Can anyone tell me what this is?

[Rek84]

Can anyone tell me what this is? LFS said anthelia, but it looks more like some kind of xenia to me??

If anyone can id, I'd greatly appreciate it. How much is this gonna up? I would like to know what it is for sure, so I will know how to take care of it. (I posted this in the hitchhiker forum, but the more I thought about it, it wasn't a hitchhiker. Sorry for two posts.)

 

[jamesw]

That looks like a "closed up" nepthyea sp. or sinularia sp. to my untrained eye.

It is DEFINITELY not an Anthelia sp.

HTH
James Wiseman

 

[Anonymous]

The brown polyps retracting to a white body suggest some variant of the Cladiella genus.

 

[FishDaddy]

Looks rather "Colt-ish" to me too. A pic with the polyps out would help.
Perhaps you might suggest your LFS buy a good book!

Dick

 

[Rek84]

Hey guys, thanks for the help. I really am more determined than ever to find out what this is.
What you guys can't tell from the pictures, is that this seems to be a colony of individual polyps meshed together, almost like a sea mat. Each stalk is made up like a piece of cauliflower, with a single stalk having all the little "cauliflower" like bunches of polyps on the end. It really reminds me of what a single stalk of some types of pom pom xenia looks like that I have seen before. Here is another pic, they are more open this morning. I wish I had a better camera so I could zoom in closer, but hopefully you can get the idea.

 

[Anonymous]

hi.
I can only tell you that it is not a Xenia, but for a good id, you need to wait it open even more.

 

[Rek84]

Thanks for the help guys. Here is some better pics where you can clearly see that this is a colony of stalks (or at least it sure looks like it to me). So is this cladiella for sure? Any care recommendations?? Currently it is at the top of my tank, in medium current, under 3 VHO bulbs in a 70 gallon long tank. Seems to be pretty happy where it is, as best I can tell. Well, hopefully you guys can give me a firm id from these new pics. Really appreciate the help!

 

[danmhippo]

I am betting it's the cladiella as well.

Here is a one that resembles yours when it opens up.........I think...

[ March 19, 2002: Message edited by: danmhippo ]</p>

 

[Anonymous]

I am in agreement with Mick, looks like my Cladiella.

 

[Anonymous]

It resembles Cladelia when closed,but when open it has polyps like xenia. It looks more like Alcyonium sp. But I have seen short xenia which also closely resembled it as well. If the polyps pulse I would go with xenia. But I think it is Alcyonium. It looks like the polyps are too large for cladelia.

 

[esmithiii]

Looks like xenia to me.

E

 

[Mouse]

Theres some guy thats allways bringing stuff like that to our LFS. He says it grows rampant throughout his tank. He also called it Xenia, ive only ever seen it with the polyops closed, and it's very simmilar. If the polyps "pulse" then id say it was some sort of short xenia.

 

[zooqi]

I do have the same coral and I just e-mailed Anthony Calfo to ask him about it.
here is the link to mine
http://sweetlaugh.com/CORAL.jpg

 

[zooqi]

Mine pulse too and they are not heteroxenia because I have them too.
and here is a pic of heteroxenia

 

[zooqi]

I got a quick respond from Anthony Calfo The Author of Book Of Coral Propagation (good book)
http://www.readingtrees.com/


Almarzouqi,

Good to hear from you, my friend!

The Xeniid in the picture, although not clear, is
familiar to me. It is believed to be a true Xenia
species and hails from Bali. It is a little less
common in aquariums. The nice thing about this species
is that it can grow quite large before it "branches"
(longitudinal fission).

I got a piece like this from a friend working at the Smithsonian but sold them all when I sold my store. After you have had a chance to propagate it, I would love to buy a piece off of you.

As far as propagation goes, it is more senistive
than most any other Xenia to cutting. Try instead at first to encourage rapid growth and fission through VERY bright lighting. Metal halides are in order after proper acclimation to the bright light of necessary.
Another interesting thing about this species is that
it is rather motile. You'll find it crwling and
creeping along the rocks at times (usually up towards higher light).

The first attempts with cutting should be
conservative attempts at imposed pedal laceration.

Do keep me posted about your success with it.

Best of luck to you.

Kind regards,

Anthony Calfo