DECEMBER
During the beginning of the month we discussed introducing more frags of hammer branch coral into the tank because we had not yet seen a reduction of the unidentified brown anemone. When talking about where to place the new frags we considered lighting, location of the power heads, and location of the rocks (relative to the surface of the tank). Since we had yet to see a competitive relationship between the anemone and the coral, Dr. Reynolds thought it would be a good idea to introduce a different species of coral to see how it would react with the anemone. Before we placed the new frags into our tanks, we noticed that the anemone was starting to grow up the base of the right frag of hammer branch coral, which greatly concerned us. On the 13th, two days before our break began, we introduced a new frag of nepthea to the front of the tank because nepthea is known to be extremely aggressive; we hoped that this frag could possible combat the growth of the anemone. We added a new frag of hammer branch coral to a rock located on the left side of the tank. This frag was placed close to a power head and lighting because we believed it could enhance its growth. Before placing these frags into our tank we had to acclimate them, an experience that was new to both of us, but definitely a necessary lesson for all marine biology students. Lastly, we placed a rock from tank A4 in our tank because it had mushroom coral and nepthea growing on it, which we thought would be good additions to the current marine life.
JANUARY
We came back from Winter Break on January 7th after being gone for two weeks. Over the break, our hammer branch corals had grown a great deal, especially their tentacles. The hammer branch coral, or HBC as week like to call it, placed in the middle-front of our tank on a live rock is the one that has grown the most while also repelling the invasive brown anemone. Yet, the HBC placed on the far right of our tank on live rock covered in a plethora of brown anemone has not nearly grown as much as the one in the center of the tank. This coral fragment on the far right's base has been completely over-taken with the brown anemone. Due to this, we have observed that this certain HBC is not doing its job to combat the anemone. Its tentacles are not stinging the brown anemone like the one in the center is, yet we are not sure why this happened. In addition to the hammer branch corals in our tanks, the Euphyllid in our tank has grown and done its job repelling the anemone. Although its tentacles have grown, many times when we are checking on our tank its tentacles are completely retracted. Right before the break, we introduced a small frag of mushroom coral on one of the live rocks covered in brown anemone in our tank, and it has continuously succeeded in eliminating the brown anemone from that certain area as it has grown. Within the next few months, we plan to introduce some more mushroom corals into our tank as it has done the best job in combatting the anemone thus far.
During the beginning of the month we discussed introducing more frags of hammer branch coral into the tank because we had not yet seen a reduction of the unidentified brown anemone. When talking about where to place the new frags we considered lighting, location of the power heads, and location of the rocks (relative to the surface of the tank). Since we had yet to see a competitive relationship between the anemone and the coral, Dr. Reynolds thought it would be a good idea to introduce a different species of coral to see how it would react with the anemone. Before we placed the new frags into our tanks, we noticed that the anemone was starting to grow up the base of the right frag of hammer branch coral, which greatly concerned us. On the 13th, two days before our break began, we introduced a new frag of nepthea to the front of the tank because nepthea is known to be extremely aggressive; we hoped that this frag could possible combat the growth of the anemone. We added a new frag of hammer branch coral to a rock located on the left side of the tank. This frag was placed close to a power head and lighting because we believed it could enhance its growth. Before placing these frags into our tank we had to acclimate them, an experience that was new to both of us, but definitely a necessary lesson for all marine biology students. Lastly, we placed a rock from tank A4 in our tank because it had mushroom coral and nepthea growing on it, which we thought would be good additions to the current marine life.
JANUARY
We came back from Winter Break on January 7th after being gone for two weeks. Over the break, our hammer branch corals had grown a great deal, especially their tentacles. The hammer branch coral, or HBC as week like to call it, placed in the middle-front of our tank on a live rock is the one that has grown the most while also repelling the invasive brown anemone. Yet, the HBC placed on the far right of our tank on live rock covered in a plethora of brown anemone has not nearly grown as much as the one in the center of the tank. This coral fragment on the far right's base has been completely over-taken with the brown anemone. Due to this, we have observed that this certain HBC is not doing its job to combat the anemone. Its tentacles are not stinging the brown anemone like the one in the center is, yet we are not sure why this happened. In addition to the hammer branch corals in our tanks, the Euphyllid in our tank has grown and done its job repelling the anemone. Although its tentacles have grown, many times when we are checking on our tank its tentacles are completely retracted. Right before the break, we introduced a small frag of mushroom coral on one of the live rocks covered in brown anemone in our tank, and it has continuously succeeded in eliminating the brown anemone from that certain area as it has grown. Within the next few months, we plan to introduce some more mushroom corals into our tank as it has done the best job in combatting the anemone thus far.