ID these freebie corals

[cordell]

Yes, the skeleton is a long, skinny stick, which is stuck in the sand. When I first got it, I didn't know if it was a coral or some leftovers!

It does look very much like that second photo, Sushi. That's how it looked a couple days after I put it in the tank and it started to open up a bit, just about like it looks in the picture of it back up in my first post a month ago.

Maybe it will be more distinguishable as it grows out more fully. I think I will treat it as a Galaxea for now... LA says it need high lighting, so maybe I'll move it up higher tomorrow and see how it likes that.

 

[tritonman]

i wouldnt be so sure that it is a galaxea and not a torch. does the skeleton look like a long skinny stick (stuck into the sand maybe) or does it look like it was cut out of a flat chunk?

because the way it is growing is exactly how torch coral grows back from a single polyp.

+1 I would have guessed torch as well.

There are some horror stories in here from Mr. Coral. It's amazing they're still in business.

 

[SushiGirl]

I personally would leave it where it is for now, since it's obviously growing. My current one is on the sandbed of a 55 with 4 T5's for lighting & it's perfectly happy. My old one eventually died directly under MH lighting in my old tank (didn't know squat 10 years ago, everything went under the light LOL). It was larger than a softball (I miss the days of a giant coral for $39!). You could also try feeding it some mysis, my little frag happily eats mysis and has nice, dark coloring. Also, don't put anything else too close to it, they extend really long sweeper tentacles at night and when they're hungry. Mine is set up within reach of another coral, but the current blows the tentacles the other way.

 

[cordell]

triton, thanks for the input... I have read many of the horror stories associated with Mr. Coral. I bit the bullet and took the chance anyways (I think about 1.5 months ago?), and so far I'm not entirely disappointed with the purchases, although 3-4 of the zoa frags rather quickly disappeared (out of 18 frags), even one that was wide open for the first few days. I was looking all over (still am) for a zoa-eating Nudibranch!

Thanks Sushi, I suppose I'll leave it alone for now then. I don't have it very close to any other corals, but I do check sometimes at night to see if it is putting out long tentacles, which I haven't seen very long ones yet. I notice that sometimes during the day, it will have one or two tentacles that are a lot longer than the others. I'll try to give it some mysis the next time I feed frozen, maybe that will help it grow faster, although I'm happy with what it is doing now...

 

[xavi_west]

Hey I had the same 2nd one from them as a freebie, just like yours, they told me it was a galaxea it has about 6 or 7 heads now and tentacles will get greenish with time.

 

[cordell]

Great, thanks for that info xavi! Glad to know it has a chance...

 

[cordell]

Update on these corals!

So, 2 of the 3 has done well. The first frag didn't make it, whatever it was. It just never caught on at all and slowly dwindled away over months.

The 2nd and 3rd corals have done very well, and I hope that with some new pics of them grown out a bit, you guys can confirm the IDs we determined when they were frags.

Here is the one that we couldn't determine if it was a Torch or Galaxea Coral. I'm leaning toward the galaxea. It never really retracts fully, but it appears to have several heads overall. Should I leave it down in the sand like it is, or move it in the rocks? Does this thing make a skeleton inside that it grows on?

And here is the one we thought was a Favia. I just placed this one on a rock and it has spread way out from that plug and over the rock. Not sure if this is what I should have done with it? It looks hungry in the pic...