coral of the week { Euphyllia divisa } frogspawn

[shred5]

week #7 coral of the week { Euphyllia divisa } common name frog spawn. This coral is pictured on page 67 of the book Corals a quick reference guide by Julian Sprung. I had no requests this week and since there has been no lps corals in the coral of the week I thought this would be a good one.

Every week I will post a new coral and I want you to post everything you know about this particular coral. Everything from common names, how hardy they are, water temp, water flow, lighting, water parameters, fraging, spawning, related corals, scientific names, feeding, best ways to ship, etc. Post your pictures for identification. Please tell us about your system so others can duplicate your success. Also email me for request on which corals you would like to see in this section.

Dave

[Mushroom Boy]

Well, I have a green morph of frogspawn that is one of my favorites in my tank. I got mine as a cutting from a friend who mailed them to me from the bay area (I'm in Seattle). These things were TINY when I got them - no bigger than a pea. He sent me 2. This was in October of 1999. One is now the size of a softball and the other a baseball when the polyps are fully extended. They both receive similar light and current, so I'm not sure why the difference. The only thing I can attribute it to is the shape of the rock that they were glued onto. The coral that has grown larger is at the top of a long, narrow piece of live rock, while the smaller of the colonies was mounted onto a more round, flat and stout base. I have no idea if that has anything to do with it, just an observation. The tank they're in is a 40 gallon that is lit by a 175w 10k Ushio MH and 1 36" 95w actinic VHO. They seem to prefer mild currents and medium to high light. I have noticed some aggression with mine lately in the form of longer polyps (i.e., sweeper tentacles) that are stinging neighboring corals. I also have taken several cuttings (similar in size to what I started with) from these 2 colonies and they continue to produce babies around the perimeter of their tissue. Matter of fact, I'm setting up a frag tank that will be home to many (hopefully) of their offspring. My tank runs between 83-85 degrees, is VHO lit for 12 hours and MH lit for 10. pH is ~8.3, specific gravity is 1.025.

[Northern Reef]

Hey Dave--here is a pic of a tiny little chip someone gave me at a local reef club meeting two months ago. It was about the size of my thumbnail then, and has since grown to three times that size.

IME frogspawn like medium lighting, medium to low water flow. One of my favorite lps corals!!

http://www.reefcentral.com/northernreef/135pics/frogspawn.jpg

[grizz]

now something I have.. I also have the neon green frogspawn w/pink tips.. it is in a 110 gal, w/4x96 watt p/c 1/2 up the tank w/medium to medium/high current. it started w/2 heads and has gone to 5 in about 7 months, it also has about 19 little babies budding out around the base... what is the best way to frag these off.. and then do I just superglue them to a rock.... I would love to frag this thing out!! Definately my favorite coral as it floresces a ton under atintics..

[Mushroom Boy]

I use a wire cutters to snip the frags from the mother colony once they've got a small skeletal mass of their own. One thing you want to be careful of when handling the frags is side pressure on their tissue. I use a tweezers when handling them to make sure I don't damage their tissue. Cyanoacrylate works great for mounting them to rocks.

[Ophidia]

HEre's mine:
<img src="http://www.ophidia.homestead.com/files/reef/frogspawn.jpg">
I got it in June of 99 with three polyps. Now it has about 15 and dozens of babies on the underside of the polyps.
This picture is best veiwed at 1024x768 :)
Chris

[zochs]

Here's a link to a pic of mine. http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=1448963&a=10878225

It is not the branching type. It has doubled in size in less than a year. I have recently noticed 8 little buds around the base. This is an older pic and I will try to get a more recent shot to show the growth.

[Laura D]

Finally a coral I have!!!
I have the branching type, it has reddish tentacles with green tips. It is in my 55g under power compact lighting and loves it. In my experience a very hardy coral, it fully expanded hours after being placed in my tank. I feed it on rare occasions with small bits of shrimp.
I love my frogspawn!
Mulberry

[grafxguy]

I have a very cool piece. It has sprouted a couple of new branches. Here is a pick of mine. eric
http://www.geocities.com/ericgrafxguy/c18.jpg

[JEW]

I got mine on 10/1/00 for $40; it has three branches and is doing quite well. The lighting 2 96 watt PC 6700k, one 96 watt PC 7100k, and one 75 watt VOH 7100k for a total of 363 watts. Temp 79 to 82, ph 8.1, specific gravity 1.025 to 1.026. I've enjoyed it so far other then it killed one of my favorite Capnella Kenya tree corals because I but tem to close together. The Kenya bent over into the frogspawn when I wasn't home.

[gas4544]

Mushroom Boy,
Do you have any frogspawn frags you care to part with? I've got a few baby softies (lemnalia and capnella) in my nursery tank.

[Wolverine]

Well, we don't have a picture of ours scanned yet, so I'll just have to tell you about it. It's a green branching frogspawn with pick tips. We have it fairly high up in our tank under 2X96W PC bulbs and one 30W actinic. The actinic is on for about 11 hours per day, and the PCs are on for about 10. We got this coral in 8/00. At that time it was about 4" across when fully expanded. Now it is 8-9" across at least, and, in volume, it has at least tripled in size since we got it. Oh, there are also over a dozen small buds branching out at the base of the tissues. It is in a fairly low flow area of the tank. Tank temp is 82 deg F. It does come into contact with an anchor coral (Euphyllia ancora) nearby, and neither seems very affected by the other.

We don't directly feed our corals regularly, but we do feed fairly heavily, so they all end up getting some food. The tank gets ESV B-Ionic in the morning and I use kalk for top-off water.

I hope I got everything in there.
Dave

[Joe Kelley]

I have one that is bright green with white purplish tips.
joe

[Baalz]

According to my new Corals of the World books.
The branching frogspawn is actually called
Euphyllia paradivisa

[Wolverine]

Baalz, It's also listed as that in Sprung's Corals:A Quick Reference Guide. I think a lot of people forget (like me), a lot of people don't know about the change, and a lot of people are too lazy to type out the extra 4 letters.

Dave

[shred5]

Originally posted by Baalz
According to my new Corals of the World books.
The branching frogspawn is actually called
Euphyllia paradivisa


I think you are right. I have been trying to figure that one out since I started this thread. I knew that there had to be a difference between of scientific names of the vase and the branching types. I been doing a little research on that myself. In corals a quick reference guide is were I first noticed euphyllia paradivisa. I just recieved my corals of the world today. By the way Baalz EXCELLENT CALL that is why the corals of the week is such an important thread. I think alot of us have been misidentifing that coral.

Dave

[Edited by shred5 on 01-11-2001 at 09:22 PM]

[Agu]

Is the frag posted by Larry a frogspawn or a torch(Euphyllia glabrescens,page 20, A practical guide to corals)? I've fragged several pieces of this branching coral since getting it two years ago, and believe the frag Larry posted is from me. It's grown well under pc's and done even better under mh (400w), if kept at the bottom of the tank. Taking frags seems to stimulate new growth, and the frags expand much more when removed from the mother colony. I've never fed it, but the tank is fed heavily. Temp 80f, sg 1.025, pH 8.0 to 8.4, alk 3.0+ meq/l, ca400+, no measurable ammonia,nitrite or nitrate.

[shred5]

Agu

I looked at that too but e. glabrescens polyps have no branches they are just straight. If you look real hard at Larry's you can see some of his branch off. Now it is possible he has a hybrid because it sure does look like a e. glabrescens esp. the tips of the polyps but it could be because it is so little yet.

Dave

[signu459]

It sounds like I am the only guy who can't keep a Frog Spawn?? i have the branchng variety and i have had it for about 5 months. it did very well under my PC's then when I added the iwasakis over a month ago it is not doing good at all. i figure it was too much light. but i have also add some more currewnt to the tank to maybe it is current too?

[moviegeek]

I've had my branching frogspawn for about 6 months. It has grown from 5 branches to 8 in that time. Plus, there are 6 or 8 small buds that I am letting grow until they get to be fragging size. My frogspawn is green with pink tips. The green has faded a bit, and at one point got to be almost a light tan color. Now it is moving back to flourescent green (not really sure why). I keep it at the very top of my tank under a 14,000K 400 watt halide in what I would describe as moderate current.

I'll post a pic when I feel less lazy. It's at my website under reef, see more pictures, page two.

[DennisL]

I've had this frogspawn for 7 months. It's on the bottom (30" deep tank) under a 175W 14,000K halide. I'd characterize the current in that area as a little lower than moderate.

http://www.quikstor.com/reef/Frog.JPG

[rhwimmers]

Hope nobody has answered this already...havent had a chance to read the entire thread yet, but.

would this work as a host for a pair of clownfish? do you think they would adapt to it after some time or...I guess they can use anything right?

anyone have this happen?

Thanks a lot

Ross

[smiller]

If anyone is interested is trying one I would suggest checking out Dr. Mac's page. I got a frag from him a couple of months ago. It is brown with bright green tips. Mine was expanded two hours after putting it in the tank. It is now almost baseball size.

[Pinkskunk]

Rhwimmers,

The clowns will disturb them and they will not expand as big. They are generally very hardy and grow moderately fast. For them to fully expand, they should not be disturbed by the clowns. Clowns have a tendency to "Rub" on their host, Rubbing could cause harm to the fragile tissue of these corals.

I have two of these coral. One is brown and the other is green. I bought the green one for $35 with about 5 heads. 7-8 months later i cut 2 frags out of the main colony. Each frag has 3 heads/ each is about 1.5" diameter, and expanded to the baseball size. i sold them for $35 each. the people who bought them are so happy to get the "Captive" raised frogsprawn for good price. They called me back and expressed complete "Satisfactions"

The brown color one does not grow as fast but it has a lot (i mean alot and alot) of babies on the branches. I am too lazy to cut those so i let them die due to lack of lighting. Maybe i should start to cut them off the branches and grow them.





[Edited by Pinkskunk on 01-12-2001 at 07:47 AM]

[razorbackfan]

My frogspawn was huge until I put two false percula clowns in my 110. They adopted it and it expands very little now. I've moved it and they find it. I would like them to leave it alone but have no idea how to do that. I yell at them, but they ignore me.

[flashover]

I understood they needed a lot of light. Mine is at the top of the tank under 4-55w PC's with gentle current and has been doing great for over a year. Never tried to put it lower because it seemed happy where it was at. Went from 4 heads to 7. I do have to move it to seperate it every few months from a pearl bubble. They are both growing well and as they get bigger the both send out sweepers to sting the other when they feel they are in reach. I do have a xenia close to it but it has never bothered it so I assume it is not aggressive to everything.

[Agu]

Shred,

The mother colony has four or five main stalks and each stalk has three or four polyps. Would this be a defining trait for branching frogspawn vs being something else?

Agu

[shred5]

Agu

My last post I was talking about the polyps not the skeleton. I am at work right now so I dont have any books but lets see if I can do this off the top of my head so dont quote my on any this. If its branching and not a vase type it is not e. Divisa. Now you have to look at the polyps. If the polyps are branching type then it is probably Euphyllia paradivisa. If the polyps are straight (tubular) with no branching it could be Euphyllia glabrescens like you said earlier. Off the top of my head right now I cant remember if the skeleton is branching on the Euphyllia glabrescens but I beleive it is and is commonly called the torch coral. I will check my facts when I get home tonight. By the way will I be meeting you feb 2-4 th. for Rons visit? I will be comming up with Niven and grafxguy.

Dave

[signu459]

I'll try again, any pointers on why mine might be doing so crappy?

Here are the vitals

75 gallon

2x250W Iwasaki Mh + 2x96W PC Actinic

2 MJ1200, 2 Rio 180's, 1 Minijet 909 and return from mag 7 for current.

All the vitals are in check - Ammonia, nitrate, nitrite. Alk is around 10 dkh, CA 400+ ppm, Ph 8.3 Temp 83.

It went to expanding to about 10" in diameter. To barely expanding at all and turning a clear litle pink color from deep pink and green.

Again the forg spawn seemed to start heading down hill when I added the new lights going to the current setup from 4x96W PC. Also I have added alittle more current to the tank. the other thing I have notice is that there seems to a be alot of small buds on it. There are 7 major branches with each having 6-7 new bud coming from the sides of the branches. Could it be going through a reproduction period? Or possibley is it a temp issue?

[DennisL]

I had another frogspawn that I got two years that was doing great. Expanding, bushy, etc. Then my two Perc's decided to make it home:

http://www.quikstor.com/reef/FrogClownReefCentral.JPG

The clowns had a great time, but the frogspawn started to decline after a couple months. It might have been an infection/bacteria that started in one polyp, but maybe that was stress-induced by the clowns ???? I did a page on it:
http://www.quikstor.com/reef/problems.html

[Agu]

Signu,

Most LPS prefer moderate to low flow and reduce expansion in high flow. I'm also starting to question if turbulence is an issue.

Agu

[Gus Paz]

I know I'll most likely get slapped for asking this, but I must. I have a 100gal with 220w in VHO's. Can I keep one these with this lighting, or do I need more?

[shred5]

signu459
Well How long have you had it under the metal halides. It is not uncommon for a coral to shrink up for a while when put under brighter lights. Its just trying to shade itself from the light but if the light is to strong for it you can burn the coral. I do find that this coral prefers a medium amount of light and low water flow. I know people who keep them under iwasakis and they do well but I think they look much better under lesser amounts of light. Try moving it lower in the tank if you can.

Gus Paz
Yea I think that might not be enough light. I had a 75 with 6 40 watt fluorescents on it. And mine grew pretty fast. But that is 240 watts over a 75 gallon tank and I placed it high in the tank. There is one thing you could do but it might look a little stupid. place both lamps about 2 or 3 inches apart. And if you can place it high and directly beneath the lamps this would probably be ok. I would just add a couple of more lamps.

Dave

[signu459]

Shred & Agu,

Thanks for the response! Currently I have the Coral on the bottom far right of my 75. The lights have been on for around 6 weeks. I did do a adjustment to the new lights over the course of a month. I just moved the coral to the right side thinking it has less current, hopefully that will help. i I don't see improvement in the next few weeks will trade it in on something else. i have many other LPS that are doing great, Green open brain, Red lobed brain, Green lobed Brain, Torch, Hammer, galaxia, and more. I guess the frogspanw may not be my coral.