Coral Spotlight | Duncans

mikejrice

Well-Known Member
Common names:duncans, whisker coral, daisy coral

Difficulty Level: Duncans are very much like most LPS having a pretty good tolerance to most things. They do however thrive better with stable alkalinity and feedings.

Feeding: Duncans are extremely aggressive eaters with very capable tentacles. They will easily catch and consume most food types including frozen, liquid and even pellets. Take care as their feeding aggression can sometimes be taken out on neighboring corals.

Lighting (Level 3 to 5): Duncans will thrive in a wide range of lighting. As with most hard corals, bleaching is a concern, so always acclimate by starting them lower in the tank and slowly move them up to your desired location.

Waterflow: Moderate to strong water flow is important. As duncan colonies grow, they will shape themselves based on the flow you provide. Under higher flow conditions, they will generally be more tightly formed while in lower flow they will form longer branches with more loosely spaced polyps.

Placement: Duncans are very aggressive, so be careful to give them plenty of space.

General: Duncans grow much faster with frequent feedings. They can be easily fragged like most euphyllia species by breaking heads off at the base of branches. When fragging, keep all flesh covered branch scrap and watch polyps pop right out of it

https://reefaquariumfish.com/duncan-coral-jewel-reef-aquarium-lps-tank/
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My Duncan grew 5 heads and was getting ready to grab it and then had a phosphorus flair up and my hammer and Duncan have sunk back into their stems.


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Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
I can attest to duncan's having very capable tentacles. Duncan attached to my green slimmer acro and in another location you can see a white patch forming on the underside of the green slimmer branch that has been repeatedly brushed by the duncan's tentacles.

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mikejrice

Well-Known Member
My Duncan grew 5 heads and was getting ready to grab it and then had a phosphorus flair up and my hammer and Duncan have sunk back into their stems.


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As long as you can stabilize your levels again, it should bounce back pretty easily. Duncans are amazingly tough.

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mikejrice

Well-Known Member
I can attest to duncan's having very capable tentacles. Duncan attached to my green slimmer acro and in another location you can see a white patch forming on the underside of the green slimmer branch that has been repeatedly brushed by the duncan's tentacles.

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Looks like that might be a good acro frag to break off before it's too late...

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mikejrice

Well-Known Member
Feast yours eyes on this huge #duncanopsammia #polyp! This is the first #coral I can honestly remember costing a ton for a small #frag. Remember the days when these were $150 to $200 per polyp? I do, but I still love them just the same. Probably one of the easiest corals on the planet to feed and they always reward food with growth!
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Oxylebius

Well-Known Member
When you say very aggressive, how do they take out that aggression on close neighbors?

Aggressive in that you won't be able to have other corals growing around it. The duncan coral won't have it. I suspect that is why mikejrice stated that they are aggressive verses semi-aggressive. Duncan coral's tentacles can stretch and touch and kill other corals around them. That is the aggression I have witnessed in my tank. Take a look at the pictures of the acro and duncan in the above posts. The difference is that there are some corals that will grow next to each other and intertwine with each other as they grow. This won't happen with duncans. One of my chalice corals seems to be the only coral I have that can grow next to the duncan and that is likely b/c the chalice is just as aggressive with stinging tentacles.
 

Uncle99

Well-Known Member
Thank you for that info, they can't seem to touch their neighbors yet, but I would not have known this....always learning...always something new...
 

mikejrice

Well-Known Member
These polyps always stand at the ready to grab anything made of meat right out of the water and drag it into its mouth. Duncan’s are truly amazing to watch while they eat.

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mikejrice

Well-Known Member
So much tentacle detail in this shot. Duncan’s have some of the most amazingly reactive tentacles of any coral. They will happily feed on just about anything made of meat as long as it fits in their mouth. My favorite food for them is dry pellets dropped directly onto the tentacles. It’s amazing to watch!

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