Soft Coral Update (DENDRA)

[miareefer]

Greetings Reefers
Well as a few of you know i aquired 3 dendraphylia corals about 45 days ago and a few of the crew where curious to there progress and i would have to say they are doing EXCELLENT. Ime still not convinced that they are the traditional dendraphylia coral listed as extremely difficult to keep for the sake the majority of those corals are found in deeper water and tend to prefer overhangs and caves .My Softies are found in the shallows one of the first corals you would encounter when walking out to the reef. They are left high and dry at times and take a pounding from radical tides on a constant basis .

In my expeirence people dont provide sufficent conditions to meet there requirements so they suffer and degrade at a fast rate. Ime certain that these guys require a nutrient rich system to thrive Plankton and a lot of light to meet there demands.Ime also certain that correct coral placement is more then likely a major reason for demise for the sake they need to be thrashed about a bit they need movement to clean there fine hairy polyps and if they dont get enough movement they refuse to expand . when i first put them in the tanks it took a few days before i found spots that they liked eg movement and light and within a hour of getting it right they expanded well even to the point that the purple one was wedged in a rock with its base. it has grown funny looking roots and completely moved about a inch from where i put it and has completely glued itself to the rock Amazing considering its just hanging there . Anyway ill keep updating every month or so .

Mia

[miareefer]

Ime dosing plankton every second week and i feed a tad on the heavy side for my fish cause i have clownfish harem in each tank 8 in one tank in 6 in another .
Two 250 watters on the big tank and single on the smaller tank .

[miareefer]

This first pic is a bit out of focus but it sort of shows the fine like hairy polyps they have just imagine getting a bit of reef trash in there and infection would be a obvious cause for concern .Theres a few more pics of my main tank setup for those intrested .

[miareefer]

Check out my big toadstool its a very nice piece ime getting clones of it all the time and ive included a photo of my latest arrival and the previous clone that spawned that is about 4 months old .

[miareefer]

Ive also been busy this week fragging a few zoos i did a about a dozen colonys i really enjoyed myself its amazing the fun one can have just playing around with inverts and stuff i get excited about my endless tinkering and go to special lengths to make sure its a enjoyable expeirence for everyone concerned living at my house.What they think of me can be a little challenging at times but its in my nature to make allowances and forgive them .

[zhenya]

Hi mia,

I'm not sure I'm familiar with species such as Dendrophyllia,unless you ment to say Dendronephthya sp.,which your corals resemble.
If they are indeed Dendronephthya sp. then your comment of strong lighting couldn't possibly apply becouse they are entirely aposymbiotic,which means no zooxanthellae to demand strong lighting. I agree with your comment on a need of massive quantities of plankton,phyto and zooplankton alike to keep those corals happy. They are,however, seem to contain fair amount toxic compounds implicated in allelopathic warfare.

Here's a description of this corals by E.H.Borneman:

"...Colonies somewhat broccoli-like,with strong upright stalks and branches with bushy or ball-shaped bunches of polyps at the terminal ends.Only nonretractile autozooid polyps exist,and the sclerites may even extend outside the polyp tissue.The sclerites of Dendronephthya are particularly needlelike,quite long,and often brightly colored.They are easily visible through the transperent coenenchyme tissue of an expanded specimen..."

I quoted this description so that it maybe able to help you to id them, if you haven't read that already,of course.

Whatever they are,though, they are very beautiful corals and I'm glad they do sao well in your systems.

[miareefer]

Thanks Gene for your reply
Yes indeed i believe they could possibly be a member because ime aware of a person that has a licence to collect and sell coral and he collects them and markets them as a dendraphylia I have read erics book and they are a non photosynthesis coral not requiring light . These corals are a shallow water reef coral so there light demands are high.I have fragged these corals before and the respond like a colt and heal very quickly i have tried to id these corals before and took a sample to a marine scientist working for AIMS Australian institute marine science. He tried to help me and could only spare me a couple of moments of his time and his impression was that they where from the Dendra sp
group of corals he later went on to explain that they where a diverse group of corals and to do a complete ID would require a fair amount of time and effort .So possibly they could be from a sub species or perhaps we are completely off track who knows i sure as hell have no idea .
Thanks again

[Reefland]

Hi miareefer!

They are beautiful indeed and I am glad you posted an update as I was surely curious.

From your post, are you suggesting that these may not be Dendronephthya sp. becuase you collected them from the reef shallows? I'm not certain but even though they were collected from the shallows, couldn't they still be aposymbiotic corals?

Scott Z.

[zhenya]

Hi miareefer!

They are beautiful indeed and I am glad you posted an update as I was surely curious.

From your post, are you suggesting that these may not be Dendronephthya sp. becuase you collected them from the reef shallows? I'm not certain but even though they were collected from the shallows, couldn't they still be aposymbiotic corals?

Scott Z.

Scott,

The thing that I don't get is that I don't believe there is a Family or Suborder called Dendrophyllia ih Octocorals. Judging from the pictures(and it is confusing to say the least) those corals seem to be from the Suborder Alcyoniina and would probably belong to the Family Nephthidae,where by the way Genus Dendronephthya sp. would belong.Along with Scleronephthya as well.None of this are contain zooxanthellae and would not need lots of light,however,I understand now what mia is saying.He's saying that since they were collected in shallow waters they couldn't be either the Dendronephthya or the Scleronephtya.
So that would make them perhaps some other zooxanthellate soft corals,like common Colt coral.Just a thought.

[Reefland]

I am at work and do not have my literature handy so I was not able to look up those details Gene. Hopefully miareefer will clarify his post a bit for us.

To help my understanding a bit, couldn't non-photosynthetic corals be located in the shallows of a reef though? From the post, I get the impression that miareefer thinks they are NOT Dendronephthya sp. because that is where he collected them from.

Scott Z.

[zhenya]

I am at work and do not have my literature handy so I was not able to look up those details Gene. Hopefully miareefer will clarify his post a bit for us.

To help my understanding a bit, couldn't non-photosynthetic corals be located in the shallows of a reef though? From the post, I get the impression that miareefer thinks they are NOT Dendronephthya sp. because that is where he collected them from.

Scott Z.

Scott,

Actually, Eric B. states in his book that although they are found in the wild under ledges and overhangs and caves,many of them can also be found on reef slopes and in full sunlight.He does say that one common thing in their locality is the constant current that is responsibile for providing planktonic food for them.He also says that Dendronephthtya sp. corals are almost unknown in waters with flow rates less then 5cm/sec. I have kept a Scleronephthya once for about 6 month alive with lots of phyto dosing and a very brisk laminar flow provided by PH.However, it faded rather quickly after that and I never attempted to keep one since.

[miareefer]

Sorry about the delay in my reply guys but i think gene may of nailed it for the sake i was under the impression that they where a non photsynthetic coral and where only found in overhangs and caves and places not getting a lot of light.So with a more updated description of there enviroment and there possible adaptibility to available conditions they could possibly belong to the dendra sp group of corals.Thanks for the input and i will continue to update on there progress in the future.

[reewik]

Check out my big toadstool its a very nice piece ime getting clones of it all the time and ive included a photo of my latest arrival and the previous clone that spawned that is about 4 months old .

Ever thought about selling a frag? I really want a Sarcophyton but want to grow it from a baby!

[miareefer]

Sorry mate ime in australia and your in U.S.A so its a no can do but ime sure you could easily aquire one easily without any problems.

[reewik]

Australia hey, must be nice! Some day I will get out there. thanks for the reply so fast.