Coral ID please

[krisfal]

I have 2 of these that started as small remains on some live rock I bought from BigT last year. They have grown well.

 

[krisfal]

Bump, anybody? Even species would be helpful, I am pretty new at SPS, still learning. I am going to PM BigT but he does not hang out here much since he got rid of all his tanks.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[logiktest]

Krisfal, Im not very good at giving scientific names of corals as im still new to this also. However, I think it looks like some sort of acropora, but just wait. Soon someone who knows exactly what their talking about will tell you just what it is, and not what I "think":} Sometimes corals are a little more easy to identify when you let them mature longer(Growth paterns and such, plus you can take a frag and disect it if your so inclined)What kind of light is it under in the pic? It looks good.

 

[krisfal]

Logitek,
Your guess is right where mine is, possibly an acropora.

I have 3 250W MH 2 15K and 1 10K.

 

[Dr. Dee]

Hey Kris it also looks like a montipora

 

[krisfal]

Well thanks, :badgrin: that is exactly my delemna is it a monti or an acro or . . . j/k I appreciate the responces. I know it is real hard to ID corals because different tank conditions, light flow etc. can effect color and growth patterns.

Maybe I should have started a poll

 

[Frankie]

I say acropora. Be easier with a brighter picture.

 

[krisfal]

Here is a pic of the other piece, the polyps are not extended as I had to move it to get the pic.

 

[Dr. Dee]

Now thats a acro:doubt:

 

[krisfal]

Both pictures are the frags from the same coral. The coral grew out of a piece of liverock I had got but did not like the way it worked in the aquaspcape. So I chiseled the rock to get the coral off and ended up with 2 pieces.

Dr. Dee,
Do you have any tips on coral ID? Any knowledge you could share as to how to tell the species apart? I originally thought this was some type of monti as it was growing in an encrusting pattern, just recently it started growing the branches.

PS I am asking for a book on corals for Christmas, because I know I need some more learning on this subject. Anybody have recomendations on a good book?

 

[logiktest]

A book I have that I enjoyed is: Aquarium Corals, by Eric H. Borneman. Very informative

 

[big t]

It looks to be a piece of my old rasberry acro, that could be an a. milli, or a. prostrata. Glad to see it coming back!

 

[krisfal]

Hey Tom, thanks for the info . . . and for the rock last year. I missed your post earlier as I was travelling on business, and just thought to come and look now. I ended up with some nice pieces of corals from the remnants left on the rocks. A couple are nice size colonies now (3-4"). I was suprised that the survival rate was so good as I put the rock into a new set-up, with worn out lights (PC I believe) and did not get my MH on the tank for about six weeks. The rock was great because my tank had no noticable cycle.

Thanks again for ID'ing the coral!

 

[logiktest]

New pictures?

 

[krisfal]

Hopefully I get an SLR for Christmas and then there will be more pictures than anybody probably will want to see! My son does most of my picture taking as he has a Nikon D50 with several lenses including a macro I bought him just to take pictures of my tank, though he is quite bored of taking pictures of my livestock:shock:

This particular coral has really turned redder since this picture, as I have 2 pieces of it currently I will probably be looking to trade/sell one before too long!

Just had a funny thought, I wonder if our christmas wish list indicates our stage of advancement in the hobby? Last year I asked for powerheads and an MH set-up, this year I want a camera!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

It looks to be a piece of my old rasberry acro, that could be an a. milli, or a. prostrata. Glad to see it coming back!

BigT, if still reading this thread, I got a nice frag of a blue tip acro at the Xmas party, was told it had came from your stuff. Right now, most is green with bright blue tips. Any idea of species or popular name?

 

[krisfal]

Herefishyfishy,
I Pm'd bigT with a link to this thread asking him to ID the other coral, you might want to try that to get him to id the coral you got at the christmas party.

Here is a picture of the larger colony that I have of the same coral to help with the ID (yes this was taken with the new SLR I got for christmas, I still have a lot to learn to get better pictures)

 

[Anthony Calfo]

this last pic is "formosa-like" but then again... there are many similar stag-like acros. Pics from IDs are just unreliable my friend. Do get graphs/refs from books such as Veron, Wood, etc and compare to a frag of denuded skeleton. Caveat being that aquarium grown specimens grow in such a way that even the type records are not useful.