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Farmertodd's Favorite Animals
Although each critter selected as an addition to my systems are special, everyone
has their favorites :) I'd like to give them their own little highlight out in
cyberspace. If you'd like to see the progression of their growth, please click on
the image of that animal.
Acropora sp.
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This colony has truely converted me to the full appreciation of "fuzzy twigs". The
orignal colony was a 1" fragment aquired August 2000 from Tropicorium in Romulus, Michigan .
Once settled in and comfy, wow did it grow quickly. Now that
it's really branched, I have visions of an entire section of the aquarium dedicated
to this colony with chromis darting in and out of the head :)
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Lobophyllia sp.
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This colony and I go way back. It came to my care while I still had the LFS in
June of 1999, and was a wild colony. It came in on a very bad week, as the
following week the temperatures approached the 100's. I managed to keep
the systems around 88 (the A/C was busted) , however, compunded with the
stress of shipping, it decided it had had enough and expelled nearly all of
it's zooxanthellae. It went completely clear/white. So I hand fed it for
five months to sustain itself, and fortunately, it was willing to play along :)
It's done quite well in the 125, to the point that it became a nuisance to neighbors.
I fragmented the colony in July 2001 to remove a couple of the lobes in an effort
to alleviate some of the space issues. It worked out for the best, 2/3 of the colony
are off in some one else's tank now, and I still get to enjoy the same genetics :)
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Porites cylindrica
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This colony was aquired March 2000 at Hawk's Aquatics in Lima, Ohio.
It was a wild colony and I was somewhat apprehensive about the initial size
(from hearing tales that Porites were very very slow growers) because it was
so spread out and not very branchy at all. Fortunately, I picked a piece that
wasn't extremely developed, since I've learned otherwise that in this system,
Porites grows very quickly, and very branched growth at that.
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Xenia sp.
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I aquired the mother of this colony from Keith Langdon in August 2000.
I say mother, because I wasn't carefully watching my alkalinity at one
time and melted the mother. There were two polyps that survived the rise to 16dkh
and consequent fall which I "corrected" too quickly, and this colony is
the result of those two polyps. I must say, it's nice to have it back in
action :)
This colony is a pulsing variety with very frilly polyps. It's mesmerizing
to watch and is usually the first individual colony noticed by visitors. I've
had serious debates with myself concerning my experience with other specimens
of Xenia sp. and their usual over-growth of a tank, and wether it should be
removed. However *so far*, it's remained stalked and not sent off any new colonies.
The conclusion was that my wife and I enjoy it too much so I'll just keep my
fingers crossed and prune it somewhat regularly :)
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