Sun Coral - Did You Know?

[Echidna09]

Ya, I think they are. I finally got a couple pictures but they still aren't open.

[mikekman]

Good pictures........they look good, I would like to see pictures when they open up!

Viper -do you think his are D. Arbusculas or a branching tubastrea?

Mike

[ViPeR_930]

Nice pics Echidna. I believe they're branching tubastrea. They also resemble Cladopsammia, so that could be another possibility.
I have a colony with about 25-30 polyps of that same thing. I only wish they were D. arbuscula.

[Echidna09]

I got some more pictures tonight right before the lights went out. I haven't seen them opened this much since I got them. Hopefully they will stay and keep opening up. I would be sad if they aren't Dendros. Still look cool though.

[mikekman]

Uh oh........big trouble. Better ask Miguel at Fraggle about the D. arbuscula, maybe he knows something that Viper doesn't but Viper is pretty knowledgable in this area.

Viper, can you post a pic of a D. Arbuscula?

Mike

[mikekman]

Oh by the way Echidna, is that a green tree nepthea or palau nepthea on the left of the tubastrea/dendro?

Mike

[Echidna09]

It's the Palau. Just got it from a trade today.Hoping it will attach to the rock before my dumb hermits knock it down like they do everything else.

[mikekman]

Viper and everyone else, any seen this sun coral for sale before? It is just sick!

[ViPeR_930]

I've got two arbusculas. One has one adult and 1 baby, and the other has 4 adults and 3 babies. The one in the first pic used to be the same color as the second one, but for some reason it changed to yellow. The first one I got from thecaptivereef and the second was from Roes. Those are the only two places I've ever seen D. arbuscula for sale at.



Here's a pic of the my colony that is the same as what Echidna has.


And just for fun, a pic of my black sun with green centers.


Mike, nope I've never seen that color morph anywhere. Judging by the other pics on that web site the pic's from, it was probably shot in the wild and not in someone's tank. There's many species of these corals that aren't collected and imported, even though they may be common in the oceans. I've got 3 dendrophyllids that I found as hitch hikers and they all look a little different from each other.

[mikekman]

Viper -the pic of the white tentacled sun coral was from a website. Its a pic from the wild.......I wish I had that in my tank, then I could get lots of stuff for trade!

The black sun coral with the green centers are cool, i'm thinkiny you got that at Atlantis because they were selling that same sun coral.

The 3rd pic you posted does look like echidnas.

[Qckwzrd]

I was on fragglereef and the coral echidna has they have for sale. I thought it was a suncoral, either way it looks cool.

Mike the baby suncorals I have are growing and still no color to them, they are white with a red center ( red from the cyclops..I'm thinking) I'll see in a few months as they grow to see if any color pops up...hope not

[ipluu]

mine is right under the MH and a lot of flow. Just feed it regularly while the lights are on and you will see a lot of sun shine.

[MarineGirl411]

Hi,
I know someone said earlier in the post that Dendro's are too branched out. Here a picture of mine. I think it looks pretty round. It's still a little guy, but has grown so much since I got it. =)

[messina06]

i picked up two sun corals and placed them in the tank a few days ago. One is thriving and opens even when lights are on. I have been succedsful in feeding that bunch; however, the other rock has been closed since in the tank. They were at one point one rock and i split them into 2 as there was a section without coral and just rock.

I have tried to feed it and lure the polyps out but no luck yet

will this one just take a bit long or is it in a bad location? i originally had this one under a cave and touched it quite a bit. After reading this thread i placed it more in front so there is a but more flow. I have t5s so light cant hurt compared to the MH

what do you all think

[messina06]

here are some pics after feeding

looks like they actually may start to come out after all

[mikekman]

messina -holy cow, thats a huge sun coral. At least 50+ heads on that thing! Have fun feeding it, it probably can easily consume 2-3 cubes of mysis per feeding!

As a general rule, I usually don't touch my corals. I find a good spot to put them and then let them grow. Touch them minimally. The other rock of sun polyps might still be stressed out a bit so don't worry.

[Echidna09]

I wouldn't worry about it. Mine still haven't opened all the way and it's been over a week. When I put food in they seem to close more. I touch them a lot, because my retarded hermit crabs knock them down all the time. They seem to like it better once I pick them back up.

[blacktip0000]

Originally posted by messina06
here are some pics after feeding

looks like they actually may start to come out after all

my sun coral wont come out it has been a little over a week it looks like the sun coral in the second picture. i tried to feed it but not sure if it is able to eat the food i give it. how much longer before it extends all its polyps?

[Don Lino]

Heres a pik of some of my sun coral, before I got rid of him:

[SDguy]

My first ever sun coral...lonely little guy


I've heard the black ones are more difficult to keep. Is this true?

[mikekman]

sdguy, that looks like a branching tubastrea or maybe even an arbusula. I like it!

Great pics of sun corals guys, they are truely lovely. It sucks though that its very hard to get them to open up FULLY during the day. Thats why I like the dendros. They are the best of both worlds but sun corals are still beautiful.

Sdguy- as for black sun corals, I would say they are hard to keep. I have one that was a rescue from a lfs and after nearly 2 months of feeding it mysis soaked with selcon about 3-4 times a week, it looks a little bit better. I don't see any major growth on it or anything. Everything else like my sun corals and dendros have shown growth and improvement but the black suns really haven't. From what I have read online, its said that black sun corals are hard to keep alive. I think other people have had success with them but I think they are hard to keep compared to the normal orange sun corals.

[SDguy]

It is growing a baby off the side like Viper's second pic.

[Echidna09]

Miguel from Fraggle Reef ensured that the ones I got really are Dendrophyllia Arbuscula. At night they are finally starting to open up but they haven't all the way it's sad. I'm usually up like all night so I check periodically and they never open up all the way.

[SDguy]

Originally posted by Echidna09
Miguel from Fraggle Reef ensured that the ones I got really are Dendrophyllia Arbuscula. At night they are finally starting to open up but they haven't all the way it's sad. I'm usually up like all night so I check periodically and they never open up all the way.

Hey, that's where mine came from!

[Echidna09]

Originally posted by SDguy
Hey, that's where mine came from!

That's cool. If you got it recently then it is probably D. Arbuscula. I haven't seen any Branching Tubastrea on his site recently. Mine are starting to open more towards the end of the day instead of just when the lights are off. Hopefully tonight will be the night they open all the way. I will try to get pics if they do open tonight.