mFrame Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I bought some green clove polyps from Vivid on order 3. These guys have been very interesting to me so I thought I'd share, though most of you experienced reefers probably already knew this. The frag arrived on a plug with about 6 polyps. It took me a while to figure out where they were happy (top of tank on rock, med-strong flow). They finally started to fully open after about two weeks but around that same time I noticed two of the larger polyps wilting. I was a bit disheartened, but took solace in the fact that I saw two small buds forming at the base of one of the other polyp's stem. I just chalked up the two "wilts" to possible damage from falling when my hermits decided they would look better at the bottom of the tank. A little epoxy later and back at the top of the tank, I've watched the buds grow (half height of others now) so that I now had 6 polyps. Last night, however, I was looking carefully at the "wilts", which are now lying almost completely horizontal. I expected them to wither away, but much to my surprise the most visible one did the following. After falling over, it has stretched from the frag plug almost an inch horizontally until it came into contact with the LR that the plug is mounted on. It attached there, then turned 90 degrees up and started growing, and of course now that growth has developed into a polyp. Closer inspection showed that the other "wilted" polyp did the same thing and actually tunneled through a crack in the epoxy holding the plug to the live rock. There is now a new polyp growing up through the other side of the epoxy on the LR there. So my colony has now not only doubled in size to 8 polyps, but is expanding off the plug to the live rock. My prior experience with "encrusting" corals was with GSP that kind of flows over a new area and then buds from this new growth. I never expected an existing polyp to morph into an extension that would then bud. Fun stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Nice! Cloves are really cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashley Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 Thanks for posting! I was thinking about getting some clove polyps on the Vivid 5 order...now I will! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truckin Posted June 19, 2009 Share Posted June 19, 2009 I also got some of the green clove polyps from Vivid. It took them a while to open, but now they are doing fine and producing more polyps. I have noticed periods that most or all seem to fold in for a while and then later they open up, apparently normal again. Maybe they are just resting (LOL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted June 19, 2009 Author Share Posted June 19, 2009 The only thing I would recommend is to get some of the wilder colors, mine were advertised as "Green Crystal Snowflake Cloves". The colors do not pop nearly as much as the photos, even under actinics. I would be interested in trading a few polyps with anyone who buys a different variety, I would love to have a rock covered in these in all different colors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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