Uneven growth

[goody]

I have some concerns about a Mimic Pink Lemonade and an ORA red planet that I have. Each mini colony is getting some nice growth, on one side or certain areas, but both also have areas where there has been no growth at all, very little if any PE, and the color is very drab. There are a couple of spots where the RP has grown 3" in about 2 months and the Mimic PL has encrusted 2" around.

I did cut off some tips on the Mimic PL to see if that would cause a growth spurt in the concerned areas, but nothing changed.

Neither colony is obstructed from light, they have a good distance from other corals, and they get flow from all directions.

I'm not sure what to do with these non-growth areas. Should I frag them?

 

[drainbamage]

If they're not dieing back or showing necrosy, I'd be reluctant to say frag them off for discard (unless you can frag them and perhaps put them somewhere with even more light/flow perhaps?) I definitley have SPS's that grow more in some ways and not others, so I wouldn't consider this a huge issue. I would consider it freakier if you had perfectly symmetrical growth in all areas of your SPS's, ya know?

 

[johnanddawn]

in nature some corals have determinate growth forms (symmetrical and even lengthed branching) and others do not. but in our tanks we also have to deal with growth that is directly related to flow and light. the combination of their natural growth form and your tank conditions often results in slightly less then natural looking growth. i wouldn't worry about it at all, over time the coral will do what it wants and grow the way it needs to do maximize the conditions of its locallized environment