Neospongode

[pledosophy]

I've been in this hobby to long to do this but I was at a LFS a few weeks ago and saw something I had never seen before. it looked like some type of capanella coral, but it was bright purple. I later had it ID'd as a neospongode. Thing is amazing. Anyways without knowing anything about it, I took it home for $20.

In the last few weeks it has really perked up and almost doubled in size.

I am looking for anyone with any experience with them, and also want to know if they are seahorse safe. It gets a good amount of flow, but how much do they need? I know some corals actually need higher flow rates to grow, but really I know a lot about seahorses, little about corals. Does there need to be enough flow for the coral to be in constant motion, or just enough flow so it is not in a dead spot?

Last question is does anyone know how tall these things can grow? Mine is about 4" tall has about 6 branches so far.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

Kevin.

 

[Anthony Calfo]

They are weakly photosynthetic and can fare well with a heavy fish/(fed) coral bioload.

On the reef they will commonly grow to a measure of some feet high like other Neptheids.

Beautiful coral.

 

[pledosophy]

Thanks Anthony,

I would like to move it to from my reef tank to the future seahorse tank. I have have a 156w T5 fixture and 192w of PC. Do you think mid tank in a good flow area would be a good place?

Also I know it is a part of the neptheids family so I am assuming that they have no sting that would damgae a seahorse, is this correct? In you opinion would the hitching of a seahorse aggerivate the coral? Would you keep it with your seahorses?

It is a beautiful coral, I am very lucky to have come across it.

Thanks again!
Kevin

 

[Anthony Calfo]

regardless of the sting... the exceedingly repetitive hitching by a seahorse in the confines of the aquarium would be bad long term for the coral, my friend.

 

[Curtswearing]

These are very pretty corals.

One thing to keep in mind is that this particular coral puts out some pretty noxious alleopathic compounds (chemical warfare compounds) including terpenes so that other corals won't grow into it's space.

Granular Activated Carbon is not optional with this coral, it's required.

 

[pledosophy]

regardless of the sting... the exceedingly repetitive hitching by a seahorse in the confines of the aquarium would be bad long term for the coral, my friend.

Shucks. Thanks Anthony.

One thing to keep in mind is that this particular coral puts out some pretty noxious alleopathic compounds (chemical warfare compounds) including terpenes so that other corals won't grow into it's space.

Granular Activated Carbon is not optional with this coral, it's required.

Curtswearing, I did not know that. Thanks for the tip. I'll have to pick some up. Right now none of my tanks use filters at all, although I do have a few in the garage.

Thanks Again for the tips.