Need Corals ID please

[jessemac]

Hello everyone,
I have two Corals I would greatly appreciate some info on and the correct ID as I dont think either store I purchased them form new for sure what they were even though they gave me names for both.

The first is what I was told as an Orange Disticophora and this one actually looks similar to what I have found online by this name. Purchased at Atlantis Fish. This coral is orange in color, branching like a fan, does not appear to have or get any polyps on it, rather is smooth on the surface but does have some little bumps in places toward the middle to ends of each branch. I have had this coral for nearly two weeks now. My concern here is I was told it was an easy coral to take care of, needs moderate flow and moderate to high light. However, if it is what I was told, it is non photosynthetic, needs low light and low flow...and usually grows on the under side of a rock face. I have been target feeding phytoplankton 1 times daily and doing a mass tank feed every other day due to the other Corals I have.

The second coral I was told was a Hydro Morph. This one I am sure is not what I was told as I cannot find a single Hydro Morph coral that looks anything like this one. This coral is blue to blue green in color, is relatively flat and fleshy on the surface. The flesh retraces in when touched or handle. Other than that, it has been open and flows in the current day and night. I purchased this coral at Fish Doctors of Yipsi 2 days ago and have been doing the same target feeding one daily.

I would greatly appreciate the proper ID of these Corals so I can better suite there needs. As I really like both Corals a lot and would not want anything to happen to them at mistreatment. Thank you for your time and thank you in advance.

 

[mojoreef]

The orange one is a Disticophora and it is not an easy to keep, actually its a very hard if not impossible one to keep, so dont get your hopes up to high. Its feed on zooplankton, and is azooanthellae which means it is non photosynthetic > the second looks like some kind of zooanthus?? Hit the coral gallery link in my signature its a good place to ID corals.


Mojo

 

[jessemac]

The orange one is a Disticophora and it is not an easy to keep, actually its a very hard if not impossible one to keep, so dont get your hopes up to high. Its feed on zooplankton, and is azooanthellae which means it is non photosynthetic > the second looks like some kind of zooanthus?? Hit the coral gallery link in my signature its a good place to ID corals.

Mojo

Thank you. I was thinking that the orange one was a Disticophora as well. I just wasnt certain of it. I will do my best to take care of it. My tank has been running for 2 years now so it is pretty well established. Im thinking that I may need to try and mount the coral under neath an over hang on the LR where there is a good flow of water. I have neen target feeding it daily and feeding the whole system every other day. Thanks again for you input and advice.

 

[mojoreef]

Try to find a place in your tank where their is a collection of detritus, so a place where the detritus settles out. Its kind of like the crap drawing flies, in our tanks Detritus attracts bugs.

Good luck

Mojo

 

[jessemac]

I will look for a good spot. As for the other one, there arent any single polups on it, it is one continuous fleshy mass similar to a plate coral in a sense. though there are some openings that you can see the base through and Im assuming that is the skeleton, but these spots arent dead spots and that is were you see the frayed ends so to speak. Seems to love a good current and lighting.

 

[dmatt88]

That second pic looks like some type of hydno.

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[jessemac]

I have found out what the fleshy green blue plate like coral is. It appears to be a Hydnophora, another name it has been known by is the Horn Coral as it can either be a branching, semi branching or more plate like. It prefers moderate to high light, moderate to high current but, from what others have said in a few other forums is that it can do well just about anywhere in the aquarium. The only down side to this coral is that it tends to be rather aggresive to other SPS Corals. That is one area I am still in the mist about. I have see this coral listed under SPS and LPS. Though I would lean more toward LPS due to the entire top area being covered in a fleshy mass with small tenticles or feels portruding out. I must say I am happy with my purchase and now know what to expect and how to care for this coral. I have had my eye on this coral for a couple months now and just never to the initive to look it up and took the LFS word as to what it was and the needs of the coral. Unfortunately in this case, the coral was slightly miss labled and little information was provided. Other than that, an amazing piece. I will post a pic under all my lights, the one above was just under my T5's 1x purple plus, 2x blue plus and 1x actinic.

As for the Disticophora, I would like to find and speak to others who have had this coral. In hopes to give this aparently difficult coral the best environment possible. As this one too, is a superb piece and one that will quickly become one of my favorites Im sure.
Thanks for the replys, greatly appreciated.

 

[jessemac]

That second pic looks like some type of hydno.

Matts DROIDX via Tapatalk

Thank you for your input, it led me to several different sites.

 

[dmatt88]

I have a hydno. Grows quick under t5 lighting high in the tank. Watchmen goby tend to frequent them. Plus, snap off a piece n u have a growing frag. (Occasionally they break

Matts DROIDX via Tapatalk

 

[jessemac]

I have a hydno. Grows quick under t5 lighting high in the tank. Watchmen goby tend to frequent them. Plus, snap off a piece n u have a growing frag. (Occasionally they break

Matts DROIDX via Tapatalk

Thanks, I am running 2x 175 MH both 14k Bulbs, 4x 54w T5 (1x Actinic, 1x Purple plus, 2x Blue Plus) over my 90gal 48L x 18D x 24H. So I placed the disticophora under a shaded area with medium to low flow and the Hydno directly under the MH centered in the tank with medium to strong current, seems to like where it is so far.