Moon Coral questions

[kay-bee19]

I've had this coral for a couple of months now and it's been doing great. It was purchased as 'moon coral':

A lot of corals seem to have the common name 'moon coral'. What's the scientific name of this coral, is it some type of favia or favite (or perhaps something else?). The individual corallites of this coral are about 5mm in diameter.

Also, in addition to gradually encrusting the rock, it's also creating projections of a sort (forming several corallite-covered bumps, etc). Do these eventually drop off and/or can I remove a few of these to create frags?:

 

[Justin74]

This should help
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=835168

Would love to see a picture with day bulbs on, or with a flash.

Btw, congratulations on an awesome score! You got it in a good spot, just make sure it's gettin a nice current and you'll be as right as rain


-Justin

 

[kay-bee19]

Thanks for the link Justin! I believe what I have is Leptastrea.

Here's another pic of it with the day bulbs on (The paler 'tissue' at the bottom perimeter is recent new growth):

Upon closer inspection it appears that three of those 'projections' are actually some sort of tube creature (a pair of 'antennae' seem to originate from the from time to time), and the coral is encrusting the tube. They currently extend out about 1cm-1.5cm. I might remove them if they grow out any longer and see if I can attach them elsewhere:

 

[Echidna09]

Yeah it looks like Leptastrea.The projections are probably just tubeworms from the rock. Leptastrea encrusts so it will just go over everything and can make some interesting shapes.

 

[Justin74]

More commonly they are likely vermetid snail.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rs/index.php

This was discussed also in the thread towards the end. Yup you have a large beautifull colony of leptastrea (very likely Leptastrea pruinosa) same morph me and about 5 others have on that thread I posted Skirts will range from brown to purple when there colored up. I found that particular morph tolerant of direct light but at greater depth otherwise a little shaded is fine, but is partiall to flow a good medium current or more.

This coral can be tricky in it's responses as there sometimes slow in the grand scheme of things. Too little of current and you may notice good polyp extension but can also lead to a fall back of growth and a slow STN.

Doesnt need to be fed directly but will readily accept meaty treats like brine, and mysid if your fish and crabs dont steal it away. Also I notice excellent feeding responses while feeding my tank rotifers. You can see there tenticles retract a little, bodies puff up and there mouths open. Very similar to zooanthids, and palys feeding responses, subtle but noticeable. Enjoy

-Justin

 

[Justin74]

Btw, let em grow over the snails. Eventually they grow a pretty good skeleton over. I have one that's about the thickness of a montipora digitata, makes for an easy snap to mount for fragging and sharing with your buddies as opposed to busten out the dremel or tile saw

-Justin