Lay it on me fellow reefers, which Montipora species in your experience grow slowly (assuming one starts with a healthy, well lit reef with good flow)? Scientific name would be great. Trade name or even no name with a picture is absolutely acceptable.
My searches on this topic seemed to mostly come up with reefers complaining about slow growth, or queries for fast growers. Many folks with new aquariums want growth fast. I get that. Perhaps they started with dry rock, or they are new to the hobby. Maybe they are just eager to get things going. Personally, I could enjoy just observing the life in the live rock and watching the clean up crew for a while.
I was re-reading a good thread about plating Montipora last night and it got me thinking about my 30 gallon tank (21 gallon display volume). In a nano I would prefer slow, healthy growth to constant pruning. I love the growth pattern of the Spongodes, for example, but it seems like it could outgrow an aquarium my size pretty quickly. M. Confusa and the Leng Sy Cap, on the other hand, seem to have a similar growth pattern with plating and nodules, but research shows they often grow slower. Montipora aequituberculata, similar, but with shorter nodules, also seems slower growing.
After, I started thinking in general about which are the slowest growing Montipora. I had found some slow growing Acropora threads (Oregon Tort, Purple Monster, etc.), but none about Montipora. So let us make a list. Any type be it plating, branching, dimpling, encrusting or anything in between, which Montipora corals grow slowly?
I was re-reading a good thread about plating Montipora last night and it got me thinking about my 30 gallon tank (21 gallon display volume). In a nano I would prefer slow, healthy growth to constant pruning. I love the growth pattern of the Spongodes, for example, but it seems like it could outgrow an aquarium my size pretty quickly. M. Confusa and the Leng Sy Cap, on the other hand, seem to have a similar growth pattern with plating and nodules, but research shows they often grow slower. Montipora aequituberculata, similar, but with shorter nodules, also seems slower growing.
After, I started thinking in general about which are the slowest growing Montipora. I had found some slow growing Acropora threads (Oregon Tort, Purple Monster, etc.), but none about Montipora. So let us make a list. Any type be it plating, branching, dimpling, encrusting or anything in between, which Montipora corals grow slowly?
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