baby devils hand coral?

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

We bought a red grape algae a while back..I didn't have anything to glue the grape algae to the rock so I put it in the sand. Anyways.. the rock that the grape algae came with kept poping out of the sand. Looked at the rock and there was something attached to it. It was desperately trying to get light.. it was yellow and had bumps all over it..My husband and I were like..what is that thing? So, we left it alone and then polyps were coming out of it. I was like omg its a coral! Our very first coral and it is free. What kind of a coral is it? Well after it detached itself from the algae rock we put it in a high place in the tank. We looked at several books and websites but none would show us a frag of soft coral. All we have to compare it with is adult corals. My husband thinks its a devils hand..What do you think?

 

[afelder]

It look like a yellow fiji leather to me. Give it plenty of light and flow and it will be a happy camper. Very nice find especially for free.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

no, doesnt look at all like a fiji yellow to me. Looks like the devils hand that your husband thinks it is.

this is a fiji yellow leather...

and this is a devils hand leather. Yours looks way more like the devils hand to me (I have both of these 2 corals...fiji yellow and devils hand. I just dont have pics of either....just got these off of yahoo image search )

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

yeah ours looks very much like those pictures you have of the devils hand. Thank you

 

[sir_dudeguy]

No problem Have fun with it. I love mine, but it just grows so much slower than all my other leathers (fiji yellow, 3 different toadstools, and another couple that i'm forgetting...)

 

[RokleM]

The colors are WAY off in the picture I think, so it appears a lot more green/yellow than it is I believe. My guess is it's a baby devil's hand or standard brown toadstool leather. It's pretty difficult to tell at this point until you can see if the bumps on the edges grow into fingers or into folds on the rim.

 

[rssjsb]

BTW, sirdudeguy, those last pictures look like toadstools to me, not devils hand. I don't think Devil's hand have long polyps like that.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

no, its not a toadstool. Its a devils hand for sure. Devils hands have long polyps too. I've got 2 toadstools, a fiji yellow, and a devils hand, all 3 of which have very noticeable differences.

Here's a really old picture of my regular toadstool...

My green toadstool...

and a picture of my devils hand from a year ago.

just thought i'd throw out a few more pics to compare

 

[z00crazy]

i would say it was some kind of toadstool because the color of the devils hand and the one picture she showed is completely off. There is sooo many species of mushrooms you can never really tell.

 

[sir_dudeguy]

There is sooo many species of mushrooms you can never really tell

i'm guessing you meant leathers?

My devils hand is not red looking like that at all anymore. Mine is a light tan now, almost exactly like the first picture at the top of this page. I'll get a picture of it later tonight to show the difference.

And also, corals can look completely different under different lighting, you know... A green star polyp colony under one type of light could look completely different under another set of lights...same with any other coral. And then there's the fact that different camera's can show different colors, different people shoot pictures different, etc...

For what its worth, that picture of my devils hand was taken when i only had 2x96 over my 40 breeder, and they were straight pins (not as powerful as square pin bulbs supposedly) and they were cheap jebo/odyssea brand lights. I now have 4x96w pc with 2 workhorse ballasts, and completely different colored bulbs. The picture i put up of mine was under 2 50/50 bulbs, each half 65K and half 03 actinic. I now use 2 full 10K bulbs, 1 full 03 actinic, and one full 460nm BLUE (03 actinics are only 420nm i guess) and the color is way different.

Like i said...i'll try getting those pics later to compare time and light difference in mine.

 

[RokleM]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9833346#post9833346 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sir_dudeguy
no, its not a toadstool. Its a devils hand for sure. Devils hands have long polyps too. I've got 2 toadstools, a fiji yellow, and a devils hand, all 3 of which have very noticeable differences.

Don't throw out the "I know because I have it" routine, because I can come out swinging :lol:

This shot doesn't have my Fiji yellow or green polyped toadstools which are in another tank.

I still say it's impossible to tell because 1) the colors are off, and 2) it's almost impossible to tell the type of leather when it's small. Toadstools resemble devil's hands when they're small _IF_ they have the ridges along the edge like most healthy toadstools have later in life. Some toadstools have them almost immediately and look just like that picture, and some are perfectly flat somewhat like the shots you posted.

Only time will tell or if it's a direct frag the person you got it from should be able to tell you.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

What is my hermit crab doing?

What is my hermit crab doing?

Sorry everyone, I just noticed people were still replying to this thread. I think sir_dudeguy is right. I know it just has to be a devils hand when I read about it ..it does everything that a devils hand would do. It is growing really slow and when it shrinks up its got a green film all over it. Last time it shrunk up, it did it for a week, and now I think it looks a little bigger.

There is one thing that is bothering me right now. Why is my hermit crab shoving itself under my devils hand? It looks like its annoying the coral. I move the hermit crab. and then a few minutes later I find him under the coral again. So I put the hermit crab on the other side of the tank. The next day I find him under there again Will the hermit crab hurt the coral? If so, I'll put the crab in 120gal with all the other hermits.

 

[bpulmano]

I agree looks exactly like my devils hand.

 

[skozzy1]

Sure looks like the Devils Hand I have. Actually I got a large one from my lfs who's tank crashed. So I fragged it into 6 smaller ones and they all survived. Yes, when mine shrink up they also have that green hue to them until they puff up again. They do seem to get bigger every time they cycle like that. One of them gets 1/2" long polyps on it when extended. I have hermits too but they do not harm the D.H.

 

[rssjsb]

I agree that your coral is a devils hand.

FWIW, I wouldn't worry too much about the hermit if the DH still has good polyp extension (as in the pic). In any event, you'll never persuade it to stay away unless you remove it from the tank. He obviously feels safe under there.

 

[wicked_NaCl_h2o]

Thanks for your replys.. I guess the hermit is ok in that tank. I agree that he feels safe under the DH. I think I figured out another reason why he keeps trying to get under there. Maybe it is trying to eat the pods that like to hide under the DH. You are right rssjsb, I don't think I will be able to persuade the hermit to stay away from the DH. Oh well.. Thanks again.