Button scolys, what are they?

Mattyice008 · Sep 22, 2015

I've seen an emergence of these little mini-scolys (button scoly) around, and I'm trying to get some more info on them, and what exactly they are. Thanks!

TomatoSauceTy · Sep 22, 2015

I have two; they are just small scoly's.

Squishie89 · Sep 23, 2015

TomatoSauceTy said:
I have two; they are just small scoly's.

So with enough time, proper parameters and feeding should they get to 5-7" across like their larger brethren?

stunreefer · Sep 23, 2015

They're a different species than the more commonly seen Aussie Scolymia australis or Indo Parascolymia vitiensis. Veron had no idea what the actual species was, but confirmed they weren't formally described to his knowledge.

They haven't been seen in nature much bigger than a quarter, and none have been in captivity long enough to determine full grown size [to my knowledge], so I suspect they'll stay dwarfed by S. australis.

For what it's worth they do not get along with other species of Scolymia.

Cherry Corals has some really cool one's I saw the other day.

Vaughn17 · Sep 23, 2015

The mini-scoly you are referring to is from Western Australia, I believe, and is not a scolymia. Recent coral taxonomy changes have resulted in only a single species in the genus Scolymia, a Caribbean species, Scolymia lacera. Scolymia australis is now Homophyllia australis. The mini-scoly is reputed to be quite aggressive, unlike Homophyllia australis; therefore, it seems unlikely that they are the same species, although that is just conjecture on my part.

Vaughn17 · Sep 23, 2015

stunreefer said:
They're a different species than the more commonly seen Aussie Scolymia australis or Indo Parascolymia vitiensis. Veron had no idea what the actual species was, but confirmed they weren't formally described to his knowledge.

They haven't been seen in nature much bigger than a quarter, and none have been in captivity long enough to determine full grown size [to my knowledge], so I suspect they'll stay dwarfed by S. australis.

For what it's worth they do not get along with other species of Scolymia.

Cherry Corals has some really cool one's I saw the other day.

Weren't they recently discovered (i.e. within the past ten years or so)?

emmaleegrech · Sep 23, 2015

I have a couple in that I have kept for myself and have also sold a few. The first time I had them in they were listed as Cynarinas. I queried this with my supplier as it looked closer to a Scolymia. The last lot that came in were listed as Western Australia Mini Scolymia.
As I have mentioned above I kept two myself. The first which is now the largest of the two was approximately 5cm in diameter when it came to me. It now inflates up to 12cm in diameter.

I would love to know more about these corals if anyone can shed some more light on them.

TomatoSauceTy · Sep 23, 2015

Sorry, I was way off! Thanks for the info.

emmaleegrech · Sep 23, 2015

It would be nice If more people who had these in their system to tell us how what they think of them. I've not seen aggressive behaviour sp far. One is placed in my display between 2 lordhowensis acans and has so far not had any warfare with either. The other is still in my frag tank and has been next to zoas and again i haven't had any issues from it

TomatoSauceTy · Sep 23, 2015

emmaleegrech said:
It would be nice If more people who had these in their system to tell us how what they think of them. I've not seen aggressive behaviour sp far. One is placed in my display between 2 lordhowensis acans and has so far not had any warfare with either. The other is still in my frag tank and has been next to zoas and again i haven't had any issues from it

I have two from CC. Since this picture they both have inflated more and as you can barely see in the picture they are about 2-3 inches from a scoly. I haven't seen any aggression towards my scolymia australis. I will post pictures tonight as they become a bush of tentacles at night just screaming for them to be fed.

I also have them up against the glass in a cube which forces a bit of flow back which they seem to enjoy.

emmaleegrech · Sep 23, 2015

The one on the right is very similar to one of mine, i will take pics and upload them tomorrow

TomatoSauceTy · Sep 23, 2015

Here is a pic I just took of them to give an idea of size and spacing. Like i said earlier, I will post a night time pic later. Can they touch, I don't know, but I do know the one on the left seems to be doing much better than the one on the right growth wise.

TomatoSauceTy · Sep 23, 2015

Here is a picture at night, you can see the one on the left is practically ALL tentacles and the one on the right has a bunch, but compared to the Scolymia australiis which mainly has a centralized area for the tentacles.

stunreefer · Sep 24, 2015

In regards to aggression, they don't have long sweepers, you just don't want them touching other species of "Scolies" or other coral.

Vaughn17 said:
Weren't they recently discovered (i.e. within the past ten years or so)?

To my knowledge, yes. I was told a fish collector stumbled upon them at one point.

Vaughn17 · Sep 24, 2015

Thanks.

Stephanie11 · Sep 24, 2015

I would love to know more about these too. I have 2 coming in tomorrow, might sell 1. I'll have to update tomorrow once I see them with my own eyes.

Mattyice008 · Sep 25, 2015

Cool info and personal experiences, keep em coming!

Stephanie11 · Sep 25, 2015

These are mine about 2 hours after getting them. I'll post another pic when they fluff up.

emmaleegrech · Sep 26, 2015

Sorry for my lateness guys, here is one of mine:

This is going in the display system today next to my other one. I will get photos of the other too

would be interesting to see how many varieties are out there. So come on peeps get those cameras / phones out and get snapping!

(Photo taken under t5's with a Nikon d3200 and tamron 90mm lens)