ID of coral and quick excited rant.

[silentcivilian]

Alright, background story first.

I bought some new rock at ocean city to make a tower in which i could store and grow some of my new sps from the fishytime frag pack which I bought (thanks doug, all looking great) but it turned out that the rock had a hitchhiker coral. Also another rock had 3 hitching crabs, none of which were good, all of which were destroyed as I still run a sumpless system. Back to the coral, in the store I thought it was a really weak pile of zoos, since I only had a quick gander at the rock before I determined that the rock was the shape I wanted regardless of what was on it. SO.. I get it home, drill it, rod it, throw it in the tank.. look at it, realise it isnt zoos at all.. looks like some of the burnt skelatons I have on some of my other rocks which I always determined to be Flower pots.

But.. still tissue on it.. so ask Doug... he mentions a coral called cyphastrea, where Bloy mentioned Goniopora.. both have the same structure.. so I did my reading.. and figured Skely sticking out with some flesh isnt really a good start.. so Bi-daily ive been blasting some Zooplex on it and also throwing coral accel its way every 3 days, now almost a week later, I noted feeders out today.. so I shot some brine shrimp its way, and Bam.. tis eating meaty foods.. So.. here is a picture I thought I would share.. with both the intention of updates good or bad, and possible ID.. The flesh is black.. Dunno if that is due to near death lost color or what.. but keep that in mind.

This is it feeding:

[Wingin It]

Very cool!

[Sebae again]

Well done.Good job of saving it.

[silentcivilian]

Ya, im stoked... now for it to grow in and see what it really is...

[Leah]

Very cool! Neat to hear of people getting hitchhikers, that are actually something good.

[Zoaelite]

It's not cyphastrea or goniopora I would say its either a species of Oculinidae (Galaxea Coral) or Siderastreidae.

Leaning more towards Oculinidae as the coral seems to be growing in a Plocoid pattern over Siderastreidae's cerioid growth form. The presence of long sweeper tentacles strengthens this ID but I'm excited to see it color up for you!
Levi

***edit more specifically the species would be Galaxea fascicularis or Galaxea astreata

[lorenz0]

^^^
ya that was my second guess. personally i haven't seen to many dead skeletons. I know kody and i are still waiting on the outcome. either way its looking alot bettert han when he originally picked it up

[Joe Reefer]

That is definitely a Galaxy Coral.

[silentcivilian]

Sooo... what we are agreeing is:

In the wild, Galaxy Coral G. fascicularis colonies grow up to 3.3 feet (1 m) across. In captivity, It is usually ball or dome shaped and can have irregular edges. Another formation is short with wide branches. G. fascicularis generally are green, brown, and red, but can be a mix of these colors, most often with white tips. This coral has clear to translucent sweeper tentacles. The polyps range in size, up to 6mm in diameter, and tentacles are often extended during the day. Long sweeper tentacles, up to 12" (30 cm), come out at night.


The G. fascicularis is not on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species. The following species from this genus are on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species:

G. acrhelia: Vulnerable (VU)
G. astreata: Vulnerable (VU)
G. cryptoramosa: Vulnerable (VU)
G. fascicularis: Near Threatened (NT)
G. horrescens: Least Concern (LC)
G. longisepta: Near Threatened (NT)
G. paucisepta: Near Threatened (NT)

The Galaxea genus can be moderate to easy to care for, especially if they are aquacultured specimens. Due to their delicate skeleton, specimens that are imported can suffer a lot of damage which can lead to infection. However imported corals have many commensal creatures that live between the polyps such as crabs, mussels, sponges, and shrimp. It is actually quite a privilege to acquire a Galaxy Coral with these creatures.

Provide the Galaxy Coral with good light and a low to moderate water movement. Coral skeletons are its substrate of choice as it will encrust these. It can extend very long sweeper tentacles, over 12" (30 cm) in length, that pack a pretty strong sting. Keeping a low water flow will help minimize the length of these. Keeping it fed is also a good way of keep them from "searching for food" with those little stingers. Provide an abundant amount of space between it and other corals to prevent its sweeper tentacles from damaging them, and for its own growth needs.

[fishytime]

definitely looks much happier than in the pic you showed me....I probably would have IDed it differently had I seen this pic......cool hitchhiker none the less.