Any Leptastrea owners out there?

[Justin74]

Id love to see some pics. Trying to find as much info as I can but its really scarce on the internet. Saw a few links and of course whelk/aim. But then again Im reduced to using the "search tools" on the home page and not the search button.Anyway, Lets Talk About Leptastreas!

-Justin

[Justin74]

Are they that uncommon ?

-Justin

[gflat65]

I've got one that came in as a hitchhiker. Nothing special in terms of care, though. Mine doesn't seem to like high lighting a whole lot (less extension), but under VHO's is doing great. Medium to low flow and it gets the most extension.

[xdusty6920]

i own a few leptastrea. gflat is right. they prefer shaded areas and low to medium flow. they grow reasonably and are pretty cool little corals. dont know why people dont really get into them......or maybe its just people really dont know about them.

[gary greguire]

Leptastrea pruinosa?

seems to be growing well I like the color & polyp extension.

[Justin74]

Well first off Id like to thank you all for responding, was starting to lose faith there for a sec. But, what I have gathered does and doesnt correspond for all leptastrea. Some are collected at 30-50+ft and would correspond to what you say about there lighting and flow preferences.But and a big but, there are also just as many specie in shallow turbid waters and are subject to mass amounts of light and flow.

Hence my reasons for starting this thread, as I havnt come across in any reall discrussions anywhere other than threads being posted by people wondering "What is this coral??" Or 2 sights that give a few examples and collection points like :

http://krupp.wcc.hawaii.edu/BIOL200/...l/corindex.htm
or
http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch...0pages/221.htm

Both of these research sights give the exact opposite of collection points which I stated earlier. Any more information is just in data bases that the common hobbyist like myself cant access.

In fact to further confuse things I have mine at the same level as my sps with a significant amount of laminar flow directed at it and appear to have normal polyp extension. It was even "woolier" when I had the pwr head pointed right at it but the refraction made some of my other corals mad. Im pretty sure certain morphs are going to take place at certain depths, It would be really helpfull to the aquarist trying to house one of these beautifull corals if we had a basic idea of where those points are so we can appropriately place them in our tanks or be aware if the particular system we have is unsuited for that particular morph(or specie) so no unecessary deaths occur .

By the way here is mine



Let's discuss!

-Justin

[Justin74]

I just got finished moving it around some before I took the shot so its not a good representation of polyp extension, and the slight polyp recession on the right was worse when I got it and is now growing back.

-Justin

[xinumaster]

Here is picture from ultimate frag dot com. I have one that almost look the same.

[Justin74]

>bump<


-Justin

[GreshamH]

Justin, PM Bookfish about your Tongan Lep. He can shed some light on where yours was collected.

[Justin74]

Awesome, thanks Gresham. Me and Rob both got a colony each of that morph together. Hes coming to similar conclusions I am at least with the flow, although he says his is on the outskirts of his frag tank not getting direct lighting, but fairly strong flow.

I put a fragment I made of it, on the bottom of the sand and a gentle current in hopes that I was/am wrong. No such luck Its just not as happy as the colony thats got the seio and SQWD return I have on it.

-Justin

[rhoodhouse]

Here is mine...

Thanks
Rodney Hood

[bookfish]

I saw them in Tonga in as little as 8-10' of water at lowish tide. They seemed more abundant on faces of reefs rather than tucked into crevices. This is what I'd expected based on their morphology. Some I saw were were getting hit quite hard with current, but it wasn't surging wave crest current, it was more tidal/laminar flow. The water tended to be fairly plankton heavy. I'm only aware of about 5 or 6 pruinosa color morphs, anyone get a higher count?-Jim

[Justin74]

Thanks for the reply bookfish. This is what Ive been noticing with all the ones I have, If theyre not getting a good current;they wont open!
so far my morphs include,

solid purple
lavender w/ green center
green w/ purple center

-Justin

[Underwaterparadise]

Originally posted by rhoodhouse
Here is mine...

Thanks
Rodney Hood

now that is a nice piece

Mine all seem to love lots of current as well. One of them actually lost a lot of tissue due to it being in a low flow area the first month I had it acclimating.

[gooch]

Here is mine. I love it. This is an old pic.

[Justin74]

Nice colony Gooch!

-Justin

[Illuminati]

Here is mine, I got it from ultimate frags but it is brown under my lights, not purple like their picture:







I didn't know about the shade/low flow, I will try that.

[redFishblue]

I saw one that looks like gary greguire's but with a blue center.
Was considering picking it up.
Anyone with a pic of a blue centered one?

[Justin74]

Originally posted by colinadam


I didn't know about the shade/low flow, I will try that.

Nice frag colindam, I would try a medium to medium high current and medium light if you can do that. But more emphasis on getting the flow dialed in than the light whatever it takes to encourage polyp extension, some times they react slow so you may have to sit and watch for a few minutes.

-Justin

[ReefMonger]

Here is my Lepto Field

[Justin74]

Its like a field of jewels Good stuff ReefMonger, I really wish I could squeeze out a good shot of some new additions but my camera is not capable of getting any detail.



-Justin

[Underwaterparadise]

sweet collection ReefMonger!

[Chads29]

here is a link to mine i recieved as a hitch hiker a little over a year ago. 3 polyps when i recieved.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showp...t=1&thecat=500

They seem to be very easy to take care of.

Chad

[RandyO]

Originally posted by ReefMonger
Here is my Lepto Field

Sweet Lepto Field!