ID Please

[fkbsar]

Well...I went to Uncle Bills yesterday and found frag of a pretty purple soft coral that I thought would bring some color to my tank. I was told that it was Nepthea and was in the Kenya Tree family and easy to maintain. After looking and researching I'm of the opinion that I may have a Carnation coral which is harder to maintain or maybe impossible to maintain for any length of time. Could someone positively identify this for me. This picture is not my coral but looks just like this one.

 

[uhuru]

Beautiful! This looks like the Stereonephthya also offered on DD from time to time. It is at least partially photosynthetic, but does best with regular feedings as well. Rowjimmy has a few of them, you can find some info on their care here:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1756324

 

[fkbsar]

Thank you I will do further research using that link.

 

[fkbsar]

This is what mine looks like. I had a small frag from this but it got lost in the tank. It seems to be doing good. It polyps up every day.

 

[rowjimmy]

fkbsar,

Is that pic a night shot? Do you find it more expanded during the day or night?

 

[fkbsar]

It's a pretty small frag - about an inch or so in height. From what I have observed night and day it doesn't seem to deflate too much. I placed it inside of a hole in the rock where it is now and noticed once when I removed it that the base was really swollen - about an inch across.

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Honestly, getting an ID on this coral is a difficult task. It is definitely in the Nephtheidae family, but getting more specific than that can't be done without a really good close-up shot of its polyps and sclerites. What confounds the problem is that, even if you know the exact species, that doesn't necessarily give you an answer as to whether it is photosynthetic, partially photosynthetic, or non-photosynthetic. There's indication in the literature that certain genera in this family, such as Stereonephthya, have species variants that can be either photosynthetic or non-photosynthetic. In other words, you could have two individuals of the same species: one photosynthetic and the other non-photosynthetic.

The best strategy is to treat it as if it were photosynthetic and stick it under moderate lighting, but also feed it as if it were non-photosynthetic. If you notice that it tends to shy from the light, then chances are that it is non-photosynthetic.

 

[rowjimmy]

fkbsar,

I can't add more to the excellent advice ninja already gave you. I was just curious if you noticed a difference in the expansion of the coral between day and night.

The ones I keep seem to be at least semi-photosynthetic because they expand to their greatest capacity during daylight hours, and then deflate somewhat when the lights go out. I was just curious if you noticed this in your specimen as well.

Since you only have a small frag you might not notice any great variance in the inflated/deflated state of the coral until it grows out some more. Here are the specimens I currently keep:

 

[aninjaatemyshoe]

Very nice rowjimmy!

Makes me miss having similar corals in my tank. I think I just might have to find some...

 

[fkbsar]

WOW that yellow one is pretty. We might have to exchange some frags at some point when mine grows out. That's a day shot (lights on) under (4) 54w T5 lighting. I'll see if I can get a picture when lights are out. It does seem to like the light and I do feed cyclopeeze and phyto to the tank.