What is your oldest coral strain?

[Dcal]

inspired by @zoa what,

What coral have you had in your system(s) for the longest? I know a lot of you guys have kept the same frag and grown it out and kept a clipping for a substantial amount of time.

my first coral I ever bought was a rasta frag which i still have 5 years later

 

[Nick Steele]

I have many of my first corals although tank is just approaching 1yr and 4 months old.

List of corals added within a month of starting my tank.
1) Scrambled egg zoas (1 polyp to 20 polyps)
2) Monti spongodes (browned out for a few months but is encrusting and doing good now)
3) Pink hammer (is doing great although still one head)
4) Rainbow Acan (didn’t grow for almost a year but is growing heads like crazy now)
5) Xenia (clowns host it so I can’t get rid of it now sadly)

 

[fish farmer]

Green striped mushrooms.

I bought them in July 2000 from Inland Reef Aquaria in Nashua, NH for around $30. In summer 2002 I had a heat wave kill all my corals, except for some bleached button polyps also bought in 2000. After recycling the rock I noticed a single green mushroom hiding in one of the rocks.

I've had both of them ever since and would consider the mushrooms more prolific than aiptasia in my tank.

 

[sfin52]

Finger leather 7 yrs
Gsp 7 years
Mushroom 7 yrs. Only three to survive my dino outbreak. 4 yrs ago.

 

[trout]

Montipora setosa (9 years)

April 2012

March 2021

 

[Jekyl]

I have GSP that is immortal.

 

[Dcal]

Montipora setosa (9 years)

April 2012

March 2021

stunning!!!

 

[JayLu]

I still have several of the coral strains that I started with over 15 years ago. These include frogspawn, yellow colony polyps, and red and blue mushrooms. There is something to be said for these “beginner” corals being able to handle all of my mishaps and mistakes over these years and still look good doing it.

 

[ZoWhat]

@trout

What butterfly is this and how come its reefsafe? Curious...

 

[ZoWhat]

I have Aiptasia that date back 3.8 billion years

 

[trout]

@trout

What butterfly is this and how come its reefsafe? Curious...

It is a yellow longnose butterflyfish (Forcipiger flavissimus). My tank is almost 100% sps-only plus one gorgonian. This fish does not touch any of my corals. A close relative of this fish, Forcipiger longirostiris), may not be reef safe though.

 

[Timfish]

I have Xenia I've had since the late 90's that originally came from the Smithsonian's reef system in the 80's.

Tricolor Frogspawn - mid 90's
Cabbage Coral - mid 90's
Brown Finger Leather, mid 90's
Sinularia foliata - 1997
Toadstool 1997
Purple, green and red actinodiscus mid 90's
brown BTA 1997
Green and orange Zoas, 1997

 

[UkiahTheTurtle]

My first corals where a GSP a devils hand and a kenya tree and they are almost a year old

 

[laverda]

My very first coral was a devils hand leather that I still have 24+ years later.

 

[rknapp]

I have a devils hand leather and cabbage coral colonies that have been with me since 1995-96 (can’t remember exactly anymore) and moved between four tank setups. They have grown/calved numerous times so no way to know if the original piece is still here but it or it’s offspring are still with me.

 

[Low Tech Reefer]

I have a plate coral colony that was a hitch hiker on a piece of Fiji live rock that I bought in 1994. After all these years, it continues to reproduce. I estimate that I've given away 25 to 30 of them over the years to a friend of mine that owns a LFS. Good stuff for sure.

 

[Mr. Azwell]

“I have Xenia I've had since the late 90's that originally came from the Smithsonian's reef system in the 80's.”

Talk about a story within a story!

Tell us more!

 

[Timfish]

Talk about a story within a story!

Tell us more!

My supplier, Segrest Farms got thier colonies from Dr. Adey's system set up at the Smithsonian in the 80's. I bought some colonies in the 90's and for a long time just had them in one system that was more a fish only system. Since reading a lot more on microbial processes and how benthic organisms on reefs differentially influence the bacteria in the water as well as developing a technique using stainless steel straws to control and remove Xenia I've been using it in more ssytems to use as both an indicator species and as a method to help moderate both nutrients and microbial processes.

 

[Nick Steele]

My supplier, Segrest Farms got thier colonies from Dr. Adey's system set up at the Smithsonian in the 80's. I bought some colonies in the 90's and for a long time just had them in one system that was more a fish only system. Since reading a lot more on microbial processes and how benthic organisms on reefs differentially influence the bacteria in the water as well as developing a technique using stainless steel straws to control and remove Xenia I've been using it in more ssytems to use as both an indicator species and as a method to help moderate both nutrients and microbial processes.

Stainless steel straws to control Xenia please elaborate!

 

[fish farmer]

My supplier, Segrest Farms got thier colonies from Dr. Adey's system set up at the Smithsonian in the 80's. I bought some colonies in the 90's and for a long time just had them in one system that was more a fish only system. Since reading a lot more on microbial processes and how benthic organisms on reefs differentially influence the bacteria in the water as well as developing a technique using stainless steel straws to control and remove Xenia I've been using it in more ssytems to use as both an indicator species and as a method to help moderate both nutrients and microbial processes.

THAT xenia should have a fancy name and be $100 a polyp. I probably saw that xenia in person, that system and his book was my push to reefing.