aussie lithophylon

[squishifishi]

I scored a nice blue-green aussie litho frag for a decent price! I hear they are pretty uncommon/hard to get in the hobby. Anyway, I can't find any good information on their care! has anyone kept these before? Could you outline the care for me?(lighting, flow, growth rate, feeding) right now I am assuming it is kept like a plate coral(i've never actually kept one of those either) as they are closely related, so medium light, low flow, feed weekly while tentacles are fully extended.
does that sound about right?
I'll pick it up on saturday. Thank you for any advice on keeping this beautiful coral healthy and happy!

 

[squishifishi]

oh yeah, and how does it grow? out in tiers like a montipora, an encrusting plate, outward growth? what should i expect. And where should it be placed? is it ok resting on the sandbed(on it's plug)
thanks again!

 

[organism]

They encrust and plate kind of like a Montipora cap, and prefer lower, bluer light along with occasional feedings, I use pellet food, but they'll do fine with light alone. Lower to moderate flow at most, I'd keep it in the bottom third of the tank, it probably won't grow too well if it's on the sandbed since it won't be able to plate out as much, you might wanna move it once it grows over the plug.

 

[squishifishi]

ok, thanks! do you have any idea how fast they grow?

 

[organism]

Fairly slowly until they get bigger, then they can take off a bit

 

[squishifishi]

it is now in my tank! It looks kinda boring in real life, but I'm hoping it will color up more soon. how often should i feed it? is mysis ok? I sure hope it does well in my tank!

 

[squishifishi]

those are lithos? how are they so perfectly round? i thought the growth pattern was more irregular...

 

[kurt_n]

They're probably perfectly round because they've grown right to the edge of the plug/disc.

I've got mine mid-tank under 2x 96W compact fluorscents in medium flow. I feed it every couple weeks (when I think about it) with mysis. It took a while to get used to my tank and didn't grow much at first. But it seems to be picking up the pace now. They just spread out and encrust the rock.

 

[Mstansbery]

Like these?? Mine grow crazy fast and love to be target fed!!

 

[squishifishi]

ah...round frag plugs, makes sense
mine is placed by a wall, will it grow up the glass once it reaches the edge of the plug?

 

[squishifishi]

How do i go about feeding it? i tried giving it some mysis today...
I've only ever fed galaxea and palys before. galaxea has long sticky tentales, and palys close up fast around food. this litho though, i don't know how to feed it! i tried just putting soe mysis on top of it, but is just sat there and eventually drifted away. tips?
thanks!

 

[scolley]

ah... will it grow up the glass once it reaches the edge of the plug?

If you put it next to glass, yes it will grow up the glass. Or rock. Or whatever you put it next to. But that growth will likely be slow.

How do i go about feeding it? i tried giving it some mysis today...

As organism said, it will live on light alone (assuming there are other nutrients in your water column. If you've got fish that you are feeding, it will probably be ok.)

But squishifishi indicated, they can be target fed. I've target fed them small mysis when their polps are out. Honestly I can't say I've ever see it take one into an "eye" (mouth really), but I've seen them firmly gripping small mysis - or bits of mysis - and come back later for them to be all gone - and IMO it was not due to CUC either. But I cannot say for sure...

 

[williewilliams]

I got a frag in a pack, I wasn't expecting it, but it has turned out to be really sweet. I love the glowing punk rock spikes it shows off when it is happy.

 

[scolley]

I got a frag in a pack, I wasn't expecting it, but it has turned out to be really sweet. I love the glowing punk rock spikes it shows off when it is happy.

Nice score! These are uncommon enough that getting one for free is just amazing. I guess it's like the LFS near me that got a "large red mushroom" shipped to them the turned out to be a rare red carpet anenome. Good for you!

They are awesome when they "spike", even better under actinics or royal blues.

 

[williewilliams]

Here is a pic of it. Under the actinics it looks sweet. pink with green spikes. it's the one in the middle of the pic under the hammer.

 

[squishifishi]

cool! i got mine for less than 10 dollars on e-bay, plus i don't have to pay shipping ecause their local store is near me so i picked it up. pretty good deal imo
so i was thinking, whe i thaw mysis or bloodworms, the water gets all foggy from the juices i guess. so, if I squirt the water on the coral instead of big chunks, would that be good to feed it? thanks!

 

[williewilliams]

Thanks, Mines still pretty small, I just feed the tank with a mix of oyster and coral smoothie from algen. I'm sure some gets to it. I never tried larger stuff yet. Good luck with yours it seems pretty easy to keep so far.

 

[kurt_n]

When the coral is "puffy" and has its tentacles out, that's the time to spot feed it mysis. When it's all hard looking, the food will just blow off it as others have mentioned.

It eats really fast, just like a plate coral. I'm always amazed watching the tentacles work together to "pass" the food to the nearest mouth. When its tentacles are out on mine, within 30 seconds of "grabbing" food, it will sucking it into a mouth.

 

[squishifishi]

very cool. It's looking really good now. sorta puffy and very spiky for sure! the colors are better too. I think I will try feeding it again toorrow. It always seems to perk up especially when I am feeding my goby, so It might be getting enough nutrients from the particles from his food everywhere.
thanks for all the good info and pictures! I'll keep you guys updated!

 

[squishifishi]

feeding today went really well! It only has 2 mouths so I placed a piece of mysis on each one and turned off the flow. It does eat fast! I think the eating behaviour is very similar to my ricordea mushroom, the way the mouth opens up and devours the food.It was funny, because after the first mouth finished its piece, it stretched over and welcomed itself the the partially devoured piece That the other was working on. It was really cool. When all the food was gone it looked all fat