya]

Been looking at some corals to put into my 4month old 56l tank.
Saw a really nice looking Duncan coral. I know it's an LPS, but how hard are they to keep?

I am new to reefing and got mine about a month ago and it has been thriving, definitely a favorite of anyone who sees my tank.