What is this Coral?

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Snappy

It's not porites, that is actually a variety of Siderastrea sp. which is considered an LPS. They can extend fairly long sweepers at night so give it some room.

I will have to check it for sweepers some evening, it does not look like it is capable of very long sweepers though.

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by Oscar

I will have to check it for sweepers some evening, it does not look like it is capable of very long sweepers though.

Many corals are deceiving. For example would you think a hammer or frogspawn would look like they do when inflated if you had only first seen them deflated with just their base skeleton showing? Anyway the sweepers on my baseball size Siderastrea extend anywhere from about 2" - 5"

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Snappy

:Anyway the sweepers on my baseball size Siderastrea extend anywhere from about 2" - 5"

Snappy: Thanks for the insight. This is actually my first coral, I am still waiting until I am sure that my system has stabilized and that I figure out the Ca, Mg, alk issues until I add coral.

I still have plenty of algae, now that I know what this ceature is I will have to be a bit more vigilant in pruning algae around its perimeter.

Any special feeding requirements I should be aware of?

[Zoaelite]

Originally Posted by Snappy

Many corals are deceiving. For example would you think a hammer or frogspawn would look like they do when inflated if you had only first seen them deflated with just their base skeleton showing? Anyway the sweepers on my baseball size Siderastrea extend anywhere from about 2" - 5"

And if you think this is bad (at night time) take a look at a galaxy coral, their not shy at all with those tenticals.

Originally Posted by Oscar

Snappy: Thanks for the insight. This is actually my first coral, I am still waiting until I am sure that my system has stabilized and that I figure out the Ca, Mg, alk issues until I add coral.

I still have plenty of algae, now that I know what this ceature is I will have to be a bit more vigilant in pruning algae around its perimeter.

Any special feeding requirements I should be aware of?

Being an LPS coral target feeding small meaty foods will help this coral grow, still its said that 90% of energy captured by coral is from photosynthesis of their symbiotic algea so strong lighting and proper water conditions are the best way to maintain health.
Levi

[Whatigot]

Funny, I bought about 60lbs of Cuban LR at King Eds about 3 months back and had a good amount of this porite show up on mine as well and you will not find any sweepers coming from them.
Did you get a ridiculous amount of pistol shrimp (I have seen 9 in my tank at one time, who knows how many others are in there) as well?

I noticed while I was at JL that the corals like yours showing up on my rocks were the same as the symbiotic porites that exist with Christmas tree worms and sure enough, a tonne of them started to pop up recently on my LR as well.
I bet you will notice many of these on your rocks shortly.

http://www.jlaquatics.com/phpstore/s...uct_ID=c-ixmas

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

Did you get a ridiculous amount of pistol shrimp (I have seen 9 in my tank at one time, who knows how many others are in there) as well?

I noticed while I was at JL that the corals like yours showing up on my rocks were the same as the symbiotic porites that exist with Christmas tree worms and sure enough, a tonne of them started to pop up recently on my LR as well.
I bet you will notice many of these on your rocks shortly.

No pistol shrimp and no Christmas tree worms so far. I have had the Cuban LR for 2 months now so I suspect I have seen all of the wildlife that I am going to get. Lots of very small feather dusters.

[Whatigot]

Man, I guess I lucked? out with the pistols, it's actually amazing watching a colony of them.

Did you have a look at the link to JL's pic of the Christmas tree worms?
To me it looked Identical to the ones that popped up on my cuban LR when I looked in person and when I saw all the ctw come up recently it really made me suspect they were one and the same
I have been watching these things for 2 months and I have not seen sweepers once and I do a fair amount of night gazing....

What do you think?
thank you.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

Did you have a look at the link to JL's pic of the Christmas tree worms?

I have been watching these things for 2 months and I have not seen sweepers once and I do a fair amount of night gazing....

Yeah, thanks for the link. I am waiting until I am sure that my parameters have stabilized until I add any coral. I will be down at the Coast later this week so I will take a peek at that rock if any is in the store.

[Whatigot]

I think I wasn't clear.
I am wondering if you think that the coral you already have, the one that came on your liverock, is a match to the porites that are symbiotic with christmas tree worms as pictured in the link i posted earlier in this thread.
Again, I have the same coral on my LR from Cuba and I was certain it was porites, especially since I have seen no sweepers.
I was wondering if after having a look at the picture you might fathom a guess at if the porites that JL sells with its christmas tree worm rocks might be one and the same with the "mystery" coral you and I both had pop up on our LR...
Just looking for a second opinion, thank you.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Whatigot

I was wondering if after having a look at the picture you might fathom a guess at if the porites that JL sells with its christmas tree worm rocks might be one and the same with the "mystery" coral you and I both had pop up on our LR...
Just looking for a second opinion, thank you.

I do not have enough experience in coral ID to hazard a guess, hence the reason for my original post.