Help with Coral ID

scopus tang

Active Member
Purchased this as a Cauliflower leather coral. Thinking its Nephthea, but also could be Lemnalia or litophyton. Several of these on a single rock, and they're fairly hard. Bumped up against the rock when cleaning the tank and broke one off, so glued it onto another rock. Not soft and slimy like a typical leather ~ harder, more like a sponge.

Appreciate any help.
 

scopus tang

Active Member
Considered that one also, but was confused the fact that the sclerites are not visible on the stalk in either the expanded or collapsed state, and it is all one uniform color (also, it was fairly inexpensive) ~ was leaning more towards Scleronephthya. C_ _p! Borneman nor Sprung hold out much hope on keeping these alive and had I known I wouldn't have bought it. Any suggestions for successful keeping?
 

spanko

Active Member
What tank is that in Scopus? Is it the 150? Can we see a fts of the tank with this coral in it? I am curious to see what the Halamida looks like.
 

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2577056
What tank is that in Scopus? Is it the 150? Can we see a fts of the tank with this coral in it? I am curious to see what the Halamida looks like.
spanko, coral is in my personal 65gal at home with the Halimeda. Don't have a 150. I haven't taken any recent pictures of the tank cause I needed to clean it and I was waiting to glue some new ricordia's from flricordia in place, both of which I finally got accomplished over the weekend, so I'll try and get some FT pictures of the tank tonight and post them tomorrow.
 

spanko

Active Member
Oh sorry, I see now the 150 gallon rockwork thread you started was you hleping with someone elses tank.
Yeah would like to see a FTS of your tank though.
 

stonyreef

New Member
Originally Posted by Scopus Tang http:///forum/post/2577023
Considered that one also, but was confused the fact that the sclerites are not visible on the stalk in either the expanded or collapsed state, and it is all one uniform color (also, it was fairly inexpensive) ~ was leaning more towards Scleronephthya. C_ _p! Borneman nor Sprung hold out much hope on keeping these alive and had I known I wouldn't have bought it. Any suggestions for successful keeping?
Check my last post in this thread. Hope it helps some.Good luck.
 

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by stonyreef
http:///forum/post/2578028
Check my last post in this thread. Hope it helps some.Good luck.
Thanks stonyreef, I had followed that thread, but hadn't seen the last post. I'm still not sure of the similarity between the two though. Those corals to me look soft, more like a leather (i.e. they droop). Mine doesn't do that ~ its actually hard to the touch and it retracts, but doesn't droop. I will try some different foods ~ I've been attempting frozen cyclopeeze and dried phyto and zooplankton, but it doesn't constrict like its feeding with these food.
 

scopus tang

Active Member
spanko, as promised, here are some full tank shots. Sorry about the quality, had to take these this morning (and didn't realize the light was reflecting till I downloaded them), as I got home last night after the lights were off ~ I'll try to get some better FTS tonight.
Full Tank

Here's a close up of the left side

Here's a close up of the middle

Here's a close up of the right side

And here's a close up of what I believe your interested in, the Halimeda sp.

Post some others of the carnation (?) in a few minutes.
 

spanko

Active Member
Nicely done Scopas. I love the way the Halimeda looks growing in that back corner. How long has this tank been up and running? What other plans do you have for it in relation to coral and or fish? There are some great nooks and cranny's in the rockwork and your aquascaping job is A-ONE!
 

scopus tang

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/2579664
Nicely done Scopas. I love the way the Halimeda looks growing in that back corner. How long has this tank been up and running? What other plans do you have for it in relation to coral and or fish? There are some great nooks and cranny's in the rockwork and your aquascaping job is A-ONE!
Thanks Henry ~ coming from someone with your experience/expertise that means a lot to me. I've always enjoyed the look of Halimeda in a tank, so it was a given that it was going into my personal tank. The tank has been up and running since the end of November (so only 5 months).
Corals to be honest, I'm struggling with. My original intent was really to include some of my personal favs; purple ribbon gorgonia, leathers (I really want a yellow fiji leather), bullseye mushrooms, ricordias, and zoas (uncommon colors), and then after six months or so branch into the LPS and SPS which I've never been able to successfully keep in my school tanks because of heat issues and inadequate lights. I've ended up with a number of things I never intended/expected because of swapping (common zoas, palys, xenia, common mushrooms, and the plating montiporas). And somehow (mainly through ignorance on my part) I've ended up with several corals which have to be feed (gonipora, and now the carnation). What I've really become interested in however is those that glow "neon" in the tank under actinics and moon lights. I've got several corals (my blue/orange ricordia, several different zoas, my gonipora, and a red mushroom) which literally light up my tank at night. After talking to a friend about scuba diving at night, Im kind of hooked on night scene, so I'll probably be pushing in that direction. Any suggestions?
As for fish, I've got a LMB and diamond watchman goby (which I'm considering taking back out ~ cause I'm not getting the pob population I really want) already. Unfortunately I've fallen in love with the Mc. Wrasse and I would really love a school of them (orange unintentionally seems to have become a theme), I've considered a purple mandrin because I've always wanted one, but don't know if I want the issue of having to grow pods seperately in order to feed him. Beyond that I'm not sure, I'm really not much of a fish person, but my wife has been bugging me to start getting some, so I'm open to suggestions.
Invertes, I have the standard hermits and snails of course, the feather duster (I'll probably add another one), and a pair of gold coral bandeds. Added a peppermint, but lost him. almost forgot the banded serpent star, as well as some Astrea (?) stars.
I'm really not happy with my microfauna population in the tank right now, so my next push will be to order in some good mud "seed" for the refugium mud, and some real live sand to add to the DT.
Any suggestions, comments or input are certainly welcome. Probably be posting some suggestion threads as well here soon. Thanks for the interest.
 
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