Anthony Calfo
Well-known member
RFCOW3
genus Cespitularia
…a magnificent non-pulsatile Xeniid!
Cheers, my friends. It has been several weeks since the last installment of COW ("Coral of the week"… rather ironic title at present
). I promise you though that I have been keeping busy with our beloved hobby and not merely relaxing! I've been through five cities, two countries, given club lectures and made some big steps forward getting the next book to press. The next few months may be a bit hectic for me and time shared, but I hope you will find it is worth it. I'm very excited to see how the next volume of the NMA series is turning out. It’s truly a pleasure to work with my friend/co-author Bob (Fenner), and his photography skills/archives are just a marvel! Anyways… onward to RFCOW3:
In this piece, we take a look at a Xeniid that has been known in the hobby for many years, yet is not often seen – Cespitularia. I recall first hearing of this coral about 15 years ago and it was even more of an elusive gem then! With the few scant specimens surviving import having magnificent colors in green, teal and blue hues, it quickly became dubbed the "Blue Xenia." In time however, with a better understanding that this Xeniid was, in fact, Cespitularia, and non-pulsatile at that, it was simply referred to by its genus name and a color-descriptive prefix (brown-, green-, or blue usually). Collections were said to occur in East Africa and sometimes from Indonesia. It made little difference, true or not. They almost never survived collection and still have a staggeringly dismal record of survival on import. It is so extreme that I rarely recommend anyone in the States import them as transshipped. It's just not a conscientious use of living resources.
No worries though! We can still be assured of enjoying this beauty in time. Each year, some aquarists traveling abroad manage to carry home (on their person) fragments of this coral, which is becoming increasingly better established in America. With recent and evolving endeavors in domestic coral farming, I have no doubt that this will be a staple offering by at least some growers in less than five year's time. Interestingly, European aquarists that do get at least somewhat faster and healthier imports from Africa, where many Cespitularia can be collected, have had little or no better luck finding this uncommon species in their markets. They only make sporadic appearances for sale (the coral… not the European aquarists)
In my opinion, this is largely due to the fact that Cespitularia is not only a very poor shipper, but is also more sensitive than most coral in captivity as well – it's truly not a beginner-suitable genus. Yet with very consistent handling and husbandry, it is actually a fast growing soft coral… doubling every 3-4 weeks in farming attempts like most other Xeniids. I kept this coral in my greenhouse about ten years ago and still enjoy the creature in my reef tanks and fishroom.
I can only offer advice based on my personal experiences, though, and a limited amount of anecdotal information from the few fellow aquarists. With more aquarists culturing this genus in time, however, we will develop a better idea overall for husbandry with Cespitularia.
Like many other Xeniids, I think you will find Cespitularia to be rather sensitive to flat or low pH (under 8.3). Be sure to monitor this parameter very carefully (noting day and night-time readings when pH is lowest) and support it with a very solid alkalinity. Frankly, I favor a nearly unwavering and stable pH of 8.4-8.6 for the focused culture of most Xeniiids and especially those in this genus. For farming attempts with Cespitularia, this is very important for success in my opinion! I have largely kept Cespitularia in systems through the years with little or no supplements or "magic potions" (snake oil products claiming to be coral stimulants and/or reduce the need for water changes). Those of you that know me well as friends or from my writings are not surprised to hear instead that I recommend large, regular water changes (weekly) for most mineral and trace element replacement. I firmly believe that "dilution is the solution to pollution", in our aquaria at least
And so, with stable, reef quality water (350+ppm Calcium, 8-12 dKH Alkalinity, 78-80F water temperature) an no temptation to push such parameters to the extreme, high end that some aquarists errantly try to do (spiking water quality and stressing corals in the process), I have enjoyed consistent growth in Cespitularia and feel assured of its longevity in the aquarium. They also seem to be highly adaptable to a very wide range of light intensities, like most Xeniids, presuming extreme ends of the range are imposed gradually. Light spectrums favoring blue color seem to enhance the colors of some Cespitularia on display, although they are inherently a handsome color and possess the most amazing and reflective spicules naturally! [note: see the unaltered and magnificent blue-green, night-time picture of this coral with this passage]. Some have described the iridescent spicules of Cespitularia as reflective silver! It's really quite a sight to see by day and especially at night when a camera flash or flashlight hits it.
In general, as an aquarist and as a coral farmer, I strongly prefer to use heavy daylight colored lamps around 6,000 - 7,000 Kelvin for many of my photosynthetic reef creatures, with only occasional use of lamps near or exceeding 10,000 Kelvin [note: FWIW, 6500K Iwasaki lamps are one of my all-time favorites]. I do this because I feel I get better growth in most cases, and at least here with Cespitularia, the coral colors do not suffer at all for lack of excessive blue light. Still, for having made light and lamp color/brand recommendations, I must remind you, my friends, to only select your lamps after (!) you have selected your cnidarian species to be kept. There is no other way to do it. Hopefully, your choices will be of a natural and compatible mix, and you may indeed require a spectrum of light different for your species (selection) than the heavy daylight-weighted illumination that I describe and "recommend" above. [note an example: an aquarist that wishes to feature Euphyllids, Fungiids and perhaps some Blastomussa or Acanthastrea may very well want to employ a light spectrum that is "blue-weighted" at 10,000 – 20,000 Kelvin for aesthetics, if not display animal health].
For feeding Cespitularia, this is difficult for me to say as I have never made an effort to record or define my observations on its behavior. It seems to me that Cespitularia does not feed organismally to any appreciable extent, if at all, on prepared foods offered. I have always kept specimens from this genus, however, in systems with deep sand beds and mature, fishless refugiums. I firmly believe that these aspects provide various sources of nutrition (bacteria, dissolved organics, limited (nano)plankton, etc.). Indeed, many Xeniids do not have digestive structures evolved to be able to handle feedings on larger particulate or prey items. And since "form follows function", we can make some fair and reasonable assumptions at least about what such Xeniids do not eat.
In the wild, Cespitularia tend to occur in shallow, protected zones with variously turbid or clear waters. If you find yourself lucky enough to be keeping one of these corals, provide moderate to bright light, and moderate to strong water flow (never laminar). And above all, please protect this coral from even remotely aggressive neighbors or systems that are densely crowded with noxious tankmates (corals or excessive macroalgae). Cespitularia is only weakly aggressive and very poorly suited to defend itself. It will usually be one of the very first corals in your system to show signs of stress from allelopathy or declining water quality.
with kind regards, Anthony Calfo
* photos by Anthony Calfo… day-time image under compact fluorescent lights and night-time image with flash.
genus Cespitularia
…a magnificent non-pulsatile Xeniid!
Cheers, my friends. It has been several weeks since the last installment of COW ("Coral of the week"… rather ironic title at present
). I promise you though that I have been keeping busy with our beloved hobby and not merely relaxing! I've been through five cities, two countries, given club lectures and made some big steps forward getting the next book to press. The next few months may be a bit hectic for me and time shared, but I hope you will find it is worth it. I'm very excited to see how the next volume of the NMA series is turning out. It’s truly a pleasure to work with my friend/co-author Bob (Fenner), and his photography skills/archives are just a marvel! Anyways… onward to RFCOW3:In this piece, we take a look at a Xeniid that has been known in the hobby for many years, yet is not often seen – Cespitularia. I recall first hearing of this coral about 15 years ago and it was even more of an elusive gem then! With the few scant specimens surviving import having magnificent colors in green, teal and blue hues, it quickly became dubbed the "Blue Xenia." In time however, with a better understanding that this Xeniid was, in fact, Cespitularia, and non-pulsatile at that, it was simply referred to by its genus name and a color-descriptive prefix (brown-, green-, or blue usually). Collections were said to occur in East Africa and sometimes from Indonesia. It made little difference, true or not. They almost never survived collection and still have a staggeringly dismal record of survival on import. It is so extreme that I rarely recommend anyone in the States import them as transshipped. It's just not a conscientious use of living resources.
No worries though! We can still be assured of enjoying this beauty in time. Each year, some aquarists traveling abroad manage to carry home (on their person) fragments of this coral, which is becoming increasingly better established in America. With recent and evolving endeavors in domestic coral farming, I have no doubt that this will be a staple offering by at least some growers in less than five year's time. Interestingly, European aquarists that do get at least somewhat faster and healthier imports from Africa, where many Cespitularia can be collected, have had little or no better luck finding this uncommon species in their markets. They only make sporadic appearances for sale (the coral… not the European aquarists
)In my opinion, this is largely due to the fact that Cespitularia is not only a very poor shipper, but is also more sensitive than most coral in captivity as well – it's truly not a beginner-suitable genus. Yet with very consistent handling and husbandry, it is actually a fast growing soft coral… doubling every 3-4 weeks in farming attempts like most other Xeniids. I kept this coral in my greenhouse about ten years ago and still enjoy the creature in my reef tanks and fishroom.
I can only offer advice based on my personal experiences, though, and a limited amount of anecdotal information from the few fellow aquarists. With more aquarists culturing this genus in time, however, we will develop a better idea overall for husbandry with Cespitularia.
Like many other Xeniids, I think you will find Cespitularia to be rather sensitive to flat or low pH (under 8.3). Be sure to monitor this parameter very carefully (noting day and night-time readings when pH is lowest) and support it with a very solid alkalinity. Frankly, I favor a nearly unwavering and stable pH of 8.4-8.6 for the focused culture of most Xeniiids and especially those in this genus. For farming attempts with Cespitularia, this is very important for success in my opinion! I have largely kept Cespitularia in systems through the years with little or no supplements or "magic potions" (snake oil products claiming to be coral stimulants and/or reduce the need for water changes). Those of you that know me well as friends or from my writings are not surprised to hear instead that I recommend large, regular water changes (weekly) for most mineral and trace element replacement. I firmly believe that "dilution is the solution to pollution", in our aquaria at least
And so, with stable, reef quality water (350+ppm Calcium, 8-12 dKH Alkalinity, 78-80F water temperature) an no temptation to push such parameters to the extreme, high end that some aquarists errantly try to do (spiking water quality and stressing corals in the process), I have enjoyed consistent growth in Cespitularia and feel assured of its longevity in the aquarium. They also seem to be highly adaptable to a very wide range of light intensities, like most Xeniids, presuming extreme ends of the range are imposed gradually. Light spectrums favoring blue color seem to enhance the colors of some Cespitularia on display, although they are inherently a handsome color and possess the most amazing and reflective spicules naturally! [note: see the unaltered and magnificent blue-green, night-time picture of this coral with this passage]. Some have described the iridescent spicules of Cespitularia as reflective silver! It's really quite a sight to see by day and especially at night when a camera flash or flashlight hits it.
In general, as an aquarist and as a coral farmer, I strongly prefer to use heavy daylight colored lamps around 6,000 - 7,000 Kelvin for many of my photosynthetic reef creatures, with only occasional use of lamps near or exceeding 10,000 Kelvin [note: FWIW, 6500K Iwasaki lamps are one of my all-time favorites]. I do this because I feel I get better growth in most cases, and at least here with Cespitularia, the coral colors do not suffer at all for lack of excessive blue light. Still, for having made light and lamp color/brand recommendations, I must remind you, my friends, to only select your lamps after (!) you have selected your cnidarian species to be kept. There is no other way to do it. Hopefully, your choices will be of a natural and compatible mix, and you may indeed require a spectrum of light different for your species (selection) than the heavy daylight-weighted illumination that I describe and "recommend" above. [note an example: an aquarist that wishes to feature Euphyllids, Fungiids and perhaps some Blastomussa or Acanthastrea may very well want to employ a light spectrum that is "blue-weighted" at 10,000 – 20,000 Kelvin for aesthetics, if not display animal health].
For feeding Cespitularia, this is difficult for me to say as I have never made an effort to record or define my observations on its behavior. It seems to me that Cespitularia does not feed organismally to any appreciable extent, if at all, on prepared foods offered. I have always kept specimens from this genus, however, in systems with deep sand beds and mature, fishless refugiums. I firmly believe that these aspects provide various sources of nutrition (bacteria, dissolved organics, limited (nano)plankton, etc.). Indeed, many Xeniids do not have digestive structures evolved to be able to handle feedings on larger particulate or prey items. And since "form follows function", we can make some fair and reasonable assumptions at least about what such Xeniids do not eat.
In the wild, Cespitularia tend to occur in shallow, protected zones with variously turbid or clear waters. If you find yourself lucky enough to be keeping one of these corals, provide moderate to bright light, and moderate to strong water flow (never laminar). And above all, please protect this coral from even remotely aggressive neighbors or systems that are densely crowded with noxious tankmates (corals or excessive macroalgae). Cespitularia is only weakly aggressive and very poorly suited to defend itself. It will usually be one of the very first corals in your system to show signs of stress from allelopathy or declining water quality.
with kind regards, Anthony Calfo
* photos by Anthony Calfo… day-time image under compact fluorescent lights and night-time image with flash.
