Hammer Head Coral

[newfishhobbyist]

Hi all. We have 2 false perculas, 1 fire red shrimp, 1 watchman goby with tiger pistol shrimp and several snails. We also have a green star polyp, a ricordea f., some zoas and just added a hammer head. What is your opinion on the hammer head....we didn't realize how poisonous this thing is and are concerned. Should we get rid of it?

Thank you!

 

[Flake]

I love the euphyllia. As long as it's away from your other corals it's not going to hurt anything

I have 2 frogspawns and a torch in a 46 and have had no ill effects.

 

[Zer0]

Definitely don't get rid of the hammer. They are such awesome coral. They aren't poisonous.. they just pack a powerful sting to other coral around it. As well as some fish. It is however, best if you place the hammer away from all of your other coral since they do have a very powerful sting. They get to be a decent size, so you need to make sure that where you place it, it won't be able to grow out to the point where it is coming near your other coral. Another thing to watch out is that they have pretty long sweeper tentacles that sting.. so you want to consider where you place them in your tanks flow, so the water current doesn't push the sweeper tentacles in the direction of other coral. Just isolate the hammer and you will be 100% OK. I have 3 and i think they are amazing. Frogspawn is my favorite, but the hammers are definitely up there. IMO, Keep It!

 

[newfishhobbyist]

It won't kill anything...it will just sting it?

 

[newfishhobbyist]

Here's a pic of the one we bought still in the LFS tank.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_58UXVqh4n00/SreZ5EG13TI/AAAAAAAAADE/kekx7z5wG2w/s576/hammer-baby.JPG

 

[Flake]

Aggressive corals sting. They do it to keep their space. Anemones do something similar, which is why clownfish host them for protection.

The only thing it would hard are your corals. Clowns can host a hammer, and the hammer can't hurt you. If you can find a place where it's happy and not bothering anything. Keep it, they're gorgeous corals.

 

[Flake]

Cute little hammer. About the size of my torch. Looks fine where it is. Once it gets bigger it may need to be moved, but for now you're fine.

 

[Zer0]

No. When the hammer stings a coral, the place where the coral was stung will die off. If you have something like Xenia next to a hammer, and ONE Xenia polyp is stung.. just that ONE polyp will die.. not the whole Xenia stalk. Now if your hammer happens to wrap around or smother another coral lol, then you can kiss that coral goodbye.

 

[melosu58]

Dont get rid of it, They are beautiful corals and as long as you keep it about 5-6 inches away from other corals it will be OK. My clown has found a home in mine. If you look in my images you can see mine.

 

[newfishhobbyist]

Thanks everyone! We will keep it!

 

[melosu58]

This is my hammer. About the size of a volleyball.

 

[newfishhobbyist]

OMG!! That's wicked cool!