Is this elegance coral looking well?

[dmdj]

I just picked it up from the LFS today. I started reading about them on the forum and found that many have had trouble keeping them. I'm particularly concerned about this so-called "swelling" stage or melting stage. I don't really what the elegance coral should look like though in a healthy state. Some pictures that I've seen show the elegance with long extended tenticles and a hidden oral disc. Others have a more exposed oral disc with somewhat inflated but not as long tenticles.

Based on these pics of my elegance, do you think it is doing okay? I placed it at the bottom and center of the tank. The tank is 24 inches high + another 4-5 inches form the light to the top of the tank. I have a 150W 10K MH and two 96-W Dual Daylight/Actinic lighting.

Your opinion is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[JetCat USA]

looking fair, not overly well expanded but not looking all that bad either.

 

[Dave VG]

a little to close to the hammer and frogspawn IMO.

 

[kingfisher62]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10685384#post10685384 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Dave VG
a little to close to the hammer and frogspawn IMO.

I agree, give it some more space to really expand!

 

[elegance coral]

Re: Is this elegance coral looking well?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10684117#post10684117 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dmdj
I just picked it up from the LFS today. I started reading about them on the forum and found that many have had trouble keeping them. I'm particularly concerned about this so-called "swelling" stage or melting stage. I don't really what the elegance coral should look like though in a healthy state. Some pictures that I've seen show the elegance with long extended tenticles and a hidden oral disc. Others have a more exposed oral disc with somewhat inflated but not as long tenticles.

Based on these pics of my elegance, do you think it is doing okay? I placed it at the bottom and center of the tank. The tank is 24 inches high + another 4-5 inches form the light to the top of the tank. I have a 150W 10K MH and two 96-W Dual Daylight/Actinic lighting.

Your opinion is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

It is doing okay in the pic's. It has received some minor damage before you got it. This is not a huge cause for concern. The coral will just be a little overly sensitive for a while. Keep a very close eye on the area between the mouths and tentacles. In the pictures this area is laying almost flat. If this area begins to swell or arch up something will need to be done. If this does happen it will be most noticeable late in the day, after the lights have been on for some time. Reducing the amount of time the lights are on should stop this reaction if it begins. The other corals in the tank should be able to adjust to a slight reduction in photo period if it becomes necessary. The pic's you have seen of Elegance corals with long tentacles and not much oral disk showing are healthy Elegance corals that are stressed. This is usually caused by clown fish, tangs, or flow that is to strong. If you can keep your coral from swelling and feed it once a week it will begin to change. As it grows and becomes more healthy the tentacles will get longer, the oral disk will get more folds in it, and the power of its sting will get much stronger. I will try to post some pics of healthy Elegance corals for you later today.