Rare soft corals? - Page 2

sammy33 · #26 08/11/2006, 08:37 PM

I gotta thank chrisdaphish for starting this thread.

I took the liberty of compiling a list of what we have so far in this thread. I added some common names and scientific names to help with identification. These are all great corals (see exception notes below) and would make a fantastic shopping list for a softie dominated tank. A reef aquarium stocked with these would be well on it's way to a show tank or a Tank of the Month!

Palythoa - Purple People Eaters

Xenia - Green Xenia

Cespitularia - (Blue Xenia?)

Anthelia - Blue Anthelia

Sarcophtyton - Neon Green Toadstools

Ricordea - Yellow, Pink, or Red

Lemnalia - Purple (Tree Coral)

Sinularia - Neon Green Finger Leather

Clavularia - Neon Center

*Dendronepthya - Carnation Coral

*Scleronepthea - Silk Coral

**Anthomastus - Antartic (temperate?)

*Dendronepthya and Scleronepthya have mysterious feeding requirements. These corals are non-photoynthetic so our kick-butt reef tank lighting is basically useless with these species. Peter Wilkens (aquarium hobby author) has reported some success with this coral using specific feeding techniques and regular substrate stirring. Other than this there are very few other hobbyists (see the RC thread refereced in a previous post) that have had success keeping Dendros for more than a number of months. This coral (as reefnewbie54321 suggested) should likely be avoided be for the average reef aquarium.

**The last one on the list, (the first one...mentioned by tinyreef) Anthomastus, may indeed be the rarest. I did not see a reference to it in all of my books and found only a bit of information after googling it. It seems to be an antartic species with mysterious feeding requirements. I have never seen it for sale - LFS or online.

chrisdaphish · #27 08/12/2006, 12:59 AM

yah! what other softies are most desirble?!

a photo album with the library would be sweet as well

nicejob guys

tinyreef · #28 08/12/2006, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by sammy33
**The last one on the list, (the first one...mentioned by tinyreef) Anthomastus, may indeed be the rarest. I did not see a reference to it in all of my books and found only a bit of information after googling it. It seems to be an antartic species with mysterious feeding requirements. I have never seen it for sale - LFS or online.

i doubt you'll ever see it for sale unless someone's got access to a bathyscaphe for commercial reasons.

i believe the only organization that even has it on display is the monterey aquarium, and i don't even believe it's a regular display (open to the public).

but they (one species, at least) do look a lot like baby sarcophytons imo. i think there's only 2~3 species in the genus(?). that's all i've found described. the other one that i've seen looks like an anemone/sarco (off the shores of south africa). very vibrant colors though, hot red!

other desireable softies probably depends on the current fad, which i believe is neon-green polyped sarcos/toadies. altho the ppe's have always been very pretty imo.

fad's come and go, e.g. acans, blood shrimp, purple acros, etc. it's like the stock market of reefing.

apex003 · #29 08/12/2006, 02:22 PM

There's also "pulsing sinularia". From what I've read, the classification isn't clear, and it might be some kind of xeniiad but it's got a growth form like sinularia, and the small polyps pulse like xenia in low/no flow. It's not particularly colorful, but it seems relatively rare in that you don't hear about it often and is a pretty unique specimen. I have a video of a colony that I grew from a 1" frag over the last 2 years, if anyone's interested, but not sure how to post it up. I'd be happy to if someone could tell me how to do it. It shows the pulsing really well, I think.

Here's a couple other rc threads to prove that I'm not crazy (one with a pic that shows what it looks like):

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=27581&highlight

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=75871

and one where the discuss what the classification might be:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/xeniididfaqs.htm

apex003 · #30 08/12/2006, 02:31 PM

Here's a picture that I just took of it:

reefnewbie54321 · #31 08/12/2006, 09:38 PM

I almost purchased some pulsing sinularia but I guess it only pulses when its stressed (no flow/low flow) but it is pretty rare and I have only come across it once when I say it for sale in the buyers section.

apex003 · #32 08/12/2006, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by reefnewbie54321
I almost purchased some pulsing sinularia but I guess it only pulses when its stressed (no flow/low flow) but it is pretty rare and I have only come across it once when I say it for sale in the buyers section.

Where did you hear that it only pulses when stressed? Mine seems to prefer very low flow. It grew much better when I moved it from a high to low flow area. Pulsing xenia doesn't pulse when it's in high flow either. I don't think it's stress related or, if anything, high flow is more stressful. If it was really stressed, you'd probably find that the polyps wouldn't be out at all.

TheBigOne · #33 08/13/2006, 01:01 AM

cool ppes

reefnewbie54321 · #34 08/13/2006, 08:50 AM

Maybe it was just hear say but the person who was selling it in the buyers section said it didnt pulse like xenia and that it would only pulse when it was stressed and that it pulses all at once and not individual polyps.

apex003 · #35 08/13/2006, 11:04 AM

That sounds like regular ol' sinularia where all the polyps retreat at the same time from stress or threat. This is much more like xenia where individual polyps or small groups pulse off and on spontaneously. Hope the buyers didn't get ripped off...

gliebig · #36 08/14/2006, 10:10 AM

My pulsing sinularia is one of my fastest growing corals and it pulses extremely well. + I got a good deal on it, the LFS didn't know what it was ;-)

Serioussnaps · #37 08/15/2006, 05:23 AM

maximus is selling some kind of "rare" orange zoa's in the selling forumn for 600 bucks for 2 polyps

apex003 · #38 08/15/2006, 09:56 PM

Here's the vid I took of the pulsing. Sorry it's kind of boring. I'm no video editor, so there's no soundtrack or anything.

You can see groups of polyps pulsing and, if you look close, the individual polyps as well.

pulsing sinularia vid

Jaken · #39 08/16/2006, 01:59 AM

Here is a german site about pulsing Sinularia. Daniel Knop
Videos
http://www.knop.de/d/magazin/video/sinularia1.mpg (1,4 MB)
http://www.knop.de/d/magazin/video/sinularia2.mpg

http://www.knop.de/d/magazin/sinularia.htm
(translate it with www.babelfish.altavista.com)

Versus · #40 08/17/2006, 02:00 AM

Antho - video of it feeding
http://www.mbayaq.org/efc/living_spe...ri=1&inhab=170

As for antho being temperate , I dont know if thats the case .. When I visited hawaii they had some in their aquarium , .. But then again it supposidly only grows in rich magnesium etc , and uses lava rock as a "substrate" ...

i would guess if they are close to those deposit's , steam vents etc would keep it fairly warm anyway ... Then again I have never completed a rubix cube ..

Its just what I have read , seen and my opinion .. I clean toilets for a living though.

Neat video either way . family guy time.

Versus · #41 08/17/2006, 02:02 AM

this pic came up of the antho at the wiakiki aquarium .

apex003 · #42 08/20/2006, 09:40 PM

any others?

ezhoops · #43 08/20/2006, 10:22 PM

here is a not so good picture of yellow toadstool, still looking for a neon green

michaelg · #44 08/25/2006, 01:47 PM

Do a search on Aquacon before ordering from them.

AZreefkeeper · #45 08/25/2006, 04:26 PM

Cespitularia, Neon Green Sinularia and Neon Green Sarcophyton are nice if you can find them.

apex003 · #46 08/26/2006, 08:34 AM

...

tanksolver · #47 08/26/2006, 06:01 PM

Whats up I have been checking out this forum and i have to agree ycrazyy this is a great forum.
That being said I have been into saltwater for about 3 years, I work at a fish shop in DC, which gives me acess to almost any corals and fish I want because my boss has been in the business for 30 years and seems to have an endless list of contacts.
I recently set up a 110 in my room that i would like to make a reef with a large fish population, mostly tangs and hopefully some pigme angels.
I have a few questions:
1) I am interested in mainly euphylia and xenia and I was wondering about their compatabitly with pigme angels. I know pigmes are supposedly not reef safe, however i have seen and kept them with sucess in multiple reefs, it seems to me to be a matter or the angel and the corals. So anyone know if xenia and euphylia are typically meals for pigmes?
2) I have a Wet/Dry on the tank that came with it (it was used) and was thinking of using it on the reef because i plan to have it loaded with fish, hermits, snails, etc. Any opinions on that, I know it's not normal, howver I seen it done with great results by friends. Otherwise I would use the W/D as a refugium and sump.
3) I have come across 600, yes 600, 400watt metal halide fixtures previously used in as warehouse lighting. They all work and have bulbs, although only 4300k. They currently run on 277volts but I'm working on seeing if they are multitap in which case conversion to 110volts. My question is should they not be multi-tap does anyone know these lights would be worth keeping for aquarium use. If they can be used for my aquariums I will probably keep 40 of them the rest are up for grabs if any of you guys would like them i would be selling them for really cheap.

Sorry for the long post, any help would be much appreciated.

tanksolver · #48 08/26/2006, 07:22 PM

sorry for that post wrong forum

michaelg · #49 08/27/2006, 08:35 PM

One I haven't seen mentioned is Dampia. I have a chunk growing in addition to the pulsing sinularia, and another I don't have a name for....
Dampia isn't the prettiest, but does have a neat growth pattern and sure seems to be uncommon. Only ever seen it one place, and that was the tank I got a frag from.

psychodave · #50 08/28/2006, 03:25 AM

I saw this on ******************, a rainbow yuma ricordia. The first time ive ever seen one so I dont know if its rare or not, but id sure like to have a few