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#1
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elegance thread
the search feature isn't working for me, can someone direct me to the elegance thread that i saw a few weeks back. It was several pages long. i believe it was title 'the elegance thread" i might be wrong though.
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#2
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Are you talking about this? Elegance coral theory. If so, you can skip the first half of the thread. We were really struggling to understand what was going on back then.
http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...readid=1109727 Last edited by elegance coral; 12/18/2007 at 10:04 AM. |
#3
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To answer your question from the other thread, here is a pic of some Indo Pacific Elegance corals.
There is no way to be 100% sure of where an Elegance came from. We can get pretty darn close though. Most, but not all, Indo Elegance have cone shaped skeletons. The tentacles are short and stubby. If the coral has not bleached, it will have very, very dark zooxanthellae. The overall health of the coral will be poor when first imported into the states. The three larger Elegance corals in this pic are recovering from this problem and have been in captivity for some time. It is rare to find Indo Elegance corals this healthy. These are shots of Aussie Elegance corals. Most of these corals are frags of much larger, meandering skeletal structured Elegance corals. The tentacles are much longer and the overall health is much better. The first photo shows what they look like shortly after the fragging process. The second photo shows their potential after they have healed and been in captivity for a while. |
#4
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By cone shape, I think you mean that half curved U-cone shape indicating it is a full colony (as suppose to a frag of the aussie one). |
#5
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These pictures illustrate what I am talking about when I use the term "cone shaped". The skeleton resembles a slightly flattened cone, or a V. The first photo illustrates the results of a coral with a very slow growth rate. The second photo illustrates a fast growth rate. As far as color goes, I didn't even mention the corals secondary or photosynthetic pigments. What I did say, was that if the coral had not bleached, it would have very dark zooxanthellae. This is a result of the light the coral received in the ocean. At greater depths there is less light, so the coral houses a larger population of zooxanthellae to supply the nourishment needed. This gives the coral a much darker appearance. This is what we see in the Indo Pacific Elegance corals due to the fact that they are collected at much greater depths. In comparison, the Aussie Elegance corals have a lighter brown color. This indicates that they were collected in much shallower water where a smaller population of zooxanthellae is sufficient to supply nourishment and not poison the coral with an over abundance of oxygen. |
#6
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Thanks Elegance, I got the cone shape part. I do see some cones with various T off skeleton, I will see if I can buy it next time and show you.
However I do not see the indo elegance come in with very dark brown or heavy brown color as shown in your brown elegance before. I see some more of the very neon and green colour as suppose to the dark color. I can believe a few are bleached but almost all of the indo shipment come in with varying degrees of neon yellow to greenish color, maybe only one out of two dozen or so come in with that dark brown color, it is in very uncommon. And I am seeing this shipment after shipment, these are direct imports (so no wholesale distribution involved). Would you happen to have a picture of the skeleton of an aussie one? |
#7
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I did just take some pics of the skeletons from some Indo Elegance corals that had the meandering skeletal structure like most of the Aussies, however they did not come out well. I will have to take some more pics. I have never had an Aussie die on me so I don't have any of their skeletons.
We seem to be talking about two different things. All Elegance corals have two different colors, not counting the tips of their tentacles. They have their secondary or photosynthetic pigments that are different shades of green. This can be any where between a very pale yellowish color to a blinding fluorescent green. These colors are very near the surface of the tissue. In the areas that are void of these pigments the coral should appear brown if it has not bleached. Again, this color can vary. It can be a very dark chocolate brown or a very light tan. This color is produced by the corals zooxanthellae/algae. The more zooxanthellae the coral has the darker this brown color will be. If the coral has adapted to a dimly lit environment there will be a large population of zooxanthellae causing a dark brown color. As the coral adapts to brighter light it will regulate the population of zooxanthellae in its tissues by discharging them causing the brown color to fade. This is a closeup of an Elegance showing the two different colors. |
#8
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Actually I would say most of them that come in look extremley healthy and start to decline after weeks in captivity. In fact I was at a supplier last month and the 10+ elegance corals were extremly bright green in color with vibrant purple tips and most of them expanded after about 10 min. in the tanks!
__________________
Actions speak louder then words |
#9
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I will try to see if I can snatch up some pics in today's shipment before all the crazy ppl pick them all up (regardless of their survivability). As for "Underwaterparadise"'s comments, I absolutely agreed with that observation after seeing multiple shipments coming in for the last 1-2 years. Usuallly they look awesome in both coloration and expansion and health for the first 3 days, then decline starts within 1 week to 4 weeks; usually dead by a month's mark. I have crazy friends that pickup literally half dozen of them every indo shipment and reported the similiar report to me. |
#10
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Using the color of the corals photosynthetic pigments is not a good way to judge the health of a new arrival to the states. I have seen these corals keep these bright colors right up to the point that they melt away and die. The best way for us to judge the health of an Elegance is through its polyp expansion, tentacle length, population of zooxanthellae, and the power of its sting or number of nematocysts. |
#11
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