Coral IDs

[bluetang_2000]

I have these corals that came with the rocks when I bought the whole tank from another owner. Please help me identify the corals and whether they will be a potential threat if I want to add more sps corals.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/bluetang_2000/Coral1.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/bluetang_2000/Coral2.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/bluetang_2000/Coral3.jpg

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t191/bluetang_2000/P1000835.jpg

 

[Chrsnwk]

the first one is a canella or finger leather... will spread profusely

the 2nd to me looks like a condy anemone

the 3rd, i assume you are referring to the green star polyps, they will also spread profusely the other thing in the picture besides the hammer is moon polyps, also will spread, but not invasively.

the 4th is an anchor or hammer coral. one of my personal favorites. it will sting anything and everything near it except other LPS's that can take it.

 

[rustybucket145]

Chrsnwk's on target with pretty much everything. I did however notice some aptasia that you should take care of before it gets out of hand.

 

[bluetang_2000]

Chrsnwk & rustybucket145, thanks for your advice. I will try joe's juice on those aptasia this week. Do you think those corals would be potential threat to sps corals?

 

[rustybucket145]

any coral can be a potential threat to SPS's. The GSP will encrust everything it touches so if you want it to stay on one rock, isolate that one rock so that it's surrounded by sand or glass.

Condy nem. I just recently ripped one out of my tank b/c it camped out on top of a mother colony of montipora digita. Needless to say, I gave it a couple of days to move, the montipora started to die, so I went to work with razorblade, pliers and tongs and virtually had to rip the anemone out of the tank piece by piece. Anemones and corals really don't mix. The nem will move and the corals can't.

The leather corals that you have are big!! Is there any particular reason that you want three of them? I would suggest selling back to 1 if you want to add some SPS.

Frogspawn are very aggressive from my experience. They send out 'sweeper' tentacles. Their sole purpose is to kill anything that may be encroaching on the corals territory. I had a frogspawn for about 6 months, it killed everything within 6 inches of it with the sweeper tentacles.

Many corals can become aggressive when crowded. It's best to give them some space to grow.

 

[Frick-n-Frags]

I would absolutely get rid of that condylactus anemone. IMO, they have no place in your standard reeftank. I went through that when I first started reefing. I ended up freezing mine. it got enormous and was a very strong stinger

 

[Chrsnwk]

like the others said.... i'll just add that the one ones that are a direct threat to SPS's are the condy and the Hammer. both will reach out and sting anything they can to ensure enough room for themselves to grow and feed. The leather will prefer water conditions a little dirtier than most SPS's will thrive in. They certainly can peacfully co exist, (check out my 125 in my gallery if you want proof) but don't expect explosive growth from the SPS's. star polyps will spread, but as far as i know, won't spread across "living" coral, but will grow on rock, glass, overflows, coral skeleton, etc.

Good luck!!

 

[bluetang_2000]

Thank you all for the advice. I'll take care of them before they become a threat.