When Acros Grow Together

[jda]

I have mostly told people not to worry too much about acros growing together. Here are a few photos of mine that have done so. Kinda neat.

This is ORA Miami Orchid and Wet Thumbs Tierra Del Fuego. The tissue is just merging:


This one is harder to see, but WWC Purple Candle and ORA Cali Tort:

 

[Hitman]

Wow that is cool thanks for sharing!

 

[bubbaque]

What your first pic is doing I had happen and it keeps growing over the other colony killing it back. It started taking over whole parts of the colony before I cut it off. You can see where the purple tissue has died as the TDF is killing it back. I would cut that purple branch off if you want to save the rest of it.

 

[SeaDweller]

That’s neat.

Yeah I got some of that going on in my tank too. Some can coexist like a pseudo PB of mine and a tort, and some like a Calacali and Turaki haven’t come to an agreement yet. There are plenty of base touchers in my tank where I’m unsure if I want to intervene yet.

 

[Hemmdog]

I’ll take some maimed frags... lol. Beautiful pics jda, that tdf is so sweet.

 

[jda]

A few months of growth on the stand off...

 

[jda]

Tierra Del Fuego ended up winning... just running out the final few seconds on the clock...

 

[SeaDweller]

Unfortunately (fortunately?) I have a few of these battles going on in my tank too, only occurring because I refuse to frag anything right now. I'd rather the TdF win anyway.

 

[flockaveli]

I have one of these battles starting with FF and Kendari acro. One of my favorite parts of reefing is letting corals grow together, how nature intended. Excuse the aips/mojano this display gets very little maintenance.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Very cool!! Thanks for sharing!!

 

[ScottR]

I hope this thread gets more love. How many people have acros head banging each other?

 

[jda]

Waiting to see if I get any branches out of that "club/mass" and if they have the dominant colors or if some grafted colors will come about.

 

[ScottR]

Waiting to see if I get any branches out of that "club/mass" and if they have the dominant colors or if some grafted colors will come about.

Grafting acros.... I’d have to see it to believe it.

 

[jda]

Limited Edition Joe's Rainbow Acropora

 

[Silent]

The closer related the corals the better. If I remember, people had more luck merging corals when they treated them like grafting. Scraping or exposing coral skeleton on each. I don't know if they no longer viewed the other coral as a foreign object due to transfer of material or what.

 

[X-37B]

Not the best pic. This came out of my nano now in my 120.
No name acro, monti, and mushsroom war! Just going to let it go and see what happens. No name still growing behond where the touched. And aptaisa!
Only one in the tank. Guess the pepermint shrimp cant find it. They got all the rest. Going to f-aptaisa it when it arrives this week.

 

[Silent]

Hopefully they will grow over that aiptasia.

 

[X-37B]

Hopefully they will grow over that aiptasia.

Its getting f-aptaisa when the product arrives this week!

 

[jda]

Most people do not know this, but acropora become a menace as they grow. The growth is exponential... just look at 5 weeks worth of growth from post 6 to 7. I just don't feel like keeping up with the trimming all the time so I let them figure it out on their own.

From what I understand, the zoox can jump ship and move to another host. Dinos are known to do this. ...so it is not really like true grafting in that either brach takes genetic material from the other and forms a "new thing" (ultra high level science term), just that strains/clades of zoox might move and be accepted by the host. Int he case of the Joes' Rainbow, the structure of the coral that you see today is from the grafted-on piece and they did not start to grow like a combo of both of them.

 

[X-37B]

Most people do not know this, but acropora become a menace as they grow. The growth is exponential... just look at 5 weeks worth of growth from post 6 to 7. I just don't feel like keeping up with the trimming all the time so I let them figure it out on their own.

From what I understand, the zoox can jump ship and move to another host. Dinos are known to do this. ...so it is not really like true grafting in that either brach takes genetic material from the other and forms a "new thing" (ultra high level science term), just that strains/clades of zoox might move and be accepted by the host. Int he case of the Joes' Rainbow, the structure of the coral that you see today is from the grafted-on piece and they did not start to grow like a combo of both of them.

Same here. Thats how I plan to run my 120. Let nature do its thing.