Green Ricordia

[Samw]

I have 7 Green Ricordia polyps on a rock and I want to trade maybe 3 or 4 of them for other colors locally. Anyone?






http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef/200211/127-2784_IMG.jpg

[ldzielak]

Saw,

Here are my green ones. Too bad Ryland just came over to the Island today, maybe we could have used him for a courier. I read on garf.org that these are easy to prop. by cutting pizza wedgs and leaving them on the sand. I'm not sure you will find many of these in Canada. I was told, they have not imported them into Canada for 10 years, untill recently with new methods of harvest.

Lee

These are just opening up this morning, normaly get twice this size.
http://www3.telus.net/public/a7a92965/fish/Ricordia_1.jpg
With Flash
http://www3.telus.net/public/a7a92965/fish/Ricordia_2.jpg
Without Fash

[Samw]

Nice. How close are you to reef_raf? He's coming over to the mainland on Fri.

[ldzielak]

Sorry Sam, I'm 1.5 hours north of Nanaimo. I will be down on the 13th for sure, if not sooner. Maybe we can do something then.

Lee

[Samw]

Sounds good. Hey, do you know much about Ricordia? I think there's 2 major species or something like that. The ones I've seen on RC and at Cquarium are all like yours with the bubbly look. They are also very expensive. Ricordia are like $15-$100 per polyp. Unbelievable. They would very worthwhile to propagate since they're so easy to grow and have so many different colors and are so pricey.

I think the 2 types are Ricordia Florida and Ricordia Yuma?? I think mine are the Florida type.


http://www.reefcentral.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?s=&threadid=77953&highlight=ricordia+species

[ldzielak]

Most of what I know came from Garf. (http://www.garf.org/ricord/ricord.html) I started with one polyp and they have split 2 times. From what Eric at King Ed told me, they banned importing it to Canada for 10 years since they didn't want people to take the rocks from the ocean, now they scrap/cut the polyps from the rock and are allowed to bring it into the country. So King Ed had some and it didn't look to good and no one wanted it, so I got it for a steal. I had much more at one point, but the rock got moved and they were almost buried, now I have them in a better place, but have to tim back the Xenia. Maybe I will try to prop the smallest one this weekend, and see what happens.

I really do like your colors. Should make for a nice trade one for one.

Lee

[Samw]

So you started from 1 polyp purchased from King Ed?

I saw some orange Ricordias today but couldn't get the store to sell me a polyp nor the colony. I might go back there on Sat and talk to the manager and see if they'll sell me a polyp or 2.

[ldzielak]

Sam,

I'll go in on the orange ones if you get them, or aleast put me down for a polyp, if/when you prop them.

Lee

[Samw]

Sure thing Lee. I'll let you know what happens.

[Canadian]

Ricordea florida come from Florida (the Atlantic Ocean) obviously, and collecting in Florida is basically banned (you can't collect anything attached to rock). Ricordea florida is very colorful, rare, and thusly quite expensive. Ricordea sp. from the pacific are much more common, less expensive and usually less colorful. However, it's very difficult to differentiate between species of corallimorphs and some "Ricordea sp." are commonly misidentified as "Ricordea sp." when, in fact, they may be Discosoma sp.

Case in point (Eric Borneman refuses to positively identify most corals based on pictures but "guesses" that the specimen in the following picture is Discosoma sp. and not Ricordea sp. ):

http://reefcentral.com/vbulletin/attachment.php?s=b5341ff39e0bf7f710db6820064ba660&postid=352610

Bottom line: Without dissection it's almost impossible to make a positive identification.

[Samw]

Updated Pic.


http://www.hyperdream.com/~samw/reef/200212/128-2851_IMG.jpg

[ldzielak]

Sam,
I'm bringing a small polyp down for you today. I will give it to Ryland and he can get it to you. Maybe next Sunday we can get to meet up and I grab one off you. Or maybe Ryland can keep it in his tank for me this week.

Lee