How difficult are Acans?

[Osteoicthyes]

How successful are most people at keeping them? Are they worth the money and can be expected to survive? I'm assuming they grow slowly, is this right?

[sponger0]

I dont tihnk they are difficult at all. But like other stoney corals, trace elements should be kept up for their health and growth

[greech]

Some grow slower than others. I assume you are referring to lords but either way the are one of the easier LPS. Lower light and lower flow. Feed them with small meaty foods and they will grow quicker (at least IME).

[reefer999]

I don't think they're hard to keep, but some grow slower than others.

[RobMcC]

I'd say it depends on you tank. In my old tank thee were really fast. 2-3 polyps would get to about 30 in 6 months. In my new tank they are quite slow.

Before you ask I don't know what the difference was as parameters were the same between the two - at least what you could test for...

[Osteoicthyes]

Thanks for the replies.

I've been admiring them for a long time but have become reluctant to attempt keeping any new types.

My tank has been up for around 9 years. It, like many, has experienced some ups and downs. A power failure a few years ago devastated many of my corals.

Since then things have begun to appear normal. The corals that I've got have proven quite resilient with many of them having made it through some horrible conditions that, by all rights, shoulda killed everything.

But, I'm starting to get the "bug" again and really would like to try some new kinds. I just don't to waste my money and "their" lives by attempting something that won't work.

Btw, it's a 105g that currently contains yumas, ricordias, zoos, lots of frogspawn, trumpets, a large pagoda cup, a couple of montipora, and a couple of birdnest.

[Aaron77]

I think that mine always do better when they are left alone. Meaning they are always more open and what not when they do not get bumped at all and the fish stay away. I have one in my 120 that went from about 7 to 15 or so in a few months but the skeleton took much longer to really get any bigger. Hope that helps.

[scolley]

Easy. Easy. Easy coral. Except that if you let one get too close to an aggressive coral, and it gets stung... kiss that acan goodbye. Hope it wasn't too expensive. ;)

[All Delight]

As long as your water is decent they'll do well. If you're currently keeping other lps you'll be ok. You can get cheap frags of acans for $10-$20 to test out. They won't be pretty rainbows but they're still nice reds and greens you can do.

[Osteoicthyes]

Thank-you guys. I'm now sufficiently motivated to take the plunge!

What about placement? How close to the lights? I'm currently running 8 T5's x 48". Again, thanks.

[scolley]

They do like light, but do not absolutely require a lot of it. I can't say if they will tolerate high light because I've never tried it. But I'd be surprise if they could not be adapted to it.

In my experience preferred placement appears to be on a sandy bottom, but will adapt to being placed of a rock.

[AJD84]

Most acans do not tolerate high light well at all. The coal will live but will "adapt" and turn brown on you. Largely classified as low light corals if you want to see the pretty colors. Yes, depending on where they are harvested and at what depth. They are largely listed as easy corals due to the equipment required low light and low flow. I would agree they are more tolerant to water params than SPS corals but I would definitely do some research on the acan posts on the interwebz before jumping in. There are quite a few issues of why isn't my acan opening or why is my acan turning brown etc.

[E.intheC]

I would definitely start them in a shaded area. That's a good amount of light and IME acans don't like a lot of light.

[IridescentLily]

they just need to be near or on a rock so they can multiply.
I got one from our local fish store about a year ago, there were five polyps. In six months there were 16 polyps. Mine came with barely a frag plug, it was more like a 1/2" shard of rock and they multiplied till there were so many they were duing because they had no room to grow except on top of each other.
Now they're growing again on the rock i placed them on. They are very easy to keep, low to medium light. They eat like pigs. Coral frenzy, or mysis, rods food, etc.