Superman Montipora?

[Wolfmann81]

My wife recently got me a fantastic gift from my LFS. He is marketing this Monti- as a Superman Montipora that hasn't had its 'color come in yet.' I know what a superman 'can' look like. There is basically no blue or red on this guy - so am a bit worried it will never change into attractive colors. It is very blah right now. He has only been in the tank for about 5 days, so he may certainly have time to adjust and start to color up.

 

[dvanacker]

there is no reason to believe its a superman monti if it looks nothing like a superman monti....so likely not (superman)....but you never know. Give it a chance and possibly it may turn into something nice though or maybe stay ugly...you never know.

 

[Frick]

Appears to be a Tuberculosa. http://sdmas.com/corals/275.php

Give it some moderate water flow and indirect light. Most importantly keep your alk stable if you want to get a good color out of it.

 

[ebacon]

Looks like tuberculosis

 

[Wolfmann81]

It looks as though the Tuberculosis all have branching parts on the pictures. This monti shows no signs of doing that, it is just a flat plating colony. It is healthy, just very boring. My wife spent $80, so it better get a lot more colorful than it is right now

 

[selje]

Be patient, and perhaps the color will come

Here's a coral I bought cheap that I suspected could be a Superman Monti.

To this:

And at last this:

Not a Superman, but I think it's even better:celeb2:

 

[Frick]

Maskinsmyg, that is Montipora Mollis http://sdmas.com/corals/263.php. Also known as the Purple Haze. I have one in my tank as the Alk Alarm. If it starts to look bad, my alk is starting to swing.

 

[Bela N]

Maskinsmyg, that is Montipora Mollis http://sdmas.com/corals/263.php. Also known as the Purple Haze. I have one in my tank as the Alk Alarm. If it starts to look bad, my alk is starting to swing.

Frick

Are you sure about ID? Attached pic is of a very similar coral which I thought was a purple monti cap. To the eye it looks like a very deep violet/purple, but in macro shots the base as a deep blue.

 

[Frick]

Without seeing the skeleton through an electron microscope i am 99% sure. It is definatly not a capricornis http://sdmas.com/corals/268.php. IDing by color is a good way to start but never a good way to confirm. When it comes to montis, any species could be any color or combination.

 

[Bela N]

Jason,

I rarely use RC and I am a relative newbee (that is an insect joke), thus I do not know the big players. Base on other post it seems that you are well respected & knowledgeable. I hope you were not offended when I asked you if you were "sure about the ID". The more I surf RC the more I feel like I just asked Einstein or Hawkings if they are sure about the physic. I hope I did not offend you.

Bela

 

[Frick]

Not offended. From all the pictures we see in this ID board, you can't be 100% until you take a piece of the actual skeleton to a lab. With that said, we are all just putting in our opinions.

 

[dlaws]

I have 4 different pieces in my tank that I bought as "superman monti." They are all completely different, but all pretty nice. Vendors will sell anything with a bluish base and reddish polyps as superman (unfortunately). Hopefully yours will turn out well.