Palau Nepthea

[+KeeperOfTheZoo]

Ok,

I started this thread so those of us discussing nepthea wouldn't totally hijack the for sale thread.

That said, Lamont, I think my little colony is the polar opposite of yours. It likes low flow, low light and gets really irritated if either of those factors increase (I've moved it around a couple times). I'd actually asked a few people about it because it seemed odd to me that a photosynthetic coral would expand and be beautiful at night, then be grumpy when the lights were on. It is a low to medium light coral though.

Here is a picture of what mine looks like during the day (sorry about the photo quality, my digital camera took a hike while on vacation so I'm using my new Droid to take pics until I replace my real camera). This is about 50% inflated. Ignore the dirty glass. I have been.

I got this mini colony from Jian (John) Song I think. It was back in Dec. and he was breaking down his tank to move up East. His mother colony was HUGE!!!! It was growing under very blue T5s (I would assume pretty high K, it was real blue).

How rare is this stuff? I've read it's extinct in the wild but it seems like many of us have it.

[GKarshens]

It used to be very rare. But as it is a pretty fast grower and many people have bought and traded frags, it seems to be getting fairly common. Makes me wonder if it may be reintroduced into the wild at some point. I have 2 trees myself. They close up when lights are off and open up with the light. I would call the flow they are under as moderate in my tank. I have noticed they don't seem to like high flow areas.

[barderer]

This coral is not extinct in the wild. Turns out that was a rumor...or at least that is the current rumor I have noticed it can come down with a black slime disease sometimes. So its best to have more than one colony and chop off any diseased or distressed tissue before it spreads. Great coral. Grows in pretty much anything I throw it in.

[+Dena]

Here's a photo of mine under LED's. Mine also likes the lower light and lower flow and is almost always open.

Dena

[Rjohn]

Dena, the frag I got from you is doing very well, I think. It is opening up very nicely indeed. Under actinics, it has a very attractive green glow. Thanks!

[Timfish]

I totally missed ya'all started this thread and gotta put in my 2 cents worth.

I initially thought it was a Nephthia sp. when I first started to identify it. However none of the literature supports this conclusion. Sprung and Delbeck consider it a Sinularia sp. "The Reef Aquarium Vol. II pg 211. Sea Scope Vol. 16, Summer 1999, has two seperate references: Tom Frakes refering specifically to the Summer 1998 El Nino bleaching event and LeRoy and Sally Jo Headlee doing DNA mapping and having identified 9 differant strains of this Sinularia sp. In "A Practical Guide To Corals For The Reef Aquarium" on pages 75 and 76 Puterbaugh and Borneman have photos of both Nephthia sp. and Sinularia sp. Green Fingers showing the Nephthia sp. as "stalkless" and the Sinularia sp. as having stalks.

Growth is HIGHLY variable and in my experience depends largely on water flow, chaotic flow causing a draping growth habit and in one extreme in another tank very "clubby" cacti like growth. The 2nd and third pics are of sister colonies in the same tank. The 2nd pic also shows a typical brown Sinularia sp. finger coral to the left (front of tank).

The 1st pic is of the tank with a different exposure that show's a little more green. I'm not sure why but I can't capture as green as it looks in person and you can see the amount of green does vary from colony to colony. This is a 110 tank with 6 54W T5's 3 actinic, 2 6500K 1 10,000K. I haven't tried this cultivar under MH but I do believe the more florescent green could be developed with a different spectrum and intensity although it is certainly thriving with the current lights. When I first heard about this coral being extinct in the wild in '07 I thought it was bogus and checked with a friend of mine works for a importer that has collectors in Palau. I was quite surprised when she got back with me and said their collectors hadn't seen it since the '98 El Nino. I think it's important to emphasize we still don't know what Sinularia species it is and it may turn out to be just a color variant of a more common species.

Edited April 21, 2010 by Timfish

[Timfish]

This coral is not extinct in the wild. Turns out that was a rumor...or at least that is the current rumor I have noticed it can come down with a black slime disease sometimes. So its best to have more than one colony and chop off any diseased or distressed tissue before it spreads. Great coral. Grows in pretty much anything I throw it in.

I occasionally see this "black slime" also. It looks to me kinda like a cynobacteria. Usually it occurs at the ends where it's getting stung by the Frogspawn or anemonies. I haven't to resort to cutting it off though, syphoning the slime seems to work fine.

[Timfish]

Ok,

. . . polar opposite of yours. It likes low flow, low light and gets really irritated if either of those factors increase (I've moved it around a couple times). I'd actually asked a few people about it because it seemed odd to me that a photosynthetic coral would expand and be beautiful at night, then be grumpy when the lights were on. . . .

I've been growing mine for over 13 years now and never seen that behavior. Even though there is a strong physical similarity I've got to wonder if it's not a different species. Anybody know a good taxonomist?