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dlandino

Mystery Coral - At least for me...

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So, I went to the lfs the other day for a test kit and something caught my eye. It seemed to be an SPS but it had HUGE polyps which were all closed. This coral was in a junk tank sitting on the bottom and was marked at $10. For the price and the mystery of it all I couldn't pass it up. So, I brought it home, acclimated it and began some research. Not an easy coral to find any information on to say the least. Luckily I have a
friend that is more tenacious than I when it comes to coral research and he found the answer. Before I let you in on the secret lets see if anyone can guess. Good luck.

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Updated 03-03-2014 at 11:36 PM by melev

Categories
New Additions , ‎ Propagation - fish & corals

Comments

  1. melev's Avatar
    I like that you put out a challenge to the other RAddicts here. I went ahead and edited your entry to enlarge the images from the thumbnail-size.
  2. dlandino's Avatar
    Thanks Marc!
  3. melev's Avatar
    Anyone going to try to guess?
  4. cyano's Avatar
    i haven't a clue, to me it looks like a cross between a porites and a Tubastrea lol
  5. dlandino's Avatar
    Ok, since we have a guess! It was a tough one to find for sure. Not at all common and depending on which sites you read, it seems that it may be endangered or rare. Anyway, its an Oculina Robusa and to me it looks like a cross between a tubestrea as you said and also a milipora. Its pretty cool looking and not at all like anything I have seen in my 7 + years of this obsession of a hobby. http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/133533/0
  6. dlandino's Avatar
    Continued reading has shown this coral to be "mostly non-photo" but I have it under halides and it doesn't seem bothered by the light and it is really extending well. The reason that it is called "mostly NPS" is because some studies show that the coral is seasonal to some degree and may have more or less zooxanthellae depending on the time of year. Super cool in my book! After having it for a little over a week and feeding a myriad of sps additives like phyto and zoo plankton and oyster eggs it has some great coloration once you look past the dark brown color which dominates the coral. The undertones are yellows, oranges and greens at the polyp base, the nematocysts are clear and ribbed with small balls at the ends of each tentacle. All of this rounds the polyps and coloration really nicely making it one of the most interesting corals I have ever kept. I am hoping to be able to grow this out and frag it to my club members who are interested in this offbeat coral. At this point I have no idea how fast a grower it is but I'll keep this thread alive for those interested.
  7. melev's Avatar
    Raises his hand... I'm interested to see how it does in your system.