Speciosa grown from a frag

[SamsReef]

There are some really nice Speciosa colonies out there but they are all with vendors and most likely they were wild collected or maricultured.

I would love to see Speciosa colony grown from a frag in home aquarium. How is your growth rate?

Time to show off

Sam

 

[BirdFish5000]

Definitely following this one

 

[ryshark]

Definitely following this one

Same. I’m not sure if I’ve seen an actual colony grown from a frag.

 

[christwendt]

Same. I’m not sure if I’ve seen an actual colony grown from a frag.

Why is that. Are they new or die a lot ?

 

[Acros]

Adam from frag garage mentioned that he has very low frag viability for Malaysian speciosa.

 

[chipchipbro]

following!
@coral reeftank I think your growth is pretty crazy for the speciosas

 

[coral reeftank]

following!
@coral reeftank I think your growth is pretty crazy for the speciosas

Thanks for the tag! In my experience the speciosas grow very consistent for me. They seem to really like my system and wouldn’t say they’re much more difficult than any other smooth skin. I’d say ice fire echinatas from Australia are more difficult to adjust than these speciosas. The issue with speciosas stems from their route into the trade. They go through an extremely long supply chain and often come in super stressed and don’t adjust super fast.

They also seem to tolerate a wide array of light conditions once stabilized as well. They definitely do best around 300 par in my experience but can handle up to about 500 par. They also like moderate to strong current as well.
I also haven’t lost any of the frags I have made too, and have several mini colonies growing nicely as backups for myself.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

I have never imported a Speciosa colony but have purchased several frags from vendors including SBB Half Baked, BK Chem Jumanji, BK Chem Genghis Kahn, and FHC Rock Candy. All of these looked great for a few months but slowly wasted away. I tried different placements and all were dipped and inspected before introduction to my systems, but all perished. I kind of swore off Speciosas as just about everyone I spoke with had the same results. On 9/11/22 I purchased a piece of CC Flaming Sunrise at a Coral Show that I was vending at since it was priced very well and looked terrific. Knock on Wood, but so far so good I can see verifyable growth which I never had with the others. I will say that my systems have recovered from a Lanthanum Chloride incident which happened last March, and they are finally back to or ahead of where they were when that happened, so that could have been a factor. The only other difference is that I placed this Speciosa much lower in the water column than the others so perhaps the lower light has been better for it (around 300 PAR instead of 450-550). Here's a cell phone pic from 11/8/22 and one from 12/13/22. You can see how it has encrusted on the plug. I'll get a pic today and post it when my lights come on.

11/8/22

12/13/22

 

[coral reeftank]

Here is a pic from today of one of my CRT Nitro mini colonies. You can see a lot of new growth and encrustment.
Apart from the wild colors these speciosas come I really love the polyp extension on them the most. Considering where they come from in the wild I definitely think that the speciosas benefit from heavy particulate water with lots of food particles.

In this system I do not run filter socks and feed frozen food 3 times daily. Nitrates are 16 ppm and phosphates are .04 ppm

 

[ScottB]

Thanks for the tag! In my experience the speciosas grow very consistent for me. They seem to really like my system and wouldn’t say they’re much more difficult than any other smooth skin. I’d say ice fire echinatas from Australia are more difficult to adjust than these speciosas. The issue with speciosas stems from their route into the trade. They go through an extremely long supply chain and often come in super stressed and don’t adjust super fast.

They also seem to tolerate a wide array of light conditions once stabilized as well. They definitely do best around 300 par in my experience but can handle up to about 500 par. They also like moderate to strong current as well.
I also haven’t lost any of the frags I have made too, and have several mini colonies growing nicely as backups for myself.

I am able to keep Ice Fire Echinata in both my systems and they grow fast, but like @SawCJack00 I struggle with Speciosa. I kept a Suharsonois (small colony) for almost a year until one morning it just turned this odd green/brown and eventually died.

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Here's a pic I just took. It's a little lower angle, but you can see that it has now encrusted over the edge of the frag plug.

 

[ryshark]

Here's a pic I just took. It's a little lower angle, but you can see that it has now encrusted over the edge of the frag plug.

Looking really good and past the 3-month mark.

 

[SamsReef]

Reality is most of the Speciosa being sold are by vendors cutting maricultured or wild colonies. Even though some of them claim that it’s been “cooking” in their propagation system, which is not the case. That’s where it was photographed.
In my tank, I have two small pieces growing consistently but slowly. Let me grab some pics

 

[Epic Aquaculture]

Reality is most of the Speciosa being sold are by vendors cutting maricultured or wild colonies. Even though some of them claim that it’s been “cooking” in their propagation system, which is not the case. That’s where it was photographed.
In my tank, I have two small pieces growing consistently but slowly. Let me grab some pics

I completely agree. Most of the "colonies" are wilds and are cut right away and flipped. Other than what @coral reeftank posted, I have yet to see colonies in captivity long term. I think there is still much to be learned about Speciosa husbandry, but it seems that progress is being made.

 

[ryshark]

Reality is most of the Speciosa being sold are by vendors cutting maricultured or wild colonies. Even though some of them claim that it’s been “cooking” in their propagation system, which is not the case. That’s where it was photographed.
In my tank, I have two small pieces growing consistently but slowly. Let me grab some pics

Agreed. I don’t think there are any truly aquacultured frags being sold yet. At least not that I know of.

 

[SamsReef]

the two frags from two different vendors. Growing but slooowly

 

[Coronus]

Thanks for the tag! In my experience the speciosas grow very consistent for me. They seem to really like my system and wouldn’t say they’re much more difficult than any other smooth skin. I’d say ice fire echinatas from Australia are more difficult to adjust than these speciosas. The issue with speciosas stems from their route into the trade. They go through an extremely long supply chain and often come in super stressed and don’t adjust super fast.

They also seem to tolerate a wide array of light conditions once stabilized as well. They definitely do best around 300 par in my experience but can handle up to about 500 par. They also like moderate to strong current as well.
I also haven’t lost any of the frags I have made too, and have several mini colonies growing nicely as backups for myself.

Do you have a Ice Fire Echinata?

 

[coral reeftank]

Do you have a Ice Fire Echinata?

not right now

 

[maxwell]

Whats the ideal care for a ozzy ice fire piece i had a colony for several years a long time ago but had not seen any since in the Uk but managed to get a piece at the weekend its low down at the minute mounted high up with good flow any tips if it survives

.

 

[Big E]

Whats the ideal care for a ozzy ice fire piece i had a colony for several years a long time ago but had not seen any since in the Uk but managed to get a piece at the weekend its low down at the minute mounted high up with good flow any tips if it survives

.

Keep it low....doesn't need a lot of light 200 par or so. It can handle high flow but will grow in a tighter type bushy form. If you want long winding branches than keep the flow lower