New coral score- Oculina robusta

[DLANDINO]

Thanks to a few fellow club members I was able to have this identified as the Oculina Robusta. Research that I have done tonight seems to point to this being a rare piece and possibly threatened and protected. It's brownish orange with green polyps. Hoping to be able to propagate in time.

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[Tweaked]

Very cool Dave, can't wait to see this very cool Florida piece open up.

 

[saltychick]

Your starfish seems to like it lol cool pic and an interesting piece.

 

[DLANDINO]

BTW, Tweaked is a coral genius.

 

[DLANDINO]

It seems I am getting conflicting placement opinions however. Some say low light and possible nps. Yet, a government coral research says that it thrives and grows more quickly in high light. Hummmm

 

[Collinrb]

Trust in low light my friend. This screams nps

 

[Trump]

well you can always acclimate slowly to determine if does supper well under the lower light and as you move it up and it doesn't like it move it down feeding it as you see fit.

 

[mtc1966]

start low and slowly move it up. maybe

 

[brutuscz]

Nice find!!! Grow it well!!

 

[triggreef]

I'm interested to see what it looks like with polyps extended. I have something similar I got as a hitch hiker. It looks just like that when polyps retract.

 

[Tweaked]

Yep, these come in on Florida rock, and so did Dave's. There are two oculina species found in the southern waters, the above mentioned and the oculina diffusa.

 

[DLANDINO]

I'm interested to see what it looks like with polyps extended. I have something similar I got as a hitch hiker. It looks just like that when polyps retract.

Looks like a ringer

Video
http://youtu.be/UL8UFyP5iuw

Still capture

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[DLANDINO]

Also, the polyps are extended during the photo period and retracted at night.

 

[Collinrb]

That doesn't mean photo necessarily. My black sun coral does the same

 

[triggreef]

Nice! Mine started with one head and now I have that piece and a similar sized piece I was growing out on a frag plug. I've had it up at the top of the tank and down low mostly under neath a ball sponge and it seemed to do fine everywhere. It will eat anything that lands on it.

When it first grew to like 5 heads I had a majestic angel that mostly ate it and I put the coral in my sump to recoup. The angel died of ich (my pre qt'ing time) and I brought the coral back up.

I actually took the pic I posted about a month ago to try t get an ID on it but never got it posted. It looks nice all grown up like yours!

 

[DLANDINO]

Nice! Mine started with one head and now I have that piece and a similar sized piece I was growing out on a frag plug. I've had it up at the top of the tank and down low mostly under neath a ball sponge and it seemed to do fine everywhere. It will eat anything that lands on it.

When it first grew to like 5 heads I had a majestic angel that mostly ate it and I put the coral in my sump to recoup. The angel died of ich (my pre qt'ing time) and I brought the coral back up.

I actually took the pic I posted about a month ago to try t get an ID on it but never got it posted. It looks nice all grown up like yours!

thanks for the input! It is definitely a cool piece. Seems like a rare find too so its exciting.

 

[DLANDINO]

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[Tweaked]

Hot damn

Can I say that lol

 

[gmate]

Yeah Dave, this one is pretty darn cool. Awesome grab. I could get with this kind of coral.

 

[DLANDINO]

update - O. Robusta

update - O. Robusta

Continued reading has shown this coral to be "mostly non-photo" but I have it under halides and it doesn't seem bothered by the light and it is really extending well. The reason that it is called "mostly NPS" is because some studies show that the coral is seasonal to some degree and may have more or less zooxanthellae depending on the time of year. Super cool in my book! After having it for a little over a week and feeding a myriad of sps additives like phyto and zoo plankton and oyster eggs it has some great coloration once you look past the dark brown color which dominates the coral. The undertones are yellows, oranges and greens at the polyp base, the nematocysts are clear and ribbed with small balls at the ends of each tentacle. All of this rounds the polyps and coloration really nicely making it one of the most interesting corals I have ever kept. I am hoping to be able to grow this out and frag it to club members who are interested in this offbeat coral. At this point I have no idea how fast a grower it is but I'll keep this thread alive for those interested.