Efflo/Soli--From baby to monster

[Big E]

Thought I'd post some pics of this coral as a tribute since I have been fragging it down to fit it into a smaller tank. I purchased this for $28 mis-labeled as a cup coral at a LFS. Grew from 5" to about 20x16". I've fragged it several times over the 7 years I've had it.

It has changed it growth as I changed the flow over the years.

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[Big E]

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The Butterfly was full grown at 6" in the first pic. Both pics give a size perspective.

 

[Big E]

 

[7Dragons7]

nice

nice

[violation]

 

[Whisperer]

OT, what do you feed your copperband? Very plump!

 

[JamesJR]

OT, what do you feed your copperband? Very plump!

That is not a copperband butterfly. It is Muelleri. Very closely related though.

 

[ice2fire11]

nice piece.

 

[Whisperer]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

 

[DonDraper]

Beautiful piece, where did you find that Muelleri? I have never heard of that fish before, does it bother your corals?

 

[JamesJR]

Muelleri's typically run at around 4-8X the cost of your typical copperband and only come from australia so they are definitely harder to get. Check LA diver's den as they get them from time to time.

 

[Whisperer]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

 

[dvanacker]

Looks like a very nice soli...

 

[jimroth]

My thunder, what a whopper!

 

[cwegescheide]

aww man I cant see!!

 

[Big E]

Ok, what do you feed your Muelleri then?

The Muelleri Copperband is about 7 years old...........purchased him from the Marine Center. I feed it fresh clams, shrimp, & scallops from the grocery store.......... freeze & then chop up bite size pieces for him. I rotate these & feed that 95% of the time. The other 5% consists of some Formula 1 or 2, IO marine blend (because it was free & he eats it) & mysis.

These guys come from mud flat areas in Queensland, where acros & corals aren't abundant. He hasn't touched anything Sps, LPS, Rics, anenome ect. Hardier than the common CBB & he devoured all my aiptasia. They don't have as long of a snout & can eat larger chunks of food.

 

[cmbspd]

I saw this one in person a few weeks ago - impressively large! It reminded me of an underwater bonsai the way it dominated the tank.

I think BigE is being modest about his fish too. They were all fat and healthy - I forget the exact age but he has had that purple tang for many, many years.

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Your tank looks incredible. What type of lighting are you running and how big is your tank? I actually am going the basically barebottom route because I feel as if the sand traps a bunch of debris and left over fish food. Much cleaner that way. Do you have a fuge attached? Tim

 

[mnswreefer]

Man, it's huge...........

 

[Big E]

The tank is a 48" 120g. The full tank shot is from 5 years ago. I sold most of those corals & whittled it down to about 7 or so giant colonies. I fragged most of them down over the last few years except the efflo since I'm limiting sps to a smaller tank & focusing on a FO biotope tank. Sps got old & boring after 10 years.

Anyways I ran 400w 20k and then switched to Reeflux 12 k which I liked the best.

No fuge, just 10% water change, weekly with a skimmer & kept up calcium & alk at required levels. No other additives. No carbon, phosban, vodka, ozone, macro, ect.

 

[OneReef]

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1899437