Compare and Contrast these NPS tube-type corals pls.

dg3147

Active member
I am having some trouble differentiating these. I think I have Tubastrea (seems to live in clusters) and Dendrophyllia (seems to be more branched) in my tank. Incidentally, neither really come out too much during the day and I worry about overfeeding the tank during "spot" feeding of these. (I turn off pumps and use baster to blast them with mysis --the do like it. But only partly will come out during day and they require me to soak the tank in mysis).

My REAL question though is, "what's the difference in these species?":

1) Dendrophyllia
2) Jumbo Dendrophyllia --I heard these are the ones that are active in the day).
3) Dendrophyllia coarctata (Fire Cracker Coral)
4) Balanophyllia sp.
5) Tubastrea faulkneri

thanks!
 
Dendrophyllia, Balanophyllia, and Tubastrea are all genuses in the Dendrophylliidae family. Thus there are different species in each genus. for example T. coccinea, T. faulkneri, T.micracantha etc. Some are branching some aren't, there are different colors as well.

Dendrophyllia and tubastrea are impossible to tell apart without microscopic analysis of corallite skeletons.
Wetweb media has some basic info:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/dendrophylliidae.htm
 
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