Dendrophyllia that doesn't open up?

cocoaandme

cocoaandme

New member
I was talking to someone at a lfs about dendros and they said there are two kinds. One kind that opens up all the time and another kind that doesn't open up much. I asked him if he was talking about tubastreas and he said no. Is this true about the two kinds of dendros? If so how can they be differentiated? Thank you for the help!
 
Could he be talking about dendros and balanos? Dendrophyllia look similar to balanophyllia when closed so he could be mistaken since balanos dont open under bright light found in reef tanks.

Im probably wrong but its just a thought.
 
Hmm I didn't think balanophyllias were available in the trade? I think he was referring to two kinds that he had. I spoke to him over the phone so I wasn't able to confirm what he had.
 
I had one that never fully opened and died. Another guy on the other board said it took him 2 months to get his opening. So to answer your question yes they are some that are hard to open. Just best to be super dedicated. Having a new baby is easier than a NPS tank, IMHO.
 
Hmm ok so I talked to him again and he said that they are not tubastrea or balanophyllia and that they are definitely dendrophyllias but just different "strains". Anyone heard of this? Thanks again for everyone that helped out.
 
I doubt that this guy is well informed. I have never heard the use of the word strain used to describe anything other than diseases. What my feeling is, is that he has had experiences with dendros not opening for him and is trying to sell those animals saying that it is a different "strain.". Again I could be wrong but I am pretty sure that only healthy well fed dendros will stay open, while neglected and starved dendros stay closed.
Or maybe he has some deep water dendro that isn't common in the trade and it isn't used to light.
 
Interesting. I was thinking that as well. He seems to be a pretty knowledgeable guy but I guess you never know.

I assumed by the way he was talking about them that the "strain" that doesn't open up as much still grows and forms new heads and feeds. Which makes me suspect that they are just not acclimated to high light environments and are feeding at night.

I wonder though if they can still be trained to open up more or if they are indeed just intrinsically different. Thank you for your help!
 
The non opening dendro should be this... It took me 2 months to get it to only to open it a bit, the tentacles never extended out at all... And without target feeding it is most likely a goner... Never reacted to broadcast feeding..

Photo from the net..
BranchingDendro.jpg


AwesomeBranchingDendroColony-129.jpg


Dendro3.jpg


My previous one... (Ignore the dying seafan, it is from my friend)
IMAG0156.jpg


This is the maximum I could get it to open...
IMAG0214.jpg
 
If that's anything like Dendrophyllia arbuscula (and they look similar enough that I'd wager their habits are the same), you've got a dead coral. I've tried them on two separate occasions expecting them to be as easy as the regular Dendros and the things just absolutely refuse to eat any fare.

It may be temperature related, flow related, food related, whatever. The best I could do was exactly as you have pictured, with polyps just bubbling under the surface of the mantle, but never coming out to capture any food particles.

Anyway, best of luck!
 
Yupz, they are damn difficult... most will waste away slowly.. I tried high flow, low flow, low light, high light, no difference.. temp, I can't tweak much at 26 is the lowest I can go any lower my tank will sweat in my country.. the only thing is Target feeding that got them to open up...

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
 
The Dendrophyllia Arbuscula looks very similar to a tubastrea. How can you tell the difference? Is it just the translucency of the polyps or are there other identifiers?
 
I have Dendro's that didn't open at first. What I figured out is they don't like the bright light. I now have two colonies..... they are shaded and wide open. One of my favorite corals.
 
props4you said:
I have Dendro's that didn't open at first. What I figured out is they don't like the bright light. I now have two colonies..... they are shaded and wide open. One of my favorite corals.
Click to expand...

Is it the same one? Most Dendro will open in shaded area...
 
I have Dendro's that didn't open at first. What I figured out is they don't like the bright light. I now have two colonies..... they are shaded and wide open. One of my favorite corals.
 
I got one like this recently aslo and mine hasnt open after broadcast feeding

any one have any ideas , they seem to be a branching dendro??
 
Rod's food. So far has been good for coaxing anything I have tried it on, fish that does not want to eat all the way to a stubborn dendro.

I had one dendro I had to container feed with Rod's for a few weeks before it started opening in the tank. It had remained closed for about 3 weeks before I resorted to this. Now it responds and eats along with all the rest. I always include some Rod's in the food mixture whenever I feed my suns and dendros.

If i drop mysis juice or something along those lines into the tank with them, they 'might' open in an hour or so. If I drop juice from Rod's in the tank, they are usually open within 15 minutes, bright lights or not. This is actually what I do when I have guests comming over to force my suns and dendros to open.
 
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