ID Help - is this Capnella?

devimik

Member
Got this tree coral from my LFS, but didn't get an actual name. It doesn't look exactly like Kenya Tree, but similar. It is light blue-green with brown polyps that come out during the day and at night, it shrinks - the heads on the branches look like little pinecones.

What exactly is it?

These pics are of the same piece. The first is the day I got it and the bottom pic is a couple of weeks later.

img20130525191726299.jpg


img20130606184040245.jpg
 
Capnella could work.

LiveAquaria sort of shows the problem with these corals. There is a great deal of variety (and overlap with other types of soft corals), even among clones from the same colony. Add to that the fact that we aren't talking about a single species, but a whole bunch of species. Depending on lighting, flow and even where the clipping came from on the original. Sometimes you get really long, thin branches. Sometimes you get a thick hedge look. Sometimes you get a tall tree look. As they get bigger and bigger the variety starts to drop down, but even then the differences between specific species of Capnella come into play.

That one is within the range that I believe could be considered Capnella. There could be an argument for it being a Colt, which would be Cladiella, but I believe Cladiella has a different texture then Capnella. I have one of them in my tank that I basically call a "Green Kenya Tree". A little thicker branching and slower growing then the "weed" Capnella that people are used too (the purple type), but feels the same.
 
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