Subtropical coral recommendations?
- Thread starter SaltyB24
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
That not very cold. However, not all soft corals are the same. In Austin, Tx I operated outdoor mariculture in 150G Rubbermade tubs buried in the ground. With a 500G system, during the winter, I set heaters to come on at 55 degrees because of the economics of my electric bill. System inhabitants included chaetomorph, amphipods, ghost shrimp, green mollies, diver collected live rock and green Star polyps.
WheatToast
2500 Club Member
Matsu Collections offers a selection of temperate cnidarians from the California coast, such as anemones, gorgonians, zoanthids, and sea pansies. You will need a scientific collecting permit to purchase most of them, though:
http://www.matsucollections.com/home.html
@Tamberav
http://www.matsucollections.com/home.html
@Tamberav
Subsea
5000 Club Member
Pulsing Xenia, green star polyps, Sinularia……….
Almost all nps would favor colder water.
I am fully retired but busy with four marine systems in my house including a monoculture of Red Ogo for personnel consumption. I maintain a 20’ by 50’ vegetable garden and 1.5 acre of naturalized landscaping. I have disassembled all mariculture tanks & plumbing in greenhouse and am considering converting to hydroponic vegetable cultivation.
Almost all nps would favor colder water.
Unfortunately, I let website domain expire when business became work instead of fun. Also, AquacultureRanch LLC was a tax shelter to protect 401K money. I also shutdown 10K gallon mariculture in 20’ by 40’ greenhouse.
I am fully retired but busy with four marine systems in my house including a monoculture of Red Ogo for personnel consumption. I maintain a 20’ by 50’ vegetable garden and 1.5 acre of naturalized landscaping. I have disassembled all mariculture tanks & plumbing in greenhouse and am considering converting to hydroponic vegetable cultivation.
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Subsea
5000 Club Member
Why is your tank water this cold?
Because I never saw the need for tank water heater my reef tanks have always operated at lower than recommended reef temperature. It was only by accident that I realized the advantage of lower temperature with reduced maintenance.
The corals listed below should be able to handle the temps you list, but they might do better with different temps, or with some variation in temp (some temperate corals do better with seasonal temp changes).
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratories, Inc. carries (as listed on their site):
Encrusting Hard Corals:
Star Coral (Astrangia asteriaformes - the accepted name is currently Astrangia poculata) - can handle the temps listed.
Rose Bud Coral (Phyllangia americana) - can handle the temps, but is Non-photosynthetic, so more difficult to keep
Red Shell Coral (Cladocora arbuscula) - prefers higher temps than listed.
Soft Corals:
Sea Pansy (Renilla mulleri) - can handle the temps listed, bioluminescent when touched, might light up if hit by flow, I'm not sure.
Sea Whip (Leptogorgia virgulata/ Psudoleptogorgia sp.) - can handle the temps listed.
Sea Fan (Lophogorgia hebes) - can handle the temps listed.
Horny Sea Whip - they don't list a genus/species here, so no idea, but it can probably handle the temps.
Some zoas that grow symbiotically with sponges - no genus/species, and keeping the sponges may be difficult, but can probably handle the temps.
Brown Zoanthids - again, no genus/species, but can probably handle the temps. A lot of less colorful zoas tend to be pretty invasive, so you might want to be cautious with this one.
From Matsu Collections (as mentioned above), there are two you can get that don't require a permit (according to their list that I downloaded late last year - I don't know how often they update it):
Red Gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) - can handle the temps listed.
Sea Pansy (Renilla koellikeri) - can handle the temps listed, bioluminescent when touched, might light up if hit by flow, I'm not sure.
Gulf Specimen Marine Laboratories, Inc. carries (as listed on their site):
Encrusting Hard Corals:
Star Coral (Astrangia asteriaformes - the accepted name is currently Astrangia poculata) - can handle the temps listed.
Rose Bud Coral (Phyllangia americana) - can handle the temps, but is Non-photosynthetic, so more difficult to keep
Soft Corals:
Sea Pansy (Renilla mulleri) - can handle the temps listed, bioluminescent when touched, might light up if hit by flow, I'm not sure.
Sea Whip (Leptogorgia virgulata/ Psudoleptogorgia sp.) - can handle the temps listed.
Sea Fan (Lophogorgia hebes) - can handle the temps listed.
Horny Sea Whip - they don't list a genus/species here, so no idea, but it can probably handle the temps.
Some zoas that grow symbiotically with sponges - no genus/species, and keeping the sponges may be difficult, but can probably handle the temps.
Brown Zoanthids - again, no genus/species, but can probably handle the temps. A lot of less colorful zoas tend to be pretty invasive, so you might want to be cautious with this one.
From Matsu Collections (as mentioned above), there are two you can get that don't require a permit (according to their list that I downloaded late last year - I don't know how often they update it):
Red Gorgonian (Lophogorgia chilensis) - can handle the temps listed.
Sea Pansy (Renilla koellikeri) - can handle the temps listed, bioluminescent when touched, might light up if hit by flow, I'm not sure.
WheatToast
2500 Club Member
Gulf of Maine also offers various coldwater hydroids and anemones (though I have not checked their temperature tolerances):
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life?category=Cnidaria
https://gulfofme.com/all-sea-life?category=Cnidaria
