Is this a cabbage coral?

[groucheux]

I picked this up at a LFS the other day for $20, but they weren't sure what it is. It's hard and kinda rough to the touch (like an emory board). The bottom pic is a close up of the encrusted pattern. It's very pretty and I'm glad I got it, but it would help if I knew what it was so I can take care of it properly.
thanks for the help...grouch

 

[thomas712]

Might have to wait for Grahm to show up but it does resemble the cabbage coral.. Kinda like Lobophytum crassum.
Thomas

 

[hairtrigger]

Yeah, it does resemble one. I'm looking at mine though, and I have some questions before offering my set-in-stone opinion.
(The pictures may be low detail on my comp, that's all)
Is that a soft coral, or not? Because it doesn't look like it on my monitor.
Is it attactched to a piece of rock at all? And does it have individual "leaves?" Cause mine does, and the "leaves" are attatched to the rock.
Ugh. I may be going blind.

 

[attml]

Is it soft all the way through or does it have a skeleton? Kind of hard to tell from the picture? If soft it looks like some varitety of Cabbage coral as Thomas and the others said. If it has a skeleton (or hard inner base) it looks like Pavona or possibly Merulina?

 

[groucheux]

It has a skeleton, and is hard all the way through. It doesn't seem to be attached to live rock, it's made of the "leaves". Each of these leaves consist of a hard white skeleton and an encrusting "skin". The "skin" is feels very rough, like a nail board or sandpaper.
I saw a picture of a Pavona, but the pic wasn't large enough to really compare them very well.
Thanks for the help. Regardless of what it is, I like it. The encrusting pattern is very geometrical and cool...it kind of reminds me of a circuit board. For now, I've placed it towards the top of my tank (I only have 160 watts) and in a location that gets a medium amount of current.
thanks...grouch

 

[nm reef]

I don't think that is a cabbage leather. I'd think its some type of pavona...I'd suggest a search for Pavona cactus and/or Pavona decussata ... common names are catus coral and leaf coral.In any case it definitely appears to be some sort of stony type coral and not a leather. below is a pic of one of my cabbage leathers. they don't have a calcium based skeleton and the texture is soft and leather like. Yours appears to be solid and calcium based.

Click the image for access to my website

nmreef@cox.net

 

[attml]

Attached is a little bit older picture of my Pavona coral. Here also is a link to a website I found that has a pretty good pic of some Merulina http://www.aqua-web.org/users/ealex/...s/merulina.htm HTH!

 

[jonthefb]

thats definately a pavona...technically a sps, but much easier to keep than acros, etc
good luck, keep it in hihg light, medium water flow and feed it with zoo and phyo plankton!
jon

 

[groucheux]

Thanks...Pavona it is! The pictures match up really well. Thanks for the care info...I'll get some of the plankton, how often do you feed it?
Very excited...after three years this is my tanks first non-mushroom/polyp coral. (I'm cheap and like to keep things simple.)
later...grouch

 

[attml]

There is some debate as to how much benifit live phytoplankton is to SPS corals. SPS corals are carnivors and phytoplankton is plant like. SPS like zooplankton and meaty foods. I feed all of my SPS corals Golden Pearls (which I get from Brine Shrimp Direct) once a week and a combination of Mysis & Brine shrimp every other day. I have a refugium which has helped reproduce a huge Gramaus Isopod community which also in the reproduction process naturally feeds my SPS. I know of a lot of other SPS keepers that mix a combination of flake food, shrimp, fish scalops, etc and blend it to a fine mush and then they freeze it as cubes and feed that to their fish & corals. I do add DT's Live Phytoplankton once or twice a week but that is for my clam which is omnivorous and will eat Phyto or Brine.
Here is a great article on feeding corals http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-07/eb/index.htm
HTH

 

[jonthefb]

thats what ive gotten to the point of doing attml...i get fresh seafood from the market and puree everything together into a mush and freeze it so that i can feed whatever i want...i just hope theres enough of a size gradient so that everyone gets a little somthign!
good luck
jon