Montipora Capricornis

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Gee whizz, AT....I forgot but you remembered, ....after something like 10 months down the road!

Anyway, here's a pic of how much it has grown. It has tripled its original size now from a fist to bigger than a full palm size. In fact, its starting to make a second plate. You can get some reference point based on some ridges and contours from the old pic as well as using the size of the green star polyps to make a judgement on the size of it in the new pic...and you will definitely get an idea of its growth rate.

Poor hairy green lobophyllia below it...overshadowed and lost some of its colours Fortunately, it grew a baby which I promptly transferred to my Nano. Its perpetuity is assured.

Below is the old pic taken on 9 Oct 2003. Fist size only.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Heres the new pic taken on 26 Aug 2003. Treble size

I guess I can frag part of the 2nd plate for you now. Long wait huh!

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Sorry folks....1st pic was taken on 9 Oct 2002 not 2003.

Here's a pic of my baby hairy green lobophyllia....saved and sound.

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Sorry again folks...forgot to include the "now" pic of the Montipora...

Sighzz...Forgot how to post already.

[robe]

Yup the orange monti can double its diameter in a year's time.....

Mine grew sideways from a 4 inch diameter to almost 10 inch and started to thicken then it stops expanding and now it just thickening from around 3 mm to almost 10 mm now.....

These monti are just unpredictable.

How long do you have it?

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Howdy Robe,

Glad you are having success with your Monti too. I've had mine for 1 year 2 months to be precise .......and you?

[robe]

My monti's two and half years old apparently when the light is intense it does not expand its growth but thickens. Whe I first got mine it was similar in size to yours.

[robe]

By the way where have you been? haven't seen you post for quite a while..

[Stenopus Hispidus]

More than 2 years old Monti...Well, what can I say...Cool manz.

Yup disappeared (or should I say on/off) for some time. Just brought a baby girl into this world and somehow got tied down.

[Mellow]

hey, noticed the green star polyps near to the monti...was just wondering if u had any problem of them spreading too fast??? i've got a small piece which i boughy about 2 months back and it's starting to over-run my tank...heh...not exactly but it's already covered almost an entire peice of LR. .any remedies besides trying to remove the rock which contain them?? worried that they might sting my corals, especially the sps...i noticed that they are even creeping onto my zoos and growing onto some of the polyps...and ends up that my polpys are closed!

[FuEl]

huH? Green star polyps can sting???

[Achilles Tang]

Yum!!

[Chris]

I got a frag of this monti from a famous frag-expert here and it has grown about 10% in 2 months! A little slower than normal cause my light are only 150W but as long as alive, I'm happy enough.

[robe]

Yes, green star polyps or any other polyps can sting your monti or acros.... it stunged my monti the last time and it left a bare patch underneath.

[Dispar_Anthias]

Wow so nice

[Stenopus Hispidus]

Hi Mellow,

Yes, they spread like wildfire. I have given away 2 fist-size rock full of them and also transfered some to my other tank. Another smaller frag was given to newdamsel. Dunno how is it doing? Yes, they do irritate other corals and inhibit expansion over them.

In my case, the monti grew fast enough to overshadow those polyps below it and guess what...killed them all. Now the area below the monti is pitch dark and nothing the green star polyps can do to resume its growth there. To the left are my candy canes and to the left is the lobo both of which have more powerful stings than the star polyps. For the past 10 months, its prolific growth has been checked. Sometimes proper placement of coral type can keep things from getting out of hand.

Hi Chris,

I got a frag of this monti from a famous frag-expert here and it has grown about 10% in 2 months!

Good for you. You should get a good big piece in a year. Hmmm....Why do I get this gut wrenching feeling that I know who you are referring to? Telepathic powers?

as long as alive, I'm happy enough.

I have the same motto. Sometimes I just wish the corals don't grow so fast so that I don't have to spend so much time to re-scape, frag, tear, destroy just to keep things in order. Acro being the exception.