Glued Down Plate Coral doing Great!

So, it's been about a week or so since I decided to glue my small plate coral to a piece of rock and then burry the rock in the sand so my hermit crabs can't flip it over, burry it or move it around. The plate is doing fantastic! It is A LOT happier comared to when it was just sitting on the sand and was getting tossed around the tank! Most people told me not to do it because it would most likely die. It has not, it doesn't even show any signs of illness or weakness! It eats wonderfully and stays pretty much expanded and lays nicely on the substrate! If it was going to die, it would have shown signs by now, but it is as happy and healthy as any other plate coral I have seen! I am very pleased!

 

They won't die off the sand if all their requirements are being met. But they move... I don't know abut gluing down a critter where it's natural for them to want to move.

 

Yea, I know what you mean and I was hesitant about gluing it down but personally, I think this is better than getting tossed about the tank, flipped over and burried in the sand constanly! I would rather glue it down and restrict it's natural behaviour to move than it be killed by stupid hermit crabs! As much as I hate the hermits at times, I love them because they are a really good part of my clean up crew. If the plate wasn't happy it wouldn't look so good and it looks great, so it is obviously happy about where it is. I just wanted to share that you can glue down a plate with success. My friend also did this with his plates and they are all huge now

 

A week doesn't indicate success, I'm afraid. I mean that in a nice way.

My concern would be at some point he may want or even need to move to survive, and he won't be able to. Right now he is happy he's not being tousled around. In the future, their wants could change.... and he'll be stuck to endure.

 

You realize that the under side of the plate coral is all living tissue as well, It is essentially the same as gluing a scoly on its side because you want it vertical
At some point the glue is going to cause an issue and possibly kill it or cause an infection from torn tissue

 

Glad to know everybody was wrong!!! I'm just curious to see it "grow" seeing its body is stuck to a frag with glue

 

I don't think she is saying anybody was wrong.

I'm glad to see that it is happier as of now. If I remember right, you just used the minimal amount of glue so that it could be freed from the LR rubble in the future. I would keep on monitoring it and make sure it stays happy. ;D

 

The purpose of this post wasn't to prove that I was right or anyone was wong, just to share that gluing a plate can work (so far). Yes, in one of my earlier posts I mentioned that I only use the tiniest drop of glue, just enough to make it stick to the rock and as it got bigger I am going to free it from the rock so that it can sit back on the sand later. I just wanted to share the success (so far) for people that are having the same problem I am. I'm not suggesting to permanently smother the bottom with glue and keep it glued for the rest of it's life, but just until it gets a little bigger so that the hermits can't toss it around as easily and then to remove it from the rock and it can go back to it's natural "wanting to move" behaviour. I'm not meaning to prove anyone wrong, I just want to show this TEMPARARY solution to this problem with very small plates and hermit crabs, that's all.

 

So far, so good. That is all that really matters anyways. Just keep us updated on the progress. ;D

 

Sorry I have to agree that one week is FAR to soon to make any assessment as to the effects of being glued down. These corals inflate/deflate and move naturally when needed. If you can provide all the flow/lighting/..... to meet it's needs it might be ok long term.

They can be coralled using small pieces of rubble which seems like a more natural solution to the problem of them moving about the tank.