Echinophyllia Care question

[Mac1]

Anyone ever kept some of this stuff? I got a decent sized frag from a friend who broke up a colony he bought, and have yet to find a good home for it in my tank. It seems like an LPS, and I've placed it low in the tank, under protected flow, but it still doesn't look happy. Any tips? I've got a pair of 250 Watt Iwasaki's and 2x110 VHO Actinic's over my 90 AGA reefready.
TIA.

- Mac

 

[Anonymous]

First, congratulations on getting some, it's great stuff and just about impossible to come by.

I've found these guys can tolerate virtually the entire gamut when it comes to lighting and current, nothing seems to phase them. Coloration definitely does improve under higher wattage lighting, but they do just fine with less intensity, too. Growth is slow, but mine used to accept food when offered, so you might try that if you want to give yours a boost.

There are really only two things to watch out for with echinophyllia. First, it's very aggressive and can send out 8-10" long sweeper tentacles on occasion. Second, watch your own reaction from touching it. I became sensitized to mine -very- quickly, to the point where I couldn't handle it without feeling irritation and even pain. Oh, and a third thing to watch out for.... make sure you've got echinophyllia and not echinopora. Lot of folks confuse the two

 

[Mac1]

Thanks Charles! I'll put you in line for the frag list, if it takes off ;-)

I'm pretty sure of the ID - been pouring over COTW for the last several hours. A couple people got pieces of it, and one of the other guys was pretty certain of it's Genus (the LFS sold it as mycedium...)

I've got it on the sandbed now, and will see about acclimating it to a higher ground. There's a lot of room between where I keep my acro's, and where everything else can tolerate the Iwasaki's.

I've been trying to figure out what to feed it, I never see it's polyps out, but it has a couple of fairly sizeable mouths - must eat something. I'll have to find something sized appropriate, that I can deliver to it (I got a nasty mean old one eyed tang living in there now who makes feeding a wee bit risky). I'm thinking some Vibra-gro pellets might do the trick. Now if only it will eat it... Thanks again.

- Mac

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Charles! I'll put you in line for the frag list, if it takes off ;-)

Way cool. I'd love to get another, my three year old colony was one of my casualties this past summer.

I'm pretty sure of the ID - been pouring over COTW for the last several hours.

If you ever get any die back, the skeleton is fairly distinctive and fairly easy to compare to Veron's skeletal pics (can't remember if he has any in COTW, but definitely in COA).

I've been trying to figure out what to feed it, I never see it's polyps out

Pretty rare for them to open during the day. I'd usually only see mine two or three hours after lights out. As far as food, mine took pretty much any of the frozen staples... formula one, brine, etc.

 

[Anonymous]

Looks like Joe Kelley just posted a pic of the echinophyllia frag I gave him last year:

 

[Mac1]

Mine's still pretty frag-like, it only has one edge that wasn't mangled while breaking, and has the same type of growth there (plating outward). Coloring is similar as well, more purple, and it has that greenish actinic color (GSP's?) in the center section. One of these days I'll get to borrow the digicam from work, and will have a shot of it. Hopefully I won't have a section of the skeleton to examine, but I know what you mean - was hoping someone else would have lost a polyp of it, and we could take a better look. They are distinct when compared with the Echinopora.

I tell you, looking at these pics, it's hard to believe the Faviid's and Pectiniidae's could be so close, yet not the least bit related. Thank god for books like this, tho. I'd still be calling it mycedium!

- Mac