as some of u might have seen in john's 40g thread, we picked up our very first sps, a pocillopora, today. i researched before we bought, but would like everyone's suggestions, advice, etc. on keeping this coral healthy & happy. i know to feed phyto, any other advice? we have it directly under the mh, on a flat rock.
they seems to like direct lighting IME, so that should be good for you.
the thing with these, is that many people (including me) find them as hitchhikers on LR, or frag plugs. they tolerate many not very ideal conditions and are a particularly hardy stony coral.
that said you should still take care of it..
feeding is nothing special. simply feed your tank normally, with the occasional phyto, rotifers, oyster eggs, golden pearls, decap non hatching brine eggs, cyclopseeze, not all at once of course but i think you get the point..
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A great first coral. I owned two different varieties of pocillopora; a nice creme colored and another one with an additional green flourescence to it. They are pretty darned hearty and grow rather fast. I sold countless frags to the LFS for store credit.
The preference for direct lighting is true. Darker colored variants seem to do better lower in the water column (with intense light systems) while the colored varieties like things a little brighter. You will easily note its preference. When happy, that coral will look very "fuzzy" with a look like a cauliflower head. There will be the various moguls and dips in the contour, but it will be uniform in polyp extension. If it is NOT happy, you will see some polyps stretching beyond the remainder of the colony..searching for more light. If it is overlit, the polyps retract and you can begin to see the spaces in between the branches appearing like fizzures. Again, when comfortable, you will have a uniform, consistant, fuzzy appearance to the colony.
Another indicator that a pocillopora is not stoked is if you notice something we call "Polyp bail out". Polcillopora polyps, when stressed, or if not happy with their location, have a tendancy to literally bail and become free floating. They will eventually land on another surface and if desierable, will begin to encrust and colonize that area. I've had them on glass, powerheads, clam shells, snails, you name it. Sometimes this will happen to an entire colony. More often than not, it is the lower branches that become shaded, that will bail.
In any case, I've never worried about target feeding my pocillopora. They tend to do well using the opportunities presented by foods in the water column and with lighting.
Another indicator that a pocillopora is not stoked is if you notice something we call "Polyp bail out". Polcillopora polyps, when stressed, or if not happy with their location, have a tendancy to literally bail and become free floating. They will eventually land on another surface and if desierable, will begin to encrust and colonize that area. I've had them on glass, powerheads, clam shells, snails, you name it. Sometimes this will happen to an entire colony. More often than not, it is the lower branches that become shaded, that will bail.
and this is why we often find them as hitchickers.
they will bail, and land on other LR, or coral frag plugs, that are then sold..
this is how i got mine..
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pocillopora-my 1st sps 
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