Duncan growth?

[sedrostyle]

I have always got my frags with onezie twozies. And last month I bought a single head of a Duncan.
I have been waiting eager to see how they grow and sprout new heads.
Recently I've noticed he has kinda oblonged out in the body with his color stretching over.
Today I see he has a little almost looking mouth at the tip of the oblong.
Is this how they grow? How do they get new "stalks" mind you where you would frag.
A friend of mine gave me a 10 head hammer coral that I'm trying to compare to the Duncan growth. But he fluffs up so much I cannot track the hammer growth
I love watching my tank grow
Any thanks in advance
Steven

 

[NanaReefer]

Duncan's are my favorite LPS. I've had green/purple both of which outgrew my tank and I sold.
New growths will appear on the stalk, looking like little nubs at first. If you want to speed up the growth feed it small meaty foods often. My purple went from 4 heads to 16 in 6 months just by feeding it

 

[pandora32]

Im needing to "thin" my duncans out. Opposite of what your looking for. But im curious as to how they grow as well. Sounds like they grow like torch/hammer corals.

 

[NanaReefer]

Yup pretty much the same

 

[DTECH07]

for mine the new growth is right off a head, i will fan my hand back a forward to make the polyps retract then i can see the new growth. I picked up a beauitful colony for cheap a that had 75+ heads, i fragged it 7 months ago when it had 140 heads and now i back to 100.

 

[sedrostyle]

for mine the new growth is right off a head, i will fan my hand back a forward to make the polyps retract then i can see the new growth. I picked up a beauitful colony for cheap a that had 75+ heads, i fragged it 7 months ago when it had 140 heads and now i back to 100.

Whaaaa 100 heads. I have a 55 and like I said my hammer has 10 or so and it's a decent softball size. Could only imagine 100

 

[sedrostyle]

Duncan's are my favorite LPS. I've had green/purple both of which outgrew my tank and I sold.
New growths will appear on the stalk, looking like little nubs at first. If you want to speed up the growth feed it small meaty foods often. My purple went from 4 heads to 16 in 6 months just by feeding it

Yes they are one of my favorites for sure.
So here's another question what do you feed. Mysis?
I did it the day after I got it. And today I went to feed it and I turned around, looked back and it didn't each anything I don't think ( pumps off )
But I looked back and the mouth was gaping open! Huge compared to the overall size of him.
I'd never seen him do it before. I snapped a picture on my other phone but it's super crappy
I'll try to send it here.

 

[DTECH07]

I look up the old pics and post them tonight.

 

[sedrostyle]

Aww it didn't save. But yeah crazy. Any tips. Do you chop the Mysis even smaller than they are? Or tweezer feed him lol

 

[NanaReefer]

I feed Hikari gut loaded brine shrimp and Coral Extacy. The Mysis may be a little big unless you chop em up.
I use a turkey baster and with flow off gently squirt the food over the top of them in a sweeping motion.

 

[DTECH07]

I hand fed them only 3-4 time in year or so I've owned them. They eat what's in the water comlum when I feed the tank, so it's small particals that they feed in. They would probably grow far faster if I feed them directly.

 

[sedrostyle]

I feed Hikari gut loaded brine shrimp and Coral Extacy. The Mysis may be a little big unless you chop em up.
I use a turkey baster and with flow off gently squirt the food over the top of them in a sweeping motion.

Should I tease him till his mouth opens like it did and retracting skirt to mouth. Then feed a little more when it's open without forcing? Like a anemone ?

 

[NanaReefer]

Should I tease him till his mouth opens like it did and retracting skirt to mouth. Then feed a little more when it's open without forcing? Like a anemone ?

No. They're nothing like nems Just sprinkle a little food over the top of them. They'll eat.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2

 

[sedrostyle]

Seems like he opened his mouth and pulled his skirts in towards his mouth to eat

 

[pandora32]

I fed my duncans whole pieces of mysis shrimp. None of them seemed to have a problem eating. I should start feeding them again. Havent fed them in 8 months! Still look healthy though.

 

[DTECH07]

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-...AAABZk/0KahRgST44s/w362-h271-n-k/DSCN1484.JPG

the first picture is from a few months ago after the first fragging. The second picture is when i purchased them a year and half ago.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-...AAABrQ/Eztiyj1nx88/w145-h192-n-k/IMG_0782.JPG

one of the frags i gave away.

 

[N1Husker]

I have a duncan with 2 heads and noticed the other day that there is another one growing between and underneath them on their stocks. When I try to feed them with a turkey baster they shrink right up when I squirt mysis at them.

 

[NanaReefer]

Don't squirt it so much at them as above them. So it gently floats down onto them. You don't want them feeling the water pressure from the baster.

 

[pandora32]

+1. Just let it sink to them. Otherwise they probably feel like an attack.

 

[N1Husker]

I got my duncan with two heads from a fellow reefer who's angel was eating its tentacles. It took awhile to recover when I got it, but now it is not only beautiful but it has two more heads growing from the base on each side. It accepts mysis with microvore from Brightwells.