Montipora Setosa the shape changer.
by
, 09-30-2013 at 08:53 PM (6174 Views)
Take a second and think of a coral that can change the shape it grows in throughout its life? Yeah not many.
Montipora Setosa can grow in many different ways. M. Setosa is an encrusting coral that can grow little fingers, have small bumpy nubs, or can shelf out like a montipora capricornis. In my experience with M. Setosa I started with a small 3/4" stick a little over two years ago and now it's a 12" x 9" colony. It started encrusting well then started growing fingers. Once the colony grew to a nice size the fingers it grew started to fuse together to form shelves. The more light it gets the brighter orange it turns with medium flow.
I believe M. Setosa is a great starter coral for anyone trying to start growing SPS. Or for anyone wanting to bring a beautiful splash of orange to their tank. M. Setosa is also a coral you can take pride in your purchase of because the collection of this coral is restricted in the wild, so almost all frags are aquacultured. If you like the color of M. Setosa but don't like the shape it's growing in your LFS. Try it out chances are with a little time it will change the way you look at it.