Topdown pics bandwagon
 

Thought I'd try some...

http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/75gtop01.jpg

Think you have a M. cap? Now this is a M.cap.... :lol:
http://members.shaw.ca/hobiesailor/temp/75gtop02.jpg

Yummy! :cool:

Question: what influences M. caps to form a few large plates versus many, smaller plates?
(Notice the difference for instance, between yours and Brad's.)

Hey Tony ... Did you happen to get any " accidental " frags lately ? :eek:

Cheers

Looks great Tony. Nice cap :razz:

OMG.
*steps away to smash my caps with hammer*
hey tony, lookin good.
yeah, i am interested in your cap as well...
in comparison to the shrimp i figure that cap being <12" around, and to have that much plating going on at that size is very intriguing and impressive to say the least.
whats your secret? what kind of flow is it under, and lighting?
anyway, lets some more pics, and a full tank shot as well please.

Tony, Indeed nice cap. As far as why they grow different in different systems. Many reason come into play and to credit one would simply be wrong. Lighting, current, water parameters including nutreint levels will all play a factor in some degree. I will say that comparing Brads to Tony's isn't the best comparision. Reason being at least from the picture it would appear Brads is the common orange were Tony's is the red version that is very common down south. Each respecfully appear to be growing ralitivly similiar to others that I've seen with in different systems. I may be wrong and Tony and Brad perhaps could clear it better then I can. Again sweet peice Tony :cool:

Yup he did and I got them all ready :razz:

Just kidding, there may be more.

Hey Tony,

Deb needs a frag of that M. cap. :mrgreen:

Could you post a full tank pic for me?? Those pictures are awesome!!!
Thanks

Christy :)

I thought Deb was anti-fuzzy?

I already mentioned this to Tony, but I am also in for a piece of that at some point in time.

Deb will be acting as my Em-bassador :razz:

Understood.

I have one Christy. It looks kinda like a glob of cheez whiz. :rolleyes:

Oh fab! Bring it when you come :wink:

C:)

This colony came with many growing edges and each one just seems to keep growing. It is a fairly quick growing coral and doesn't take much to break, it's not particularly dense. You could probably easily crush it within your fingers. I don't know what I can say about my system except that it can't hold a candle to any of the nice tanks here. Compared to pretty much anyone's tank it is a big mess. I can try to take a full tank shot tomorrow, the latest ones I have right now are from about June-July and I'm not particularly happy with them so I'll try again (you know, for a guy who was once upon a time really, really into 35mm photography, I cannot take pictures of my tanks to save my life. Always out of focus, always over or under exposed ... in plain they just suck. I know, I know ... more practise is in order... or maybe it is that the tanks are just too messy and I'm far too embarrassed to show it...)

The tank is just a 75g, water movement is from about 7 or 8 powerheads on a wavemaker, as well as the sump return (LG4 split into two, pointed at the two front corners).

I can tell you that the cap does not like a whole lot of direct current. When I was toying around with one of those Tunze streams, there was not a single place I could put it in my tank, where this piece didn't start sulking (whichever end was closest to the Tunze, would show slight tissue recession and then algae would start to grow over the receded areas) ... not being able to solve that problem by creative placement of the Tunze I had to return the Tunze. It's just far too big a piece for my tank I guess.

You can see some tissue damage right now in the back that is being caused by the proximity of the coral to one of the sump returns. It has finally grown higher than the sump returns and now I fear I may have a problem ... I can't move this piece (it's VERY heavy and thus very solidly glued to some heavy rocks). So either I have to REALLY kick into gear my plan of "buy a new house so I can build a new tank" or I am going to have to face and conquer my fear of "deliberate fragging" ("accidental fragging" I can do no problem, but planning to do it and executing said plan ... cold feet every time). Well anyways maybe in the next few weeks there will be some frags available of it ... we'll see (maybe I'm just gonna have to liquor myself up first). {Or maybe One_Divided can come over and step on it for me.. :mrgreen: :lol: :razz: I'm sorry Adam I just love that story.... :biggrin: }

There are times I think I can detect a slight pink hue to it's colour, although it's always that I see it (right now not being one of those times, it doesn't look red or pink at all to me at the moment). So I don't know .. but maybe Jamie is correct in that this is not the same kind that Brad has. Jamie what do you mean by the "south" when you say "more common in the south" do you mean southern parts of the southern Pacific or just more common in people's tanks in the southern U.S., or .... ???

Mine has a kind of sponge growing on it (you can't see from the picture, but a lot of the underside and the inside edges are covered with sponge). They seem to have a tug-of-war going as to who gets to conquer an area. The sponge will grow over a section then the cap will grow over the sponge and so on. So perhaps this is also a factor in determining it's "growth strategy."

Well Tony after you get all liquored up at the fish meeting you can go home and frag your cap. It should be growing out of the water soon. :cool:

Oh and I would say it's an orange color. Looking through my new starphire it looks very orange :mrgreen: Sorry, couldn't help myself

Yeah, yeah, ... I bow in your general direction, I am not worthy .... :mrgreen:

I totally agree. Right now, orange. But there have been times I thought I saw some pink in the newish growing areas. I dunno ... ?? Need new glasses maybe?? :eek:

Tony, Ah sorry not very clear in my statement. What I was meaning in regards to done south is the U.S . As far as color goes you guys are quite right it does appear more on the orange side. Though for what ever reason it seems many in the U.S call that particular piece a red. I know it was traded to me as a red and I've seen many others call that version a red as well. I happen to have both pieces that appear the same as Brad's and Tony's and indeed they both appear orange to me as well. Though certainly different species. Buy the way Tony was that a wild or frag when you received it? Sorry if you mentioned already.