Indo Dendro

[stunreefer]

Austin,

What is the branching coral to the far right?

Bryan

Hey Bryan! There's a few over there, so we'll do this:

RED = Branching Duncan
YELLOW = "Aussie Branching Tubastrea" <-- what the importer labeled as, anyways.
LIGHT BLUE = Balanophyllia sp.
GREEN = Dendrophyllia sp.

Wow this is an awesome update! I am glad to hear you are able to keep it alive in 73 degree temps. I think you might be only the second person i have heard of that has had limited success with this coral.

Your tank is looking really good!

Thanks! Although this [24 gal.] tank was upgraded into a 70 gal. in December '13. Everything has settled in and is growing like crazy Unfortunately I did remove all Cladopsammia gracilis colonies. Of my three, I lost one that never really acclimated to my feeding ritual. I gave the other two colonies away to a local guy who's tank produces tons of natural foods. He's retired and spot feeds his tank several times per day (which without automation is the only way I believe these can be kept, successfully). He still ended up losing 80% of one colony, which we fragged and the frag is still kicking. The other colony still looks great and feeds well, but I don't see it producing as many polyps as it was with me. The only major difference between our systems is temperature, he rides around 76°F... anecdotally one could surmise this is why it's not growing much anymore, but there really are just to many factors at play.

Limited success is an probably an overstatement... not killing immediately is a better way to put it I know Matt Wandell had one is his Tubastrea tank at Steinhart, but the powers at be here at RC saw him not fit for this site :crazy1: I'll hit him up to see how it's doing...

In the end I group these corals along with Blueberry gorgonians and the like... leave them in the ocean unless you have systems (and time) dedicated to these types of animals.

 

[hecticreefer]

Matt's Cladopsammia at Steinhart is doing fine, it was donated by a guy named Jon Rauh after not doing well in his tank for several months. It lost some tissue but recovered and has grown a bit. Certainly not a hardy or easy coral.