Has anyone kept Blue Reef Chromis?

[ca1ore]

36? Wow — pic!!!!!

Cannot get all 36-ish in one shot at one time, but here's a representative sample.

 

[mcarroll]

Cannot get all 36-ish in one shot at one time

That's just lazy. ;Vulcan

 

[mcarroll]

(humor!)

 

[ca1ore]

Or crappy photography skills ......

 

[Brew12]

Cannot get all 36-ish in one shot at one time, but here's a representative sample.

That looks awesome!

I just don't have the mature corals to pull that off yet.

 

[mcarroll]

Or crappy photography skills ......

Your camera "accidentally" picked up an awesome fish tank while you were swinging it around, so no worries!!

In seriousness that's WAY FAR the most blue damsels I've seen at once – awesome!! Wish I could sit there in front of the tank and watch them for 30 min or so.

 

[ca1ore]

Still not all of them, but a better sense of it perhaps ....

 

[mcarroll]

Awesome.

What is the large flat/leafy looking coral in the bottom left? (Looks like it's right under a NICE BIG red Monti.)

 

[ca1ore]

It's just a bog standard purple digi. I have it in a few places in the tank but for some reason in that spot it forms that odd leafy look. There's a ton of flow that comes out from behind the rocks there, so perhaps the growth form is a result of that. Not really sure

 

[mcarroll]

It's just a bog standard purple digi. I have it in a few places in the tank but for some reason in that spot it forms that odd leafy look. There's a ton of flow that comes out from behind the rocks there, so perhaps the growth form is a result of that. Not really sure

That's great!! I bet @Dana Riddle would like to know that.

I love M. digitata for it's supremely adaptable form.

An Orange digi has been one of my favorite corals, but they never branched in my tank like you see in the pictures. Instead it grew an enormous mostly-flat table shape! Only a handful of stubby vertical "branches" ever formed.

 

[fishnchip]

Still not all of them, but a better sense of it perhaps ....

Nevermind the damsels.. look at those colonies!!! Amazing tank for sure;Happy any secrets??

 

[Dana Riddle]

That's great!! I bet @Dana Riddle would like to know that.

I love M. digitata for it's supremely adaptable form.

An Orange digi has been one of my favorite corals, but they never branched in my tank like you see in the pictures. Instead it grew an enormous mostly-flat table shape! Only a handful of stubby vertical "branches" ever formed.

As mentioned, corals have the ability to adapt to different conditions (light, flow, food availability, etc.) Veron famously examined adaptive behavior of a Pocillopora species living in different biotopes. I observed much the same in Pocillopora meandrina specimens in Hawaii. On the reef, they had the thick, c-shaped branches while in an aquarium they morphed into a shape usually associated with P. damicornis (probably due to different water velocity conditions.) Light intensityis known to influence branch morpholgy as well. In high light, branches are columnar while deeper water specimens tend to flatten out to expose a maximum amount of surface area to light. In another instance, I did some experiments while at Wildlife back in the 90's. Corals that were fed tended to grow tall, while specimens relying on light and whatever they could catch in an 'unfed' situation tended to flattened out for maximum light capture (phototrophy v. heterotrophy.) Hard to say what caused the coral to morph under these particular circumstances, but fascinating nonetheless.

 

[ca1ore]

Nevermind the damsels.. look at those colonies!!! Amazing tank for sure;Happy any secrets??

No 'secrets' really. Stable water parameters, wicked flow, am a big proponent of the CaRx ...... and I generally stick to the easier, less expensive SPS. Nothing particularly exotic in my tank .... Purple and red digi, green slimmer, a few kinds of birdsnest, a bunch of easy chalice, and even the weed that is pocilopora. I'm actually more a fish first reefer, thus all the %#?%# damsels LOL. I refuse to spend silly $$ on 'designer' frags, though I will and have spent thusly on a fish here and there.

 

[Kmsutows]

Still not all of them, but a better sense of it perhaps ....

Awesome tank! Love the damsels and the resplendent? anthias

 

[ca1ore]

Good spot. Yes, resplendents. They are generally quite shy and usually don't end up showing in the video.

 

[mcarroll]

Good spot. Yes, resplendents. They are generally quite shy and usually don't end up showing in the video.

What do you feed every day?

 

[fishnchip]

Just thought I'd mention.. I ended up going with the yellow tail damsels. DD had a trio that was captive bred so I figured why not give them a try! But if they start any issues with anyone else, they're getting booted

 

[ca1ore]

I feed my tank a LOT! Probably 20 cube equivalents per day. Keeps the tangs at a healthy weight, mostly, and the smaller fish that might be inclined to bicker (YT damsels, Bartlett anthias, green chromis) or cause trouble generally happy. It also allows the less aggressive fish like the aforementioned resplendents to get their fill. Pour food directly into the wave pump and it gets dispersed so the most piggish don't eat it all.

 

[mcarroll]

It's just a bog standard purple digi. I have it in a few places in the tank but for some reason in that spot it forms that odd leafy look. There's a ton of flow that comes out from behind the rocks there, so perhaps the growth form is a result of that. Not really sure

After thinking about this more I believe I heard about a purple Elkorn digi as well as a standard purple digi that as cylindrical branches. Was your possibly an ORA?

• 
  Purple Digitata
  (Montipora digitata)
  

 

[ca1ore]

Don’t think so. I’ll post a picture of a more normal growth form from elsewhere in my system.