Encrusting hydnophora?

[redfishsc]

I purchased this as encrusting hydnophora. Was grown under filtered sunlight in a greenhouse.

Right now (one day under actinics) it's a very light blue with a hint of green.

Any ideas? Is this a hydnophora specie?



In these pics they sorta look like a Turbinaria (pagoda or scrolling coral) specie, but I don't think it is... the polyps are shaped much differently.

 

[returnofsid]

Does look like Hydnophora. A great way to tell is to disturb it, so it retracts it's polyps. The shape of Hydnophora corallites is very distinguishable. If needed, snap a pic of the corallites, with polyps retracted, and post it. Corallites are raised, and almost "pyramid" in shape.

 

[redfishsc]

I can't get a picture at the moment, but it's retracted (which might not be a good thing at the moment, hopefully it's not getting light shocked).

The corallites are definitely raised and pointed, like an elongated pyramid (ie, like V-channel metal stock, pointing up).


I have the halide raised up to around 10" over the tank, and the hydnophora sitting on the bottom (almost) and it was fine yesterday. This came from a sunlight-driven aquaculture facility and this one was sitting in 400-600ppfd PAR (which I saw for myself on the PAR meter when he got it out). Today it's retracted, but it may just be adjusting.

 

[returnofsid]

Hydnophora are very hardy. It's probably just getting acclimated to it's new conditions. Keeping it low is a great idea. In fact, I've seen the best growth, when kept in the bottom of the tank. They don't require the extremely high light that most other SPS need. Also, keep it away from other corals. It'll "eat" them!!

Your description of the corallite shape and structure sure does sound like Hydnophora.

 

[redfishsc]

Hydnophora are very hardy. It's probably just getting acclimated to it's new conditions. Keeping it low is a great idea. In fact, I've seen the best growth, when kept in the bottom of the tank. They don't require the extremely high light that most other SPS need. Also, keep it away from other corals. It'll "eat" them!!

Your description of the corallite shape and structure sure does sound like Hydnophora.

So the encrusting species are as vicious as the branching? I have a big green branching hydnophora, pic below. The biggest SPS I have a the moment, about 5" wide and tall.

 

[ibefishy]

I just traded some candy canes for a hydnophora yesterday. As soon as I can I will have to post some pics. This is the first one I have had. Did quite a bit of reading about them before hand though.

 

[redfishsc]

The fortunate thing about hydnophora (other than it's beautiful and hardy) is that there isn't much that will kill it (which can be a bad thing if it touches anything else).

I've read epic tales of hydnophora with really long sweeper tentacles, but the branching variety I have had for over a year and never saw anything even remotely longer than 1/8" long on it.

We'll see about this encrusting one. I haven't seen any sweepers but that doesn't mean it doesn't have them.

 

[Crozure]

The good thing is that you can control xenia from spreading all over your tank with them. Just set them up as a barrier.

 

[redfishsc]

^^ I wonder if it works for in-laws :clown:

 

[returnofsid]

The good thing is that you can control xenia from spreading all over your tank with them. Just set them up as a barrier.

Unfortunately, I've found this to be false. I had a very large encrusting Hydno, for several years. When I tore down that particular tank, to move everything over to a 200, I was very meticulous about not introducing any Xenia, or GSP. As I removed the large encrusting Hydno, it had several stalks of Xenia growing ON IT!! Funny thing is, when I peeled the Xenia off, there were just a couple bare spots of skeleton.

 

[Whisperer]

I am thinking of a goniopora type of coral.

 

[redfishsc]

^ Very doubtful. The corallites are different (ie, not nearly as distinctly individual) as any goniopora I've ever seen. Plus the polyps do not extend any more than an appearance of "fuzzy", and this coral is a fairly fast grower in the greenhouse I bought it from. Goniopora tend to be very, very slow growers.

I will say, though, that the overall shape of the polyps, when fully extended, took somewhat like the shape of my red goni when it's almost totally retracted. So I see where you see a similarity.

 

[Whisperer]

I doubt hydnopora even more because there are no distinct polyp around the mouths on those. Not all gonioporas extend their polyps. I still think it is.

 

[redfishsc]

Hydnophora, at least none that I've ever seen, doesn't have a visible mouth.

I know the branching variety I posted above doesn't even have a defined oral disk. The flesh just covers the skeleton in seemingly random patterns like cactus pavona.

The encrusting variety we're talking about is somewhat more defined, but when it's retracted, the skeleton looks positively nothing like any goniopora I've ever seen. The corallites protrude up from the skeleton like a small cone shape. On goniopora, the corallites are more crater shaped.

 

[Whisperer]

They do have visible mouths (pavona) hidden within the extended tentacles which seem to be arranged in a linear fashion along the branches.
EDIT: Alright, I am not going to insist that you have a goniopora. Feel free to call it anything you want.

 

[Lyfey]

Be careful, I placed a small superman monti frag over an inch away from my encrusting hydno and it reached out these white strings and encapsulated it in a sort of caccoon and killed it very quickly, I noticed the next afternoon and I was mad as all hell. lol. I figured it was ok, it was over an inch away from all the polyps!

 

[redfishsc]

Lyfey, I've heard of some hydnophora doing that. The rock I have this one on has only some zoanthids and anthelia that I'm not in the least worried about, so if that happens, so much the better, lol.

This stuff settled in quickly and is already encrusting over the wad of epoxy it's sitting on. Very cool.

They do have visible mouths (pavona) hidden within the extended tentacles which seem to be arranged in a linear fashion along the branches.
EDIT: Alright, I am not going to insist that you have a goniopora. Feel free to call it anything you want.

I'm pretty stubborn, I never meant to :hammer: anyone. I think I'll call it "Bob" though....

 

[Lyfey]

redfishsc, after being at home and actually being able to see the pictures of your coral (work blocks photobucket) it is the same exact coral that I have and I have been told by the LFS when I got it almost 2 years ago, that it is the encrusting hydnopha, however you spell it. It has been a model coral for me, and is about the size of a dinner plate now, its beautiful and very hardy, just dont place anything valuable within 2 inches of it. When mine killed my superman monti frag, it looked like spiderman killing superman. GL! fun coral

 

[Breathe13stars]

Anybody have experience keeping them under t5's? I picked one of them up a few weeks ago but wasn't sure on the placement of it, also are they pretty fast growers?

 

[redfishsc]

^^ I do not think this is a high light coral at all. I know the branching species certainly aren't. T5's should be more than enough so long as you have reasonably good reflectors.

redfishsc, after being at home and actually being able to see the pictures of your coral (work blocks photobucket) it is the same exact coral that I have and I have been told by the LFS when I got it almost 2 years ago, that it is the encrusting hydnopha, however you spell it. It has been a model coral for me, and is about the size of a dinner plate now, its beautiful and very hardy, just dont place anything valuable within 2 inches of it. When mine killed my superman monti frag, it looked like spiderman killing superman. GL! fun coral

Thanks for sharing that!

I have it close to some zoanthids, GSP, and anthelia I'm hoping it's spidey-sense noticed and nukes, lol.

Has it grown to the shape of the rock it's attached to, or has it grown it's own shape?