Can a Dendro change into a suncoral?

[SanguinesDream]

So I bought this Dendro on Boxing day and have had it in my QT tank since then. It started out whitish with extended polyps during the day but now it is all orange with dark orange centres that only extend at night.

I feed phytoplex and mysis and eeverything is growing like crazy . Have I confused it?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by SanguinesDream

So I bought this Dendro on Boxing day and have had it in my QT tank since then. It started out whitish with extended polyps during the day but now it is all orange with dark orange centres that only extend at night.

I feed phytoplex and mysis and eeverything is growing like crazy . Have I confused it?

pic??


suncorals and dendros are two different species , dendrophyllia and tubastrea sp.

whether or not you got a dendro or suncoral is very hard to tell usually.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by SanguinesDream

So I bought this Dendro on Boxing day and have had it in my QT tank since then. It started out whitish with extended polyps during the day but now it is all orange with dark orange centres that only extend at night.

I feed phytoplex and mysis and eeverything is growing like crazy . Have I confused it?

I think you have a Sun Coral. I have both a Dendro and Sun Coral. Pics below. My Dendro is always open. My Sun Coral is only open when feeding time (or when it senses food nearby). If I feed my Sun Coral in the morning, it will often stay open for much of the day (wanting more, I guess).

The Dendro head is much bigger, too, and has longer tentacles.

Dendro


Sun Coral

[reefwars]

for some species the only way to tell is to look at the coral after its dead.

price is usually a dead give away if its retail then you aint getting a colony of dendros for $40.....tubastrea no problems.

i currently have 3 types of dendros and about 10-12 different types of suncorals in my tank


some almost look identical :P


im not seeing a pic but maybe check out the nps forumn on reefcentral they have a good thread about the differences between dendrophyllia and tubastrea


cheers

[SanguinesDream]

It is indeed a dendro but a very orange dendro at that.