Pink Japanese softie - Stereonepthya?

[The Escaped Ape]

Here are a couple of shots of a pink softie I have in my tank. I was given a couple of pieces by another reefer here in Tokyo and it's been doing really well since. She didn't feed it AFAIK and said it grew like a weed in her tank, so I think it's photosynthetic. First time I've managed to get some moderately well focused shots.

 

[jarrod13]

wow!! I'll take a frag please!!!
seriously though that thing is awesome!! good score

 

[cjdevito]

I still think it's likely a miscellanei damifino, Tom.

 

[macclellan]

That's pretty.

 

[SushiGirl]

Very pretty!
What's that yellow one? I had a small thing like that once hitchhike in on something else & never knew what it was.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

wow!! I'll take a frag please!!!
seriously though that thing is awesome!! good score

Thanks! Unfortunately I think Florida's a bit far to send a frag though.

I still think it's likely a miscellanei damifino, Tom.

Thanks CJ. I believe it was you that led me to the tentative ID above though, so I think I'll stick with that!

Very pretty!
What's that yellow one? I had a small thing like that once hitchhike in on something else & never knew what it was.

Thank you! Frustratingly I'm not sure, as the coral here gets sold under some pretty broad Japanese names, with Latin names hardly used. But I thought it would provide a nice counterpoint to the purple.

 

[cjdevito]

Honestly, that whole complex - stereonepthya, neospongodes, lemnalia, paralemnalia - are confused so much in the hobby and even the literature that I can't even say with any certainty that I've ever seen a photo of any of them that I could be completely sure was actually the species labelled.

But from a hobbyist standpoint, there's fortunately only one thing that matters. Some of them will grow without supplemental feeding, some of them won't. As long as you have one that grows without any special effort, there's little need to try to pin down exactly what it is.

That said, if I had to guess, I'd say either stereonephthya or lemnalia, with the proviso that both could be completely wrong. And whatever it is, it's gorgeous.

 

[The Escaped Ape]

Very true. And it's certainly grown and colored up nicely (and leaned toward the light) since I got it, with no supplemental feeding, so I feel I'm onto a winner.

Now, having got the zoa thing out of my system for the last few weeks, I feel myself perhaps moving onto a softie thing. Maybe a Clavularia or T.musica? Need to build up some credit with the wife and then start browsing...