The other day I saw these orange and pink lether corals at a LFS. It looked great but is it normal or is it fake and if you frag it will the frags keep the colour?
Different colour leathers
- Thread starter Tiger eye
- Start date
Unfortunately corals are sometimes dyed to enhance the colour. The process isn't kind on the coral and they will take time and excellent water conditions to return to their proper healthy colour. Dying them is not permanent so the colour will disappear eventually, wether you frag it or not.
i Found this pick of the coral that I saw.
Is a NPS good or bad?
NPS = non-photosynthetic coral
Species is probably Dendronephthya.
Species is probably Dendronephthya.
It is neither good or bad it is beautiful but it is very difficult to keep alive as it needs to be fed (live foods like plankton)often to thrive in an aquarium and this can often lead to deteriorating water conditions if the aquarium doesnt have sufficient filtration
In other words it is for experts or people specialising in keeping this type of coral.
In other words it is for experts or people specialising in keeping this type of coral.
NPS is more difficult than keeping SPS from what I hear. Only Jaco schoeman kept a dedicated nps tank and he knew the most about nps.. Haven't seen him on the forum in ages. I remember he said he hated the constant feeding as he used to wake up a couple times in the night to feed.. Suppose a doser will sort you out with that
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Thanks for the info. Can i feed it Reef Snow?
Dendronephthya only eats live phytoplankton. Even guys with dedicated NPS systems have trouble keeping these corals alive. I believe the longest anyone has kept one is about a year, and even then it's basically just slowing it's starvation. These corals should NOT be imported and the LFS should be chewed out for selling them to people who don't know better.
This is a very difficult species to feed due to it being a very active and almost constant feeder in the wild, I have read they have even been seen producing sweeper tentacles to feed.
I would suggest feeding it zooplankton and phytoplankton as this is what it eats in the wild.
You can get these in bottles from a few different brands I use brightwell.
@Tremayn Jaco shut his tanks down I have one of them that I am modifying at the moment.
I still have a frag of a chilli coral he gave me and a few other corals.
He really knew his nps there is a really good article he wrote somewhere I will try find it.
I would suggest feeding it zooplankton and phytoplankton as this is what it eats in the wild.
You can get these in bottles from a few different brands I use brightwell.
@Tremayn Jaco shut his tanks down I have one of them that I am modifying at the moment.
I still have a frag of a chilli coral he gave me and a few other corals.
He really knew his nps there is a really good article he wrote somewhere I will try find it.
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Here it is read this. Non Photosynthetic Coral Species and Care - Marine Aquariums of South Africa
Thanks its a beutiful coral and rather than just stay away i would rather do as mutch resurch and make a success of keeping NPS. It is butufull and I would realy like to keep some of them.
Sun corals (Tubastrea) are pretty easy if you feed them daily. Black corals and whip corals (Antipatharians) often have quite large polyps too and will take larger particles.
Best option would be Stereonephthya, which is a close relative of Dendronephtya but is sometimes photosynthetic in some of it's colour morphs. A brownish tint is usually indicative of a photosynthetic one. Difficult to find though.
I would say chilli coral is one of the easier ones and christmas trees aren't that hard, but all need to be regularly fed which can create a bit of a nutrient problem.
I have a sun coral and its not that bad the only problem I find is it has to be coaxed to open up and eat.
I have a sun coral and its not that bad the only problem I find is it has to be coaxed to open up and eat.
How do I coaxe it to open up and eat? Sorry for sounding dum.