Kenya Tree Forest

[clem1999]

I recently added a large Kenya tree about 3 months ago. It appears to be very healthy but it does drop about 1 branch on a weekly basis.
The questions are:
1. I recall reading that this is normal. Is that true?
2. Each branch has reattached somewhere else in the tank on large pieces of live base rock. How do you control this? How do you remove the extra branches of the Kenya tree before it becomes an entire forest?
Thanks.

 

[novahobbies]

Kenya are notorious for doing this. Yes, the branch-dropping is a form of self-propagation. The best way to control this is to grab the frags before they adhere to anything. If you want to propagate the coral yourself, get a small plastic basket with large pieces of coral rubble in it and keep it in the back of your tank. Tuck the frags into the rubble when you see the branches drop, and either sell to the LFS for credit or give the frags away to new reefers.
If you want to remove excess kenya from the rock, trim the branch as close to the rock as possible. You will need to do this a few times (it will keep trying to grow back from the leftover tissue) but eventually it will die back.
I know what you mean though. I have a HUGE kenya in my horse tank, and it loves the higher nutrient levels in that tank. I'm constantly pruning it, picking out dropped branches, etc. I've fragged this thing a dozen times and I swear each time it just comes back bigger.