Carnation coral or red tree coral?

[Surfandturf]

At first glance I thought that this coral was a red tree coral but after reading some info and looking at pics online, I think it could possibly be a carnation coral. The whit base near the polyps is leading me to believe that it is only partially photosynthetic. Any ideas?

 

[Tahoe61]

Looks like a Dendronephthya, a NPS that will require routine appropriate feedings to survive.

 

[bios]

Dendronepthia not photosintetic have to be feed

 

[DeniseAndy]

dendro or sclero nepthia. Either way, need constant and correct size feeding to survive. Not much light on these guys. They are found on reef slopes out of light and hanging in caves and shelters. Look at a few people here that have Non-photosynthetic tanks. They are usually a special set up. I have some NPS, but not success with those guys yet. Not trying yet. Had one on spur of moment buy, but did not work out. My bad.

Unfortunately the beautiful leathers are all non-photosynthetic (except some green and yellow)

 

[Devaji]

Sure is a beauty. No bad there so hard to keep. Good luck!

 

[Surfandturf]

Thanks for the advice. This thing looks totally different than it did at the lfs. Looks like it has grown to triple it's size since I added it. I will try to find a shady spot for it but may have to take it back or trade it to my regular reef store. I feel confident that I can feed it but this thing was so much smaller when i bought it. I do however like a challenge.

 

[Surfandturf]

Had to move this coral. It was flopping over on top of my zoas during the day. Did some research and wish the lfs had explained to me what this coral was. They just told me that it was a leather and that it was photosynthetic. Its not my usual lfs and this is the first coral I got from them.

 

[Devaji]

Hopefully it pulls through. Sure is a nice looking coral. Have you talked to the LFS to see if they will tried it for something that has a better track record yet?

Man do I wish the where photosynthetic...

 

[scardall]

Just a note they prefer dim lite and a gentle water flow, plus as some have already mentioned you'll need to feed it regularly. When this one expands it will look really cool.

Best of Luck

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

They are beautiful. I had one about 15 in tall.

sigh, guess what. no credible reports of long term success. 3 to 6 months. And yes I just asked the curator Charles Delbeek and NPS specialist from the Steinhart Aquarium at the NPS talk at macna.
Its beautiful. VERY VERY VERY common animal in the ocean.

 

[Surfandturf]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/7/aafeature

Good article / study on these corals

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/7/aafeature

Good article / study on these corals

Hey thanks for that. Don't know how I haven't seen it.
I do love the nps.

 

[Surfandturf]

Update: 1
So to start with, I have a small tank. Its only a 10 gal. I have 3 sps 4 acans and a lot of zoas. I also have red goni and a sea fan.
With that said, it is going to be a challenge to feed this chili coral over the long run, but I think I can do it. I have been feeding oyster feast monday, thursday, saturday. I have been feeding phyto tuesday and friday. I feed my suncorals and acans everyother day. I spot feed pe calanus or coral frenzy. My hope is that I have enough filter feeding going on in my tank to help keep down the negative effects of the extra broadcast feedings of oyster feast and phyto. They are extremely small amounts. 1 drop of oyster feast and less than a quarter cap of phyto. Thoughts?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Update: 1
So to start with, I have a small tank. Its only a 10 gal. I have 3 sps 4 acans and a lot of zoas. I also have red goni and a sea fan.
With that said, it is going to be a challenge to feed this chili coral over the long run, but I think I can do it. I have been feeding oyster feast monday, thursday, saturday. I have been feeding phyto tuesday and friday. I feed my suncorals and acans everyother day. I spot feed pe calanus or coral frenzy. My hope is that I have enough filter feeding going on in my tank to help keep down the negative effects of the extra broadcast feedings of oyster feast and phyto. They are extremely small amounts. 1 drop of oyster feast and less than a quarter cap of phyto. Thoughts?

big flow great skimmer and carbon dosing.

thats the tank the scientists built. thery not using the skimmer for mechanical filtration like the huge octopus ones do because it strips the food particles to fast, they use it for the dead bacteria.
Id almost suggest the tunze 9001, i dont pull out nothing big.

Are you going to do a thread on the tank? Id love to follow your experiment.

 

[bios]

Live naupli of artemia salina
Do a colture by your self, very simple

 

[Tahoe61]

Update: 1
So to start with, I have a small tank. Its only a 10 gal. I have 3 sps 4 acans and a lot of zoas. I also have red goni and a sea fan.
With that said, it is going to be a challenge to feed this chili coral over the long run, but I think I can do it. I have been feeding oyster feast monday, thursday, saturday. I have been feeding phyto tuesday and friday. I feed my suncorals and acans everyother day. I spot feed pe calanus or coral frenzy. My hope is that I have enough filter feeding going on in my tank to help keep down the negative effects of the extra broadcast feedings of oyster feast and phyto. They are extremely small amounts. 1 drop of oyster feast and less than a quarter cap of phyto. Thoughts?

Realistically one drop of oyster feast and phyto 3 times a week is not going to cut it IMO. NPS and non photosynthetic gorgonians need a near constant supply of food within the water column.

It's a viscous cycle, you're adding nutrients/organics to the tank, the filter feeders do not remove those organics they just metabolize and release the bi-product back into the system as dissolved organic compounds. To combat elevated nutrient levels you then do routine water changes and use mechanical filtration removing DOC and potential food to the NPS. This is difficult balancing act in such a small system. The elevated nutrient levels then become a source of fuel for algae.

The coral is not a Chili coral/Nephthyigorgia?

Back in the day when there was little know on husbandry of NPS I tried keep these corals, now I would not consider a Dendro or some of the more commonly available NPS gorgonians.

 

[Surfandturf]

Ok, so I do run carbon constantly, and phosguard. I do a 1 gallon water change every sunday morning. I add a quarter cap full of reef carbonate twice throughout the week to keep my kh up. The only form of filtration I use besides biological is a black cylindrical sponge /filter approximately 4 inches long and 2.5 inches wide and a white thin sponge/filter on top for the water to flow through and pick up particulates. I change the white filter weekly and the black one biweekly.
As far as algae, I am having an issue with bubble aglae. It keeps popping when i try to remove it so I have given up for now. I will be attempting to rid my tank again this weekend.

 

[Surfandturf]

Realistically one drop of oyster feast and phyto 3 times a week is not going to cut it IMO. NPS and non photosynthetic gorgonians need a near constant supply of food within the water column.

It's a viscous cycle, you're adding nutrients/organics to the tank, the filter feeders do not remove those organics they just metabolize and release the bi-product back into the system as dissolved organic compounds. To combat elevated nutrient levels you then do routine water changes and use mechanical filtration removing DOC and potential food to the NPS. This is difficult balancing act in such a small system. The elevated nutrient levels then become a source of fuel for algae.

The coral is not a Chili coral/Nephthyigorgia?

Back in the day when there was little know on husbandry of NPS I tried keep these corals, now I would not consider a Dendro or some of the more commonly available NPS gorgonians.

One drop of oyster feast in 8 gallons of water is not enough? It is 3 times per week, not one. The back of the bottle tells you how much to feed. I feel like 3 drops per week is almost too much.

 

[Surfandturf]

big flow great skimmer and carbon dosing.

thats the tank the scientists built. thery not using the skimmer for mechanical filtration like the huge octopus ones do because it strips the food particles to fast, they use it for the dead bacteria.
Id almost suggest the tunze 9001, i dont pull out nothing big.

Are you going to do a thread on the tank? Id love to follow your experiment.

I might do a build thread if I have time. I am in the process of starting a new job, moving, and remodeling my master bathroom at the new place so it may be a few weeks. I have been thinking about it though. I did pick up a blueberry sea fan today. It looks pretty cool.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Honestly, these guys are used to almost constant feeding in the sea. If this one was aquacultured, you have a better chance. I believe there are some scleronepthias being aquacultured. Also, it depends on the poly size as to what it feeds on. Just oyster feast may not help. You need to give a variety of sps size liquid food.

I would make sure to be giving it a large variety of the sps food available. Also, Reef Nutrition has a food out that works wellfor nps (I was told by RN, not experienced). Check that out. RGComplete or SDAquarist.

Good luck. Good filtration will help with water parameters, but you need the food to remain in the water column for them to eat properly. It is a constant balance game.