[GoinSalt]

Hello all,

I bought my first softie Sunday -- a rock of ricordia.

Everything looks fine (as far as I can tell) but I noticed today that a small piece had fallen (dragged?) off and is sitting on the sand on the floor. Should I leave it there or fish it out and put back on LR? I haven't seen any of the livestock touch the ric (coral beauty pays no attention to it).

I currently have 4 vho -- 2 act/2 10k -- on my 100g tank. The ricordia is currently sitting on the top of my rock structure, which about a foot away from the light. Is this good placement or does it need less intensity?

thanks for the help,
Nate

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by GoinSalt

The ricordia is currently sitting on the top of my rock structure, which about a foot away from the light. Is this good placement or does it need less intensity?

Nate,

You don't say whether it is Ricordea florida or R. yuma but I will assume it is R. florida.

R. yuma, in general, is collected from areas of greater illumination than R. florida and, at least with R. yuma, the color of the animal is a good indication of the intensity of the light in its previous natural environment. In general, R. yuma can tolerate stronger light in captivity than R. florida. Or, to be more precise, R. yuma requires slightly stronger lighting than R. florida.

I wouldn't place R. florida any higher than the bottom one-third of the rock structure in any tank unless it was lit with just normal output fluorescents. R. yuma could be placed as high as the middle of the rock structure -- assuming "regular" reef tank lighting. Both R. yuma and R. florida will adapt to the bottom of the rock structure adjacent to the sand bed and even adapt to partially shaded areas. I made the mistake of relocating some R. florida from a location that was shaded (receiving only reflected light from the sand bed) to another location where it was at the very bottom of the rock structure but exposed to the light from the halides (which are 11" above the water in a 27" tall tank) and it didn't do as well there.

I suggest you relocate your Ricordea (assuming it is R. florida) to the very bottom of your rock structure.




P.S. -- You might want to take the piece of Ricordea that has fallen to the sand bed and place it on a flat area of rock near the bottom of the tank. It will eventually attach as long as it isn't blown away by the current.

[GoinSalt]

Thanks Ninong.

Actually, when I bought it the LFS said it was yuma. Is there a way to tell the difference between yuma and florida?

Nate

[Ninong]

Yes, there is a very obvious difference bewteen Ricordea yuma and R. florida but there are also a couple of different morphs of R. yuma.

R. yuma usually has tentacles on the side of the mouth column whereas R. florida does not. The pattern of the tentacles is noticeably different but the easiest way to explain this is to just tell you to compare photos of some R. florida and R. yuma. The difference is obvious. Also, R. florida is much more likely to have multiple mouths.

Here are a few pics of R. yuma: http://www.reefscience.com/web/ricordia_anemone.php

Here are some R. florida: http://www.drmaccorals.com/sys-tmpl/...view_all.nhtml

There is also a big difference in price between R. florida and R. yuma. The most common color of R. florida (green) sells for about $8 - $10 a polyp. The most common color (green) of R. yuma sells for about $22 a polyp. R. florida rarely sells for more than about $15 a polyp but R. yuma prices are all over the map. Bright hot pink (red) R. yuma polyps have been advertised for as much as $150-$350 a polyp. Even yuma polyps that aren't really bright hot pink are being offered for outrageous prices.

The nicest yumas (pinks, reds, violets with high tentacles) used to fetch $75-$100 a polyp a couple of years ago but lately the prices are much, much higher. I haven't seen any true pink/red yumas on the market in more than a year.