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A few days later LeRoy had a special shipment come in that had tiny little fragments he gave to me to try and attach to my live rock in my tank. All of these fragments made it and before I knew it LeRoy was coming in my office spreading the risk to my tank so that he didn't have the only animal of that species in one tank.

Since then I have added over 45 different species of SPS corals and about 8 different genera. As a matter of fact I have taken cuttings of mine and spread the risk back to LeRoy's new tank as well as other hobbyists'.

I have found the most important message I can convey to you about raising these animals is to pay close attention to them. For instance their color, their polyp extension, temperatures, and any sign of bleaching.

Believe me as small as some of the fragments come in they do grow. After the first month of having the SPS corals in my tank I decided to increase my lighting due to wanting to get better color. I then added an extra Maxi-Jet 1000 power head, because when these corals grow they need more current to reach under the branches that are growing. You also have to be careful that other animals are not fighting for the same space or trying to sting your SPS corals.

These Xenia are producing many cuttings each month

As your tank becomes older the soft corals take on a life of their own and really grow quite rapidly. So you have to make sure their is enough room and enough light getting to all the inhabitants. I also found that I needed to add additional supplements to compensate for their growth and the need the snails generate for calcium as their shells need to grow.

The left picture shows the new SPS cuttings attached with superglue.
The right picture shows how these cuttings grow into coral heads in four months

My tank is now a year and a half old and to me it no longer looks like a soft coral tank it has taken on the beauty of a reef building coral tank. Some of these SPS corals grow much faster than others, and if not careful will grow right out of the water. THIS IS THE REASON THAT THE SUPER GLUE METHOD OF ATTACHMENT IS SO IMPORTANT. ! I can just pop off the animal I am moving and attach it to another location in my tank. As my system becomes older I find myself doing this often due to the growth of my corals.

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