Cyphastrea, Montastraea, and Leptastrea

[rhdoug]

I recently picked up some frags of these corals. If any of you are keeping these please share what kind of light you are keeping them under, I am finding some conflicting info in books.

Leptastrea?

The coral in the foreground, favites? The one behind it is Montastraea?

Didn't post a pic of the Cyphastrea, it is a very small frag.

 

[gastone]

I keep my cyphastrea directly under a 150W DE 10k lamp, about 8-10" under the water's surface. My frag is growing and starting to encrust the mount that it came on.

By the way, my family is from Dutchess County. I used to spend summer with my grandparents in Dover Plains and I still visit my aunt twice a year in Wingdale.

Garrett.

 

[Sparg93]

What is that coral in the background.... it has red circles with green centers?

I recently bought a small frag (5 polyps) of the same thing and was told it was a type of brain (i'm new).

What is the best lighting and water flow??

 

[rhdoug]

The name of the coral appears over the pic. "Montastraea" is what the supplier (ultimatefrags.com) called it. I have never seen one until I bought this one. It has a solid dome-shaped skeleton. Does your coral have a branch-like skeleton? If so I suspect it is a candycane, the polyps look similar on some varieties to the coral in the pic.

 

[Sparg93]

This is going to sound dumb, but how can i tell if it is dome-shaped or branch like?

If dome-like means that the frags are sticking directly to the rock w/o stems, then it is domelike.

does that help?

What kind of lights and water flow is good for these little guys?

 

[rhdoug]

the "rock" is most likely the skelton then. The flow and light is what I am trying to find out here in this thread as well. The supplier was keeping it in relatively low light, but the Borneman book suggests "reasonably bright light and good water motion" for them.

I would like to hear from anyone who has kept them to compare notes.

 

[Sparg93]

For the past week, mine has been on a lower shelf with decent exposure to light (2x96watt PCs). It receives indirect flow and so far has eaten twice and puts it sweepers out at night.

Anyone have more experience with these?

 

[xdusty6920]

i have 3 morphs of leptastrea and 6 morphs of cyphastrea. leps like medium light and little flow. i keep mine about middle level in the tank with indirect flow.
cyphastrea are alittle more spsish imo. they can tolerate being in the upper column with a decent but not excessive amount of flow. i dont really feed the cyphs but the leps will snatch up cyclo or small bits of brine and mysis.

 

[joetbs]

The leptastrea should get lower light/low flow. They are also very weak fighters, so make sure to keep it away from any other corals.

Cyphastrea come from all different environments, and most seem to do good in med-low light with good flow. Which one did you get from Rommel? I was thinking of getting a few but didn't pull the trigger yet. A pic would be nice

The Montastrea you have is M. Curta, and are collected very shallow. That said, for best color, med light/flow will yield the best results.

The favites is Coscinarea. The majority of the genus comes from 'shallow reef environments'. I would give it the same care as the Montastrea.

joe

 

[Sparg93]

Thanks for all the info!

 

[GreshamH]

You could always go to the source and ask the collector/exporter. Jim aka Bookfish on this site is at the faclity that shipped to the wholesaler that Rommel got these from. I'm sure Jim would tell yah a bit more about where these were collected.

 

[rhdoug]

here are 2 photos of the Cyphastrea from Rommel. I am planning on moving the one on the sand up into higher light/flow tomorrow. the other one is about midway up in the tank already.

 

[rhdoug]

I hit the post button before I meant to...thanks to everyone who contributed here.

joetbs - just noticed we are almost neighbors. i have another question: how does a musician know so much about about relatively obscure corals? this was my first order from Rommel, you can see some of the other frags and my review in the vendor forum.

xdusty: would like to see some pics of your stuff if you have any. i have a whole tank pic from a day or 2 before i got the frags in my gallery if anyone is interested.

 

[joetbs]

Randy, we are very close I have been doing this for a while, and spend alot of time reading. I've also spent some time diving/collecting and some time recently doing alot of tank setups/maintenance. Cyph's & Astreoporas are my favorite corals, so I try to go out looking for them. LMK if you order from Rommel or anyone else. I saw Mac had some frags too for a good price. Look around here, there are some pictures of some pieces I have: http://photobucket.com/albums/v228/joetbs/

joe

 

[xdusty6920]

sorry i cant post pics because im very technologically challenged lol. add to that a cannon power shot and posting pics becomes impossible. theyre awesome corals though and one day ill have to have somone take and post some pics for me.