My New Carpets

[RobbAdams]

Are these for sale? (getting into Truck)

Robb

[Delphinus]

Sorry Scott wasn't directing the comments to you (or anyone for that matter) in particular. Just pointing out what came immediately to mind, that these are gigantea's.

It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine that the availability sheets usually just say "carpet". There are 4 species of carpet (1 Atlantic, non-clownfish hosting, and 3 IndoPacific carpets) and each is quite different in its needs and care requirements and sensitivity levels. To me it's usually quite brutally obvious what species a carpet is so I think it's inexcusable for anyone in the business (again not directing this to any specific person) to not identify the carpet species. These wholesalers can do it if they really tried.

I've even seen people refer to ritteri's as carpets. .. At that point you may as well refer to an acropora as a fish! Or a shrimp as an urchin. Or a piece of live rock as a bird. "I just started a new tank and I'm cycling 60lbs of African Grey!!!" (Ok maybe now I'm just going too far.)

Anyhow sorry for that little rant... Wasn't trying to be preachy at anyone, but just had to share my thoughts. I may not know very much overall, but what I do know I'm going to make darn sure everyone hears about it!!

[Delphinus]

Oops, Robb you're right, these may indeed not be for sale. I was thinking back to Neal's original post where he said he'd bring them in if there was interest. These may well be spoken for for all we know. Sorry if I misconstrued anything. I guess what I should have said was "I would snap that up immediately if I ever saw one for sale like that."

I hope it doesn't need to be said, but they are of course nice carpets and I am drooling at the sight of them.

PS. What does "getting into truck" mean? Never heard that expression before.

[Richard_Dicosimo]

i think he meant he was getting into his truck to go buy them if they where for sale.

Richard

[Delphinus]

LOL.. Geez that completely went over my head. Oh man, I need to go have some coffee or something.

[howdy20012002]

I apologize for not saying what type they are.
I myself didn't know and they were sold to me as blue and electric green carpets.
Neal

[Delphinus]

No need to apologize Neal!! I was just being my anal retentive self. Sorry. I was pretty sure they just showed up on your list as "carpet". I guess to be fair, wholesalers probably deal with who-knows-how-many in a year, and they don't have time to analyze every single creature that comes in. (Well, that, and maybe most customers aren't as picky about ID's as others. )

FWIW, here's why I think they're gigantea.

1) The tentacles look too large to be haddoni. Most of the time, the tentacles are way longer on gigantea. (Think "shag carpet".) However when new to a tank they can "pull in" and look very much like a haddoni. But even then the overall scale is just larger.

2) Gigantea's like to bunch up or fold up like shown in the picture. A haddoni is more likely to lay flat. (Exceptions apply of course).

Generally speaking, the best way to cinch an ID is look at the verrucae (the little dots on the sides of the anemone). Anemones use verrucae to attach temporarily to substrate. Gigantea's will have prominent verrucae in a constrasting colour (usually purple). Haddoni's will have smaller verrucae and usually the same colour as the rest of the pedal disk.

Here's an example of verrucae on a gigantea:


Usually if you can see the verrucae, ID'ing the carpet is a snap.

Incidentally, mertensii will have usually orange verrucae, in little dots or circles in shape, and will extend the entire pedal disk top to bottom (whereas gigantea will have them concentrated near the top). I have yet to see a merten's carpet in person. Seen a couple pictures mostly on RC, they seem to be fairly rarely imported.

Also -- apparenly only haddoni's can show variegation colouration -- so if you can see two colours in the oral disk, it's likely haddoni. (Or so I've read.)

[Murminator]

Ok 1st of all those pics do not do these justice you have to see them in person they are amazing..........now if I only had the room

[prosnow]

Where do you find info that detailed??

pro