Finger Leather ID please Macro pics

[spanishmack]

hi,

could any of the soft coral id experts tell me what this is. i know its very hard to get an exact id on soft corals, but your thoughts will be welcome

i bought it as a green sinularia.

Thanks for looking

 

[garygonzales]

possibly a Green Nepthia................

 

[spanishmack]

they were my 2 guess's, but i dont study coral names and characteristics, just like the look of them

 

[RyanSweatt2004]

Definitely looks like a green branching sinularia. Every nepthea I've ever had had a little bit thicker branches.

 

[ritter6788]

Definitely looks like a green branching sinularia.

+1 I have a huge one that looks just like it.

 

[kingfisher62]

Can you get a little closer..................just kidding, great macros!

I am leaning towards sinularia.

 

[ritter6788]

I don't know if this will help you any but here are a pic of mine after I hacked it up and put it in a 20 gal. This was the first coral I ever kept and it's been fragged so many times I don't want to think how big it would be if I left it alone. It outgrew my 75 with stonies so I gave it it's own tank. I'm positive yours is a sinularia. I had a nepthea before too and they are a little different.

 

[spanishmack]

Can you get a little closer..................just kidding, great macros!

i couldnt find the tripod unfortunately, then i coulda got some sweet macros shots. still only learning with the macro lens, i am only just p+s at the moment.

 

[spanishmack]

Definitely looks like a green branching sinularia. Every nepthea I've ever had had a little bit thicker branches.

Thanks ryan.

does nepthea have different polyps?

how do you determine the differences between species with softies?

 

[spanishmack]

I don't know if this will help you any but here are a pic of mine after I hacked it up and put it in a 20 gal. This was the first coral I ever kept and it's been fragged so many times I don't want to think how big it would be if I left it alone. It outgrew my 75 with stonies so I gave it it's own tank. I'm positive yours is a sinularia. I had a nepthea before too and they are a little different.

nice tank ritter and thanks for the reply.

yeh it grows quick for sure, looks great in the tank, moves around swaying back and forth giving it character. perfect beginners coral. great farming prospect. just now gotta see how it farms

 

[ritter6788]

nice tank ritter and thanks for the reply.

yeh it grows quick for sure, looks great in the tank, moves around swaying back and forth giving it character. perfect beginners coral. great farming prospect. just now gotta see how it farms

Thanks. It is very easy to propagate. I cut pieces off and rubberband them to rocks and they attach in no time.

 

[spanishmack]

i cut 70lb mono fishing line on an angle to make a needle point, then i stab it straight through the base then band it down with the elastic band. it gives a little more movement, whilst still being able to do the band up super tight. after a week or so its attached then i remove the band, and a week after that remove the fishing line.

i always use gloves when handling them, they dont like our skin oils and not to mention they are fairly to extremely poisonous.

 

[cjdevito]

how do you determine the differences between species with softies?

More often than not when you see a softie ID'd to the species level within the hobby, it's wishful thinking and not fact. This is for two reasons. The first being that often the defining characteristics of the species come down to something that can only be observed properly via a microscope (spicule formation, for example). The second being that soft coral taxonomy is such a complete mess that the validity of a great number of species descriptions is questionable.

With softies generally a family level ID is what you have to be satisfied with, sometimes a complex level ID. That's usually enough to identify the care requirements of the coral, and the exceptions tend to be the ones which are easily distinct and identifiable (sarcophyton spp. care versus sarcophyton elegans, for example).

 

[ritter6788]

i cut 70lb mono fishing line on an angle to make a needle point, then i stab it straight through the base then band it down with the elastic band. it gives a little more movement, whilst still being able to do the band up super tight. after a week or so its attached then i remove the band, and a week after that remove the fishing line.
.

I never had luck with the fishing line on these. The line always cuts right through. Even if I rubberband them a little too tight they will split in half. A very light rubberband, just enough to hold them down works best for me.