Blue Porites?

[Buzz1329]

The coral in the background is blue porites, right?

What's the best way to frag this piece? Can I just snap off one of the buds or will this cause irreparable harm to the mother colony?

I want to move a frag of it to my Zeo tank to see if it will color up.

Thanks.

http://s1146.photobucket.com/user/Buzz1329/media/BluePorites3002_zps459fdc66.jpg.html

 

[Frick]

Maybe. What does it look like when the polyps are retracted? Can you get a close up pic of the corallites?

 

[leveldrummer]

Im FAR from an expert, but this looks very much like a montipora Digitata to me.

 

[Buzz1329]

Maybe. What does it look like when the polyps are retracted? Can you get a close up pic of the corallites?

I've never seen the polyps retracted but I'll keep my eye on it and see what I can do. Thanks.

 

[Buzz1329]

Im FAR from an expert, but this looks very much like a montipora Digitata to me.

Yep. The frag was sold to me as Blue porites but I'm having a hard time distinguishing it from the montipora Digitata in the foreground -- except for the color and growth pattern, of course.

But what's the best way to frag this thing? If it's montipora, I'd just snap a piece off. But if it's porites . . .

Thanks.

 

[Buzz1329]

Upon closer examination, I noticed that the polyps on the "blue" coral are closer together and completely fill the "coenosteum" (i.e., the porous calcareous skeleton between the corallites or between one corallite and the next). While the polyps on the pink/red monti digi are farther apart and reveal white coenosteum between them.

Does this make a difference?