Help ID this hitchhiker

[justinky]

Hey, I bought a Purple Tree Coral(stereonephthya sp.) off of LA Divers Den. The rock is covered with something encrusted that is purple with green heads please help me ID,

Also leptoseris I believe hitchhiked in the rock, how should I approach this as well?

 

[BiggsTheGoalie]

Looks like you got a free Montipora. That and the Leptoseris are both encrusting, I wouldn't worry about them much unless you really don't want them. The Monti (if tha's what it is, could be Porites or something similar) is probably worth more than the leather.

 

[justinky]

Looks like you got a free Montipora. That and the Leptoseris are both encrusting, I wouldn't worry about them much unless you really don't want them. The Monti (if tha's what it is, could be Porites or something similar) is probably worth more than the leather.

I could care less about worth of this coral, what I do care about is its rarity and how my aquascape will look like once it gets some height on it. Will my leather continue to grow with the monti & lepto on the rock or should I remove the leather? Removing the leather will be a PITA as I do not have a frag tank so getting it to attach will be hard. If the monti will not affect it then I would rather frag off the Lepto and/or just get rid of it as I do believe it will become a hassle on my coral but I want some opinions.

 

[justinky]

Thanks for the ID btw, Montipora tuberculosa.

 

[BiggsTheGoalie]

Keep an eye on it, but it likely won't try and overgrow the leather. I'd guess they've been living together like that for a while. The leather may shade it if it grows too large, but such is life. You could frag off some of the Lept/Monti with a dremel and diamond blade if you wanted to try keeping it somewhere else.