Dendro?

[PhysicsMunkey]

Hey guys!

I bought this coral a few months ago as a "Red Dendro". The funny thing is though, it acts nothing like my other dendro corals. Where my typical orange and yellow dendros are open all the time and eat like piggies, this red one just doesnt like to cooperate. It is like pulling teeth to get him open, even at night! To get him open in the picture it took probably an hour and a half of squirting food near or on him directly in the tank. I have also noticed that when he does open, he doesn't have the same appearance as the other dendros. His polyps are shorter and stubbier. Am I still taking care of this little guy the correct way? Any tips to get him to come out a bit more other than regular feedings? Thanks guys!

 

[deaddat]

Possible Balanophyllia? I find it to hard to tell sometimes...but I think balanos has more of a clear polyp and are stubbier. If so I also believe they like colder water.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

I was toying with that idea. Its just odd that it behaves so differently than my other dendros.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

You know I found this picture of a Balanophyllia online and this looks identitcal to mine before it opens up. Im wonding if this is what it actually is, or if this website has these labeled incorrectly!

http://www.reefhotspot.com/store/pr...=4537&osCsid=9834e3296a2a1dc8db1bf8618bc2badf

 

[WSI2406]

This is not a Balono as the balano is a solitary polyp, not a colony. I would assume dendro, but it is not the typical one. But Mike has one that looks similar. here is the link.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16608817

 

[GoingPostal]

Balanos DO bud, both of my colonies do anyways, are the tentacles clear? I've seen them on Dr Mac as red dendros and thought they were balanos, is that where you got them from? They are a lot pickier about light than dendros. Bad pic but here's the ones I have, the lighter ones are new-ish and were pretty starved when I got them, I'm hoping they will turn more red like the first colony but you can see the tentacles do come out fairly long when they are happy.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

Exactly! I got them from Dr. Mac. No wonder its been so cranky lately! I'll try to move it more into the shade, hopefully that will help it a bit. You know I always just assumed the tentacles were pink since the rest of it is pink, but when I look closely at them I guess they are almost white-ish to see through. Well now this is a whole new animal...same care as the dendros but shaded then?

 

[GoingPostal]

Yes and best way to keep them open is frequent feedings, my best fed polyps are the ones most likely to be open, the rest will open 15-20 minutes after food is in the tank, seem to like a lower flow too. They take a while to get with the program and I still have a few polyps out of the sickly colony that are poor feeders/openers.

 

[PhysicsMunkey]

Wonderful! Yeah, I just assumed this guy was actually a dendro, so he is probably miserable where he is in the tank right now...

Thank you very much for the help, hopefully we can get this guy happy and open all the time.