Interesting read on the Leng Sy Monti
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lafayettereefer
Active Member
Great read. I hope one day I will be able to get my paws on a real deal piece
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ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
Looks like the fake Leng Sy caps are coming out of the woodwork since the Tyree auction.
Big E
Valuable Member
For some further history--
There were plenty of debates about the rims and the nodules years ago............most came to the conclusion that the same cap looked different depending on lighting and flow. I pulled this up from some old RC archives. I remember seeing this in Tony's(SPStoner) tank as well as my friend's Dans and how it looked coincides what Tony mentions below.------------
Show your Leng Sy Monti Cap - Reef Central Online Community Archives
"I was with Paletta and Tom Frakes when we visited Leng's old shop in 1998 during Macna 10 and I can vouch that Leng did, in fact, give Mike a few Frags of the cap that day. (Mike's getting up there in age maybe his memory is slipping?
) Leng had two giant tanks at the time, not sure of the exact size but the one was like a 5 foot cube or so...huge. I remember he had the infamous cap, plus orange caps, growing all over he tanks, probably 40 or 50 places where a piece had broken off and he had wedged it into a rock somewhere else. I also remember that the tank had some large Angels and Tangs in it. He was also culturing some different Xenia's in one of his first Eco system tanks and had some leather corals that had like 2 inch polyp extension.
Anyhow, not all of the caps had the huge Purple rim (which was only about 1 inch, not 2), mostly the colonies that were closer to the top of the tank. I do seem to remember that the polyps were white, though. It's been a long time so I could be wrong on that. Also, not all the pieces in Lengs tank had the noduling growth, either, which supports surfnvb7's theory. Here's a crappy picture of mine from about 54 or 5 years ago
I got a small frag of it from Mike back then and still have the colony. This thing has morphed quite a bit over the years, going through different tnaks, lighting, moves, etc. Not a great shot, but most definitely the original. As you can see, the polyps have turned a light green over the years. I will say, this is one coral that is hard to capture digitally for an amateur photographer.
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There were plenty of debates about the rims and the nodules years ago............most came to the conclusion that the same cap looked different depending on lighting and flow. I pulled this up from some old RC archives. I remember seeing this in Tony's(SPStoner) tank as well as my friend's Dans and how it looked coincides what Tony mentions below.------------
Show your Leng Sy Monti Cap - Reef Central Online Community Archives
"I was with Paletta and Tom Frakes when we visited Leng's old shop in 1998 during Macna 10 and I can vouch that Leng did, in fact, give Mike a few Frags of the cap that day. (Mike's getting up there in age maybe his memory is slipping?
Anyhow, not all of the caps had the huge Purple rim (which was only about 1 inch, not 2), mostly the colonies that were closer to the top of the tank. I do seem to remember that the polyps were white, though. It's been a long time so I could be wrong on that. Also, not all the pieces in Lengs tank had the noduling growth, either, which supports surfnvb7's theory. Here's a crappy picture of mine from about 54 or 5 years ago
I got a small frag of it from Mike back then and still have the colony. This thing has morphed quite a bit over the years, going through different tnaks, lighting, moves, etc. Not a great shot, but most definitely the original. As you can see, the polyps have turned a light green over the years. I will say, this is one coral that is hard to capture digitally for an amateur photographer.
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ritter6788
Coral Fraud Private Eye
The actual Leng Sy monti doesn't look like a capricornis to me. I think they are 2 different species. The green w/purple rim monti cap is common. I've seen pics of large colonies of it. The real Leng Sy isn't a cap. I saw someone post it was a Montipora tuberculosa.
To me this isn't about the color of the coral, it's the growth and the big nodules that grow out of it. The purple rim size can be debated all day but to me it comes down to the spikes. The pics of the actual Leng Sy look almost like an Acro in the middle.
I haven't seen the underside of a "Leng Sy cap" but is it purple like the Leng Sy in the Tyree photo? If not that could settle the real or fake Leng Sy debate right there.
To me this isn't about the color of the coral, it's the growth and the big nodules that grow out of it. The purple rim size can be debated all day but to me it comes down to the spikes. The pics of the actual Leng Sy look almost like an Acro in the middle.
I haven't seen the underside of a "Leng Sy cap" but is it purple like the Leng Sy in the Tyree photo? If not that could settle the real or fake Leng Sy debate right there.
