What makes a good Aquarium Coral?( Part 1)

[Fcwham]

I am currently investigating aquarium corals for a project in my graduate coral reef biology class. I was hoping some of you could help me in my efforts.
This will be a multi step process (as indicated by the part 1)
this is how I see this project going
Part1- make a list of 6-10 famously successful corals(i.e. green slimer)
part2- make a list of 6-10 corals whos history can be tracked (some tortosas come to mind)
part3- a collection of growth pictures of these particular corals
part4- I do research on common ecological factors for these corals and post the researc here for you guys to tear apart

I think we could learn a lot and these could be awsome treads:


So here is Part 1 lets get a list of some famously successful corals. Green slimer is the first thing that comes to mind to me. What I'm looking for is corals that have gone gen. after gen in captivity. I'm not looking for corals that have in your experiance grown well or fast (although it may well be the case) I'm looking for corals that we collectively can say are the hardiest and fastest growing. so give me a list (stick to SPS) and I will make a final list from our collective answers. then we will move on to part 2 in a new thread. -

[Chrisrush]

Monti caps and monti digis come to mind as very hardy SPS corals.

Chris

[Fcwham]

here is my list:
Green Slimer (A. yongie) from Bali
Orange cap
Digita(M. Digita)
(A. Millepora)

Also if you think particular ones are more hardy than others indicate so, thats why I put Bali after the Slimer. Be as spacific as you can. -Drew

[MiddletonMark]

Actually, the `green slimer' that I have IMO I would not call a `Bali' slimer. I have a second coral called `Bali Slimer' that is a different species than the `standard' - and IMO you will have to be careful not to mix many commonly-misnamed corals IMO.

IMO, it's so hard to link corals genetics in the first place with the lack of standardization in naming/etc that goes on. [see all the recent wild `superman Monti' that have been being sold]

[RichConley]

Just to nitpick, nothing we have in SPS (cept maybe pocci, not sure though) has gone through multiple generations. Your chunk of slimer is just a growing branch of one that got pulled out of the ocean.

In my mind, generation implies reproduction.

The larry jackson acro comes to mind for this: Easy, grows fast, can be traced.

[MiddletonMark]

Yep, that's another good one - been around, traceable ... and best of all, not something that has had people importing new corals and naming as this.

[Fcwham]

dont confuse part 1 with part 2, I agree the green slimer I have may be a distictly differant individual than yours, we will discuss the gene stuff in part 2.

you said that you have both a bali and a differant green slimer, are they differant?
my understanding is that the real green slimer is Acropora yongei
would you say that is correct?

I also agree with your statement on superman monti,

for this thread (in part one) lets try to just make some generalizations that we can all agree on and then be as spacific as we can be abouth those generalizations

lets try to be as discriptive as possable about the morphs we are talking about so we know we are talking about the same thing. for instance there are some A. formosas that get called slimers, I dont think that the formosas are what we are talking about when we say the famous green slimer though.
cool discussion


also when I say "gen after gen" I don't mean sexual reproduction, frags from frags from frags is what I mean so realy there is no F1 to F2 and so on. It was my mistake in wording. the fact that many frags have been widely distributed from whithin the hobby will sufficiantly prove my original point of "What makes a good Aquarium Coral"

[MiddletonMark]

Originally posted by Fcwham
dont confuse part 1 with part 2, I agree the green slimer I have may be a distictly differant individual than yours, we will discuss the gene stuff in part 2.

I'm confused at this, as we are practicing asexual propagation - likely not to have much changing genetically, except for mutation.

Originally posted by Fcwham
you said that you have both a bali and a differant green slimer, are the differant?

Suprisingly. The one called `Bali' is a very different coral [likely diff. species] from the `common Green Slimer' that I see around most.

But hey, I could be wrong, I've been so before. I'll try to get two pics to demonstrate.

Originally posted by Fcwham
my understanding is that the real green slimer is Acropora yongei
would you say that is correct?

Honestly, I think most Acropora species-level ID's are BS [based on live coral] - others think differently. [plenty do, and are free to]

[Fcwham]

see edit to my last post you are correct about gene differances,
genetic recombination is not necisary to prove this point, it would actualy take away form the argument.

take clown fish for example they are good aquarium species because of their naturaly thicker mucus layer, diet and so on.

what we are looking for is what makes some corals "preadapted" for aquarium life, but I am not asking you all to answer this now we will save that for (part 4)

[MiddletonMark]

Not try to be a problem here, glad you take my feedback constructively

[Fcwham]

No problem MiddletonMark, glad to have the feed back, so what would your list be, also of your two slimers which do you think grows better. I'd also love to see pictures of both.

[Fcwham]

what is the larry jackson acro I've never heard of it

[jwalters103]

pink birdsnest--everyone i know has a frag of this they got from someone else

[Amphiprion]

I think Pocillopora damicornis has to be one of the hardiest and least demanding corals I have ever owned.

[dbartco]

- Stuber
- Miami orchid
- Leng Sy Cap

[RichConley]

Originally posted by dbartco
-
- Leng Sy Cap

I think with all the questions involved about this, its about the worst possible thing for him to use.

[Fcwham]

I'd like more info on "Stuber and Miami Orchid"

This is my list so far,
Pocillopora damicornis
Seriatopora hystrix
Montipora digitata
Montipora capricornis
Acropora yongei
Acropora millepora

Any thing else to add? would you all agree with this list?

[Ti]

DIGI

[ClownReef®]

What about sarmentosa's?? They are pretty hardy...