uh, acans too close?? WHAT IS THAT!?!?

[aandfsoccr04]

Did I put my acans too close together this morning before work? I was under the impression after seeing a few tanks with acans very close to one another, that you could put acans as close to each other as you want. I came home from work to find THIS in my tank:

http://i309.photobucket.com/albums/kk366/aandfsoccr04/acans.jpg

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON????

[seapug]

You can mix different colors of the same species, but you have two different species. The echinata on the right will kill just about anything you put next to it.

[poidog81]

Yes. The one on the left is a lordhowensis the one on the right is a echinata. Looks like the echinata threw up it's guts on the lord. Acans of the same sub-species are fine next to eachother, but different will attack each other.

[aandfsoccr04]

What is the difference between the two species? I've always had them within 2 inches of each other. The pink one just kind of toppled over a little so I pushed it back down in the sand and they must have touched. What happens from here?

[Yinzer]

That is awesome...in a national geographic kind if way.

[scar79]

Snapped this the other day at the LFS

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7689/photocz.jpg

[Reef Bass]

Bye bye scoly!

Be careful with A. echinata placement. Unlike regular sweepers tentacles, their messentary filaments can creep up current along the sandbed and attack anything in range.

[seapug]

What is the difference between the two species? I've always had them within 2 inches of each other. The pink one just kind of toppled over a little so I pushed it back down in the sand and they must have touched. What happens from here?

They are genetically distinct and incompatible. Different species can touch in some genera of corals, but not Acans. 2" may be enough space, but 1 3/4" may not be. You're going to want to keep that echinata far away from all other corals in the tank. They are one of the most aggressive LPS corals available, along with the Lobo shown eating the Scoly in the pic above.

Move them apart and try to siphon off any damaged parts of the lordhowensis. If the damage wasn't too severe it may recover.

[Swanwillow]

So, along these same lines.

How can you ID the two so the placement isn't accidentally made?

[AndyH5512]

Acan Lords have bigger, more distinct puffy heads. Echinatas appear to be less distinct from head to head, and are not as puffy as the Lords.

[dogstar74]

You're going to want to keep that echinata far away from all other corals in the tank.

Oh I have no doubt that it WILL be far away from any LIVE corals in the tank. :lmao:

One thing you can do, is frag away the skeleton of the part that was digested. In a long thread over on the LPS forum, they do this to avoid damage to the soft tissues by the sharp edges of the skeleton. ONce the soft tissue is gone, the skeleton becomes a liability. Just frag it away. and move the coral farther from the echinata.

Cheers,
Aaron

[RKLion]

Ive had an echinata acan burn half a gonipora, a superman monti and even a favia species. They have a nasty sting.

[ebojo]

My echinata gave a the business to one of my chalices. Now it sits in the corner, all alone.

[aandfsoccr04]

I don't really know if I want that stupid coral in my tank if it could potentially injure my most prized corals that I love to look at the most. I wonder if I have any other echinatas in my tank. I will check on the coral after work but expect it to make a full recovery because it couldn't have been like that for more than 7-8 hours.

[willy7499]

I just bought a Lord and an Echinata last weekend and learned the hard way too that not all Acans play nice with each other.

How far should I put the echinata away from everything to account for growth too? 6" radius good you think or should I do more?