Star polyp and blue clove polyp colonies

[Kizmar]

So, I've had my tank for over a year now. I've been researching and learning about corals and watching mine grow for a good amount of time. During the course of a year I've slowly realized why some people stay away from some/most soft corals.

I have a colony of green star polyp that I'm already having to trim back every couple weeks so they don't overtake an SPS frag on a rock they've spread to. I also have a colony of blue clove polyp that has spread to several rocks in my tank.

The star polyp colony is fairly easy to contain, so I'm not at all worried about it spreading uncontrollably. It is getting a bit annoying though. I'm to a point where I might relocate an SPS frag and remove a rock, leaving the star polyp only on the rock it started on (and keep that rock away from others). I like the way this colony flows with the current.

The blue clove polyp is a different story. I've read and heard vastly different opinions on this stuff. Two of the LFS's I frequent say they are hard to keep and hard to find (and sell quickly). I've seen threads with people talking about how invasive they are mixed with people begging for frags of it.

My tank is on the side of invasive when it comes to blue clove polyp. A few more months and I'll have entire rocks covered with it. I'm trying to decide what I want to do at this point. I don't want to use chemicals or meds to kill them off, for fear of killing things I want to keep. I don't want to trade out rocks covered with it because I have other corals attached to them and/or they are uniquely shaped rocks that I hand picked. Some rocks I may end up removing and busting up to sell as frags.

Another thought I've had is to spread out smaller rock pieces, let the blue clove spread and sell the smaller rocks as colonies. If I had two tanks I'd be all over this... but I'm hesitant to turn my only tank into a harvester.

I do have zoas and a couple other leathers that I would like to keep, so I'm a little leary about tossing in a butterfly or some other fish that grazes on these types of corals. That is something that's been suggested. It does make me wonder if I could get a fish that would keep the blue clove in check without consuming it all along with the zoas. Thoughts/suggestions on this would be appreciated.

 

[sh4un]

buy a coral beauty they nip them will get em under control for you mate then if they end up eating most of them fish trap it back out it worked for me

 

[Kizmar]

I've had a Coral Beauty in my tank for several months, close to a year. He doesn't seem to eat any corals.

 

[noy]

Not sure what to tell you about the spread. Other than physically removing the polyps i really don't konw of any way to contain them.

But, i recently visited another reefer who had this cool setup with GSP (and you can do the same with your blue cloves). What he did was start patching his overflow with it and he now has a wall of GSP where his overflow is (he has a bottom drain with a corner overflow). Its really impressive - its like a wall of green grass and very natural and it hides the overflow. When it grows onto the glass - he cuts it and sells it.

I've seen in a LFS where they mounted dry rock on back glass and had GSP and other corals growing on it throughout. A wall of blue clove would be very impressive (IMO).

 

[Kizmar]

Not sure what to tell you about the spread. Other than physically removing the polyps i really don't konw of any way to contain them.

But, i recently visited another reefer who had this cool setup with GSP (and you can do the same with your blue cloves). What he did was start patching his overflow with it and he now has a wall of GSP where his overflow is (he has a bottom drain with a corner overflow). Its really impressive - its like a wall of green grass and very natural and it hides the overflow. When it grows onto the glass - he cuts it and sells it.

I've seen in a LFS where they mounted dry rock on back glass and had GSP and other corals growing on it throughout. A wall of blue clove would be very impressive (IMO).

That would look cool. The clove has actually started to grow on one of the overflows. There's a softball-sized circle of it so far. It'll look cool if/when it covers the overflow, I just wish it would stop suffocating the liverock. ;)

 

[sh4un]

get another coral beauty mate or a yellow face pygmy angel
how they sort it buddy

 

[Kizmar]

Does anyone have Butterflyish in their reef tank? One of the "with caution" types?

 

[BL1]

Does anyone have Butterflyish in their reef tank? One of the "with caution" types?

If you're thinking about one, this is an interesting but long thread to read through. butterflies in reefs - Reef Central Online Community

FWIW, there is only one butterfly that is totally reef-safe, it's the Pyramid Butterfly.