How Do Acan Corals Grow- 4 Essential Factors
As an enthusiast of a saltwater aquarium, you must own LPS corals in your tank. Among them, Acans are surely the best selection for beginners for their vibrant ambiance in the tank.
These large polyp stony corals undoubtedly amaze you the most and that is why you wonder thinking, how do Acan corals grow?
Well, Acan corals come with different growth rates. Their growth rate varies mostly depending on the living conditions and environment. However, Acan corals can make new heads within a month. Yet, the process can be faster depending on their care and feeding.
Knowing how fast your Acan corals are growing is important for your own sake. Their growth rate will make you aware of their size and will help you to select the ideal position for them in the tank.
So, now that you are concerned about this fact, let’s enlighten you with every piece of information regarding this topic.
Growth Rate of Acan Corals
To speak the fact, the growth rate of Acan Corals is pretty high. In fact, they can grow heads within two weeks or so. However, this is also a bit unusual. But on an average rate, it takes almost a month to generate another head in Acan Corals.
In some cases, it takes around two months though. Nonetheless, the time period actually depends on their feeding schedule, quantity, tank conditions, and others.
Overall, it indicates the care you are providing to your corals. Even this growth rate might vary from one coral to the next Acan coral.
You may discover a significant difference between these two Acan corals growing with different growth rates. One shows a giant size while the other is the same or slowly getting big.
However, it is not a fact of worry. In fact, it is very common that some certain Acan corals will grow swiftly and some will grow in masses.
Factors Affecting Acan Corals Growth
Feeding
This is the first and foremost thing that affects the growth rate of corals as we have already mentioned before. The Acan corals require food to both survive and grow. Feeding them at least twice a week is necessary.
However, the corals pull up some nutrients from tank water as well. But if the tank water is not clean then it certainly is not that rich in nutrients. So, they cannot take up their required nutrients from the water.
Hence, spot feeding can help with this problem. Moreover, your Acan corals are carnivorous. It indicates that to meet their desired nutrient you have to introduce them to meat as well.
Nonetheless, the diet of Acan corals includes several prey like chopped seafood, copepods, artemia, and others. There are also commercial foods available in the market that are specifically made for your Acan corals. (Our Pick: Seachem Reef Zooplankton)
Moreover, you can get these commercial foods in various forms including pellet, flake, or frozen. However, the fun fact, is that these Acan corals are fast feeders. The moment they find food, their tentacles catch them and just slurp it in seconds.
However, their digestion process is quite slow. But it is quite fun doing target feeding your Acan corals and seeing them expanding their tentacles to catch the food.
So, ensure the best food for your Acan corals. Also, it has been proved that target feeding works a lot better than broadcast feeding. It ensures the proper nutrients for your corals and helps them grow faster.
On the contrary, if your Acan corals do not meet their required nutrients then they will slow down their growth. You just cannot depend on the tank water. This source will surely not provide enough nutrients.
That is exactly why it is important to maintain spot or target feed to your Acan corals once or twice every week.
Tank Water Parameters
Since you are going to place your Acan corals in Tank water, you must also ensure the water parameters. However, Acans can survive and tolerate wider ranges of water parameters. So, they do not always require the exact and ideal water conditions.
Nonetheless, you have to maintain some parameters in the tank to have your Acans grow faster. Thus, make sure to keep the tank temperatures constant. Maintain temperatures between 72 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.
Also, it is important to maintain the water pH. Your Acan will decline to grow further if the tank water is too acidic. They require a pH between 8.1 to 8.4. Therefore, the alkalinity has to be 8 to 12 dkh.
Moreover, to talk about the salinity requirement in tank water, it is ideal to keep it between 1.023 to 1.025.
So, if your aquarium has temperatures, pH, alkalinity, and salinity the amount we have just stated then surely your Acans are going to get the best environmental conditions for their thriving and growing.
Placement of Acan Corals
It is another very crucial factor that affects the growing process of your Acan corals. How? Well, only the best placement of Acan corals can ensure proper and uninterrupted growth. This is because any interruption in the process will slow down the growth rate of corals.
Moreover, if you keep your Acans in a place close to other corals then Acan corals will damage others. Hence, you have to keep the Acans at least 6-inch away or more than that to achieve the desired rate of growth.
Also, the right placement means the right environment and conditions. The Acan corals are not very fond of higher water flows. Extreme water flow might rip out the delicate flesh of the Acans.
Hence, they require intense light with a moderate flow of water. However, excessive light might also affect adversely. So, keep that in mind.
However, one thing you have to make sure of when you are making a place for the Acan corals is to ensure enough room to grow. Do not pack all the Acans too close forgetting about the future growth of the corals.
Needless to mention corals behave like animals. Thus, they are likely to colonize the rest of the space they have. So, all types of corals require a great deal of space for their growing and other stuff.
Among them, Acans are highly exceptional for having sweeper-like tentacles. These tentacles require plenty of room to have proper growth.
Aquarium Company
With whom you are keeping your Acan corals also act as a factor affecting their growth. In most cases, Acans are pretty compatible with other species in the tank as long as they have enough space for themselves.
You just cannot let other types of corals like green star polyps grow just beside your Acan corals. They will treat them as their enemy.
Ensuring enough room you can keep chalices, Favia, plate corals, and other species in the tank. It is way better if the species are kept in the lower zone. It will ensure the proper thriving of Acans.
However, you might need to take some extra care if you are thinking of keeping soft leather corals with Acans. It is because soft leather corals produce chemicals that have been proven harmful to the growth of Acan corals.
Hence, neutralizing the tank water becomes necessary. You can do it by changing the water and activating the carbon in the tank. Again, keep in mind that most fish would like to peck at the fleshy polyps of Acan corals.
Surely, the fish will cause damage this way. However, there are some fish available that will let your Acan corals live in peace. These fish include cardinalfish, basslets, clownfish, firefish, tangs, and all.
So, these are some factors that affect the Acan corals’ growth. Just by ensuring all the factors properly, your corals can obtain the right growth.
How does Big Do Acan Corals grow?
Normally, Acan corals grow up to two meters or more in a natural way. However, sometimes, they can be even bigger or like 3 meters in size. But that too very rare and obviously does not occur in aquariums.
To talk about the size of polyps of Acan corals, a single one comes with a size of one inch or less in diameter. But if the corals are larger in size, then the polyps might come in two-inch diameter.
The Acan corals with large polyps will grow larger than those with smaller polyps. Their growth depends on their head size. If the size of their head is increasing then your Acans are also growing. Eventually, they will spread within the aquarium across other suitable species and rocks.
However, the easiest way to make your Acan corals grow faster is to feed them well. The more you will feed the Acans the faster they will grow by spreading their tentacles.
Thus, if your only motive is to make your Acan corals larger in size then feed them regularly with proper nutrients. The required nutrients will help them to construct new tissues.
However, as we have mentioned earlier, ensuring enough space is also important. This will create uninterrupted growth for your Acans.
FAQs
What Do You Feed An Acan Coral?
Well, your Acans can eat almost anything. However, meat is their favorite. You can feed them raw shrimp obviously that too in small pieces, general meaty fish foods, frozen Mysis, marine pellets, reef roids, and all.
How Much Light Does An Acans Need To Grow?
The Acan corals do not like excessive light intensity. In fact, they require the lower side of intense light. With 25 to 50 PAR these Acans will do great and grow fast.
Why Are My Acan Corals Dying?
There could be several reasons for your Acans on the verge of dying. The reasons include too much light, insufficient nutrients, wrong placement, and bad companions. Acans react negatively when these factors are not in their desired order.
Consequently, they become unhappy and their flesh gets tight on the skeleton. Thus, the corals die off eventually.
Are Acan Corals Good For Beginners?
It is true that some corals are difficult to grow and look after. Hence, professional aquarists do not suggest them to beginners. However, Acan corals are not among them. These corals are in fact a great choice for beginners.
Final Words
Now you must know how Acan corals grow! Your Acans are able to grow amazingly faster only when you ensure the right condition for them. It must be very thrilling watching your priceless Acans grow heads every month or within two months.
So, since we have tried to give you a basic understanding of the topic, your all doubts should be cleared. Now you must know why your Acans are not growing or how can you make them grow fast!
Thus, if this article has helped you solve all your problems regarding this topic, then let us know with your feedback. Also, shoot me if you have any queries.
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