are hammer corals tough?

[MandarinFish]

Are hammers really durable corals?

 

[reefland]

Are hammers really durable corals?

I think the term you are looking for is "hardy". I've found my branching hammer to be very hardy. In fact its bag broke during shipping to me and arrived dry. Tossed in the tank (can't acclimate a dry coral) and it has done great ever since.

 

[MandarinFish]

My local vendor has a branching purple hammer, actually a couple - each has several heads on them.

They're magnificent. I think I may get one.

Can they be fragged?

 

[reefland]

Purple... wow sounds very nice. Inbetween branches is bare skeleton. Just snap a head off (be care ful not to touch the fleshy parts). Might need something strong to cut with like a bone cutter.

 

[flameangel1]

Branching hammers are very hardy , where as "wall" types are subject to shipping problems and not hardy.
I cut my branching Hammers with a Dremel if they can not be "snapped" off by hand.
But, branching Hammers and also Frogspawn corals very often grow babies all along the skeleton part.
Letting them grow to about an inch and then cutting them off will yield many more new corals.

 

[Palmetto]

The non-branching hammers are very hardy also, just difficult to ship. They are very difficult to frag also, but my friend Paul and I just recently cut his giant one in half with a dremel saw. He put a fat rubberband around a the center of it to get the tissue to recede and make a safe spot for cutting. Then, we just pulled that baby out and sawed away.

I now have half of it in our display tank.

It is shown here before the surgery:
http://www.palmettoreefs.com/gallery/paul/Hammer.htm

I will have some pics up soon of the actual surgery. It went surprisingly successfully.

I got a couple of branching hammers in a shipment today. One of them was in 3 pieces, but no tissue damage. I guess I will have 3 small ones in stock instead of one big one!

 

[BB6]

hey mandarinfish,

what fish store did you see the purple hammer at

I'm also in the bay area and would be interested in getting one for my clownfish

thanks in advance

 

[Palmetto]

Purple like these little ones, or deep purple?

BB6, my clown ignores my massive green hammer. He plays in the star polyps and annoys my trumpet, I dunno why he wont go play in the big hammer.

 

[reefland]

hmm, they look brown to me. Just has a purple light on them - unless you have purple sand too.

 

[Palmetto]

hmm, they look brown to me. Just has a purple light on them - unless you have purple sand too.

Ha!

No, they have some mauve/ purple to them. This is under 2 actinics, 1 aquasun, 1 actinic white. It does make it hard to tell what the natural colors are.

No, the sand isn't purple-yet. (The rocks are)

 

[MandarinFish]

BB6 - I just got mine from Eddie at Tropical Paradise in San Leandro.

I got the last one in the sale tank, but I checked and he has one in his display tank in the back left part of the store. I confirmed with him that he would sell it to you.



Let me also confirm that the branching hammer I got is purple. Not brown. Not beige. Not cream.

I looked at it in daylight, on an overcast Bay Area day, and the color remains purple outside of any actinic / high-Kelvin lighting.

Magnificent coral.

Sadly, I found out Eddie loses 2 for every one he sells. They get shipped and messed up.

This solidifies my dedication to growing out my own farm and selling corals to minimize demand on the wild. I felt really bad buying this coral. I know that I will grow and frag it though, and bring the babies / sisters back to Tropical Paradise for sale once they get going.