New coral today- encrusting Goniopora??

[JAG107]

Here's when I first added it:

Here it is a day later, notice the polyps out. This is about how much extension there was at the LFS. Best part about it, I got it free with a Xenia frag trade and some caulerpa. Also got this purple monti free by trading some nuisance super hairy mushrooms (about 8 of them).

Here's a quick Red Planet shot with my orange monti nodosa. I'm liking that the green is staying with the RP, most people complain about losing it.

:beerchug:

 

[Alexander]

will be nice to see the growth in the next year or 2

 

[dustin_P74]

that red planet is awesome

 

[cgoodman381]

Whered you get it from? Neptune Aquatics?

 

[simpleman]

I thought caulerpa was illegal to have here in Cali, right? I mean I have some that I got with a ball of chaeto over a year ago that I can't get rid of.....just didn't think LFS's were supposed to have it.
Oh and sweet new monti!

 

[JAG107]

the LFS asked for caulerpa, actually...they wanted to start growing a massive ball of macro in their new 100gal sump for their SPS tank. I gave em the grape kind. I got the new corals from Aquarium In Motion in Corona. Great little shop, plus its the closest one to me! Never heard of Neptune...

 

[ccCapt]

The Red Planet looks great! The other 1 looks like a turbinaria.sp (cup coral). I never heard of an encrusting goni.

 

[simpleman]

That's interesting, I'm trying to kill the stuff and other people are asking for it. I just don't like it because of the threat of it going sexual and releasing spores into the DT.

 

[yote]

Those are some great looking frags.

 

[JAG107]

The Red Planet looks great! The other 1 looks like a turbinaria.sp (cup coral). I never heard of an encrusting goni.

I googled it. I think there is in fact, an encrusting goni. By looking at it, it makes sense that its related to the Porites, because the polyps look similar. They stick way out. I'm fairly certain it's not a turbinaria. I have one of those and it looks completely different (absolutely no hint of polyp extension). I dunno, I could be wrong. The store owner had no clue what it was, only that it looked cool and he wanted the colony to frag up and sell at the store.

As for the caulerpa, I have it mixed with chaeto in the fuge, and it hasn't gone sexual on me yet! Although its nutrient-exporting growth is kinda sexy... :mrgreen:

 

[JAG107]

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/10/aafeature2#h2

Good article about Goniopora sp. I learned something new today!

 

[Bifferwine]

Yep, there are indeed encrusting gonis out there, and it looks like that's what you've got. The red colored ones are usually easier to keep than other color morphs, too.

 

[reeffreak]

Congrats,nice additions.Definitely an encrusting goniopora you have.

 

[Piggy]

Nice additions.

 

[IraqVeteran]

those are nice....and I was going to ask why it is illegal to own caulerpa in Cali but then I recalled a discovery channel show a while back that answered my question. It showed how it grows at an uncontrollable rate and destroys the vegetation in the water in its path. I also found this site http://swr.nmfs.noaa.gov/hcd/caulerpa/factsheet203.htm that explains it in great detail.....pretty interesting.