Yellow Tort ?

[SnowboardKid26]

Anyone keep yellow tort? I was wondering how high on the reef and how much flow they like? I have a 16g bow with 60w VHO actinics, and 175w 10K MH about 10" aboce the surface of the water. Thanks for your help in advance

SBK

 

[twon8]

Alot of flow ime, though i think it is probably an aspera, not tortuosa.

 

[Philwd]

Mine is an austera and is a medium grower. It encrusted for 9 months then started taking off. I have it directly under a 250W DE P14K. ~ 14" from bulb. It gets high random flow.

 

[twon8]

yeah, austera, that;s what i was thinking of

 

[manderx]

i got in a big fight with the guys who started calling it 'yellow tort' and swearing up and down that it was a. tortuosa (when it's obviously not). i normally couldn't care less when something is mis-id'd (because almost everything is probably mis-id'd anyway) but i knew with this piece, people selling it would be pulling this crud with it-


-taken from a popular frag site that i would have otherwise done business with-

This acropora tortuosa is a truly distinct coral not only because of it's growth, but also its great yellow color. It is a one of a kind coral.Acropora tortuosa are a sought after coral, and this yellow variety is even more special. It is not all the time that we see a coral of this color. Very Unique Acropora Frag

 

[twon8]

Here is my most recent shot,

 

[mhltcob]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7839653#post7839653 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by manderx
i got in a big fight with the guys who started calling it 'yellow tort' and swearing up and down that it was a. tortuosa (when it's obviously not). i normally couldn't care less when something is mis-id'd (because almost everything is probably mis-id'd anyway) but i knew with this piece, people selling it would be pulling this crud with it-


-taken from a popular frag site that i would have otherwise done business with-

How do you go about positively identifying Acropora. Have you been trained in their taxonomy?

 

[twon8]

He wasn't the one trying to positively id it, he just knew what it wasn't, which is a lot easier to determine imo.

 

[mhltcob]

I guess i just don't know why anyone would get in a fight over what they THINK an acropora is. Neither person, without proper training of their taxonomy, would be able to positively I.D. the species, unless you're looking at say an Acropora palmata in the wild.

 

[manderx]

i'm not busting on the coral, it's a nice coral that i would like to have a frag of one day. i just felt my post was relevant due to the tort/austera comments in the earlier posts.


you don't have to know what something is to know what it isn't (thanks twon). i put up with alot of heavy criticism throughout that thread, but they shut up pretty quick when they took it to someone they consider the final word and he said austera. the issue is done over and settled. no need to start it back up.

and no, no coral tax but plenty of plant tax. the subtle nuances in various features like branching patterns and corallites is surprisingly similar to what we see in plants. i think the similarity to plants is part of my personal attraction to sps (check my occupation). i don't know all the coral specific terminology, but i do think my time in the herbarium gave me a better eye for spotting similarities and differences in corals (acro especially) than say most lawyers.

I guess i just don't know why anyone would get in a fight over what they THINK an acropora is

*exactly*. the only reason they were fighting tooth and nail over calling it tort was because of the prestige they thought the label tort gave them at the time. i was in it just to try to fight against sales pitches like the one i quoted above. might not make as much sense to people who weren't around during the peak of the tort craze (not implying you specifically were or weren't since you don't have anything listed). if all they cared about was that it was a cool coral regardless of name, their reply to 'it's not a tort' (and i wasn't the only one, i was just the only one who stood my ground) would have been 'maybe not, but it's still a cool coral' and that would have been that. do a search on 'yellow tort' and skim through it. it's really funny how angry they got.

 

[SnowboardKid26]

well that coral in the pic is the exact same as mine.... your saying its a. austera?

 

[twon8]

as best as i can tell, yes

 

[mhltcob]

To positively I.D. these guys we would have to bleach portions of the coral to gain a better view of its skeletal characteristics. I doubt anyone in that thread did that. I just get a laugh when people say they have the same coral as that picture, or look in a book to find the most visually similar species and than proclaim them to be the same species. Everyone has to understand the I.D's given by wholesalers are more likely wrong than right, and even many i.d's given in some books are wrong. Coming up with species names of many acros that are kept in captivity, especially when we are dealing with frags or colonies, is very difficult and sometimes impossible even for professionals (and impossible to do by anyone with just a picture of a live specimen).

 

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7840390#post7840390 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by manderx
.....

and no, no coral tax but plenty of plant tax. the subtle nuances in various features like branching patterns and corallites is surprisingly similar to what we see in plants. i think the similarity to plants is part of my personal attraction to sps (check my occupation). i don't know all the coral specific terminology, but i do think my time in the herbarium gave me a better eye for spotting similarities and differences in corals (acro especially) than say most lawyers.




....

Nice, Im not alone At least every other day I cant help but just notice as Im walking about that Im walking amongst my own terrestrial reef
Once its your yob, you just cant turn it off even if it's not your yob anymore

Sorry for the left turn guys.

-Justin

 

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7844934#post7844934 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mhltcob
To positively I.D. these guys we would have to bleach portions of the coral to gain a better view of its skeletal characteristics. I doubt anyone in that thread did that. I just get a laugh when people say they have the same coral as that picture, or look in a book to find the most visually similar species and than proclaim them to be the same species. Everyone has to understand the I.D's given by wholesalers are more likely wrong than right, and even many i.d's given in some books are wrong. Coming up with species names of many acros that are kept in captivity, especially when we are dealing with frags or colonies, is very difficult and sometimes impossible even for professionals (and impossible to do by anyone with just a picture of a live specimen).

Its the same thing with the oregon tort, which I don't believe is actually a tort.