Thoughts on Ricordea Florida Coloration.

[sbcaes]

Hi guys, This maybe a controversial topic for many. as it is in the Zoanthid Forums When other members mention the fact that that particular 500 dollar polyp *exaggeration* is just a morph of a common zoanthid they are use to seeing all the time.

Now given the fact that many corals DO morph colors. what ARE the baseline ricordea florida colors?

I know there is Orange, Blue, Green, Yellow. (ive once seen a red and blue rimmed ric on ebay once. )

But how long do these colors last under a single light source say T5HO given its an even amount of light everywhere. i dont mention Metal halide for the sole reason that if you mvoe up and down side to side rics will change color morphs. any thoughts?

Discuss

 

[KeysSeaCritters]

i think most rics will look different under different lights.

right now, and the reason most people think our pictures suck, our rics are under a 10,000K hqi bulb. its all white and shows the color of the rics under only white light. of course the same ricordea polyp will look much different under a 20,000k with more blue coming from the bulb.

now as far as color morphing goes, we have noticed a strong corilation between colors and the types of spoonges that surround the polyp colonies. for example and species of dark purple to black spoonge is commonly found growing against the dark true blue polyps. a species of green spoonge is found near the orange ricordea colonies.

but its when two different colored colonies meet in the wild that you have a combination of colors on the same polyp. ive seen blues that change to green across the polyp.

the rainbows are some of the most interesting polyps. polyps that show multiple colors on the same polyp. what these look like under lesser lights i cant say. many ricordea kept under power compacts seem to cup up more and reach for the light, they also seem to fade out and their colors seem to dull.

i think that T5s and hqis are really the only bulbs that coral should be kept under. the colors just look better and the corals seem to be happier.