Psammacora care

[rjs5134]

I was lucky enough to attend my first frag swap at last weeks NJ Reefers Swap. I picked up a small birdsnest frag and a green psammacora frag. I can't find much info on the psammacora though. I'm assuming like most sps it needs high light & high flow. Does anyone have care information to help? And how hardy or hard is this coral to maintain successfully?

Thanks as always,

Rob

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

[charlie]

From everything I gathered from cruising thru Verons books, I don't think this coral is classified as an sps coral. That being said, these mostly come from shallow reef environments, some in protected waters, others in wave washed environs. We would have to know what particular type of psammacora you have. A pic would help!!! HTH

[zhenya]

Rob,

I used to have Psammocora, P.contigua to be exact. In my observation, in aquarium conditions of course, it needed very little care from me other than moderate light and reasonable flow that is most likely found in the sps dominated tank. While observing it I noticed production of rather potent sweeper tenticles if anything is remotely close to it. It killed a decent sized portion of plating Montipora in a matter of few minutes when that plate grew closer than Psammocora allowed for.

It was an interesting coral, in my opinion, and is rather easy to keep.

[charlie]

Gene, do you have that link that you for coral ID, I couldn't seem to find it?

In my searching around this AM, I did find a link that supports your findings. A very aggressive coral!!

[rjs5134]

Thanks guys, that info was both positive and negative. Easy to care for is good for a still fairly new reefer, but aggressive is not what I was hoping for. Ironically, the little info I found said it was not aggressive at all. I should've saved that link, but I'll trust the info from Reefland long before some random website.

I'll post a pic tomorrow while watching football.

Thanks,

Rob

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

[zhenya]

Gene, do you have that link that you for coral ID, I couldn't seem to find it?

Here you go, Charlie linky. Just remember that it is a member of the Siderastreidae when you search. ;)

[charlie]

Bingo Gene!!!!!!!


Thanx

[zhenya]

Thanks guys, that info was both positive and negative. Easy to care for is good for a still fairly new reefer, but aggressive is not what I was hoping for. Ironically, the little info I found said it was not aggressive at all. I should've saved that link, but I'll trust the info from Reefland long before some random website.

I'll post a pic tomorrow while watching football.

Thanks,

Rob

"Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

Rob,

Take my observations with a grain of salt, simply because they could be unique to my aquarium only. Meaning flow and light, proximity of other corals and so forth. In the wild it may not pose a threat to any other corals because it is far removed from other species.
Anyway, if you provide it with sufficient space for growth you should be just fine. If any other corals begin to shade it, or block water flow, just prune some of them back and peace shall reign over your slice of reef...

[rjs5134]

I'm a week late, but I did say I would post a pic. I appreciate your experience Gene and moved my frag to an area of moderate flow... and away from other corals. Thanks for the advise.

Rob

[zhenya]

Rob,

I added another, smaller version of your picture to your post.

[rjs5134]

Thanks Gene, was the file size too large?

[greenbean36191]

IME it will grow under just about any conditions. I've had it grow under PCs and low flow and directly under 250w halides and high flow. A little over a year ago I lost nearly everything in a crash and the Psammocora was one of only about 4 hard corals that pulled through. Since then it's recovered and grows just as fast as ever (which is pretty fast). It's grown right into a small frag of Blastomussa, but I haven't seen any signs of sweepers or any obvious damage to the Blastomussa. I imagine with the Blasto being a much slower grower it's going to be overgrown soon anyway.

[zhenya]

Thanks Gene, was the file size too large?

Just a tad. ;)
Anyway, it is a beatiful coral and I wish you lots of luck with it.

[zhenya]

IME it will grow under just about any conditions. I've had it grow under PCs and low flow and directly under 250w halides and high flow. A little over a year ago I lost nearly everything in a crash and the Psammocora was one of only about 4 hard corals that pulled through. Since then it's recovered and grows just as fast as ever (which is pretty fast). It's grown right into a small frag of Blastomussa, but I haven't seen any signs of sweepers or any obvious damage to the Blastomussa. I imagine with the Blasto being a much slower grower it's going to be overgrown soon anyway.

Michael,

I'm sorry to hear about the crash.
Your description coinside with my observations to a tee.

In fact, I have to apologise to Rob for giving him wrong information. I just looked up in my old notes and what I was describing to Rob was actualy a Pavona sp. coral. So, Rob, please forgive me for giving you a bogus stories... My memory must be going faster than I anticipated.

PS. I got my frag of Psammocora about four or five years ago from SueT.

[rjs5134]

That's music to my ears... err eyes. I'm glad I chose an easier coral to care for. Looks like I'm the right road now.

Thanks guys.

[olaf]

DFS has one posted in Diver's Den: Aquacultured Corals: DFS Autumn Psammacora (Psammacora superficialis) 1.25" = $80
They list it as a LPS. With what was stated above Stinging sweepers > LPS trate.

[zhenya]

DFS has one posted in Diver's Den: Aquacultured Corals: DFS Autumn Psammacora (Psammacora superficialis) 1.25" = $80
They list it as a LPS. With what was stated above Stinging sweepers > LPS trate.

Hi olaf,




I guess you didn't notice my post where I retracted my statement about the sweepers, here. This corals do not produce any. ;)