Stenopus Hispidus

Sorry, forgot to ask you for some pic of your acro.

I want to add a word of caution. When new, this coral is not easy to keep. I had a few RTN on me long time ago and I still can't figure out why. However, once its settled in your tank it should grow at a good rate.

Both pic taken on 18/11/2002.

Hi Tanzy, The Horn Coral that I have is Hydnophora grandis. Branchy and looks like Acropora in some ways but with thicker branches. It has a flurorescent greenish bluish hue. Here are some pics. I am thinking of fragging about 2" (not a cm as in my Purple Montipora talk some time back). BTW your acro sounds good to me. Check if you want a frag of this Horn...Remember, no obligation. BTW, how did your tank manage to reach 27 degrees? What happened to your chiller? <_<

Hi all, my Horn sp coral is due for fraggin' next month. Would like to swap with someone for an acropora frag because my wait for LFS to bring them in seems futile. If there are no takers, I will just use my frag in my Nano.

Hahaha Call it the sixth sense...but right after I posted, I could literally feel this question coming. It was only a question of time. 1. I prefer maxima cos when its happy, its mantle can spread out wider than a crocea thereby spreading its colours further. 2. They are slightly bigger but yet not too big (squamosa). 3. They are not so common. ...But ultimately I guess it just boils down to personal preference.

Alright, so purple anthias is not the way to go. What about putting a group of Sunburst anthias. They look of sweet pink. Are they alright? Do they eat frozen mysis or brine shrimp readily.

Hi Morgan, Yup, that is positive. I still remember the Green Maxima I got was the only one in 15 croceas there and the Blue one was 2 in 10 blue Croceas and the Brown Maxima was by luck. It happened to be the one and only there and I just closed my eyes and bought it because its occurence is quite rare. Heres a pic of my brown one.

TTBoy, Thks for the compliment. That large green thing is a green lobophyllia sp. mv3i Maximas are quite rare esp. the Blue and Green variants. The Brown ones tend to be relatively more common. If you are lucky, one or two maximas may come together with a group of croceas at any LFS that sells clams. You gotta know how to identify them and zoom in on it. Some LFS knows which is which and you end up paying something like $10-$15 more than the croceas I dunno why? Maybe the size does matter. Admittedly, maximas do look a bit bigger than croceas so if you look at it that way, then the price might be justifiable. My Blue & Green Maxima ($50 each) and my Blue Crocea ($30) and all been around for more than 2 years. Liverock Some books say that croceas are more demanding than maximas but basically I don't notice a difference. I treat croceas and maximas in the same way. Strong lighting and cool temperature (24-26 degree Celcius) with additions of kalkwasser. I do not think 30 degrees is sustainable. It will bleach out or shrivel up in time, if not immediate. My friend's didn't last more than a year at 29 degrees (that's subjective though). I don't know what's the max temp to keep crocea and I wouldn't want to hazard a try on mine but I personally feel that if I cannot give them a temperature range of 24-26, I'll refrain from buying them altogether.

Here is the same finger taken on 14/11/2002 in the same tank, approx 5 1/2 months later. The top piece have been fragged with 50% of it pulled out together with the button polyps that have become fused to it. The bottom piece is still as it is. Its almost 4 times the size it used to be and there are so much more branches now that it is starting to block out light to those corals beneath it. So be prepared.

Hi Clowntrigger, Happened to come across some old pics while doing my archiving and thought of just sharing with you how prolific a grower the finger coral can be. Here is a pic taken on 29/5/2002 in my 12 gal Nano. The 2 pieces were removed from my main tank in March cos it was being savagely bitten by my Bicolor cherub for more than 6 months. Lost almost 70% of its polyps. In this pic (3 months after removal from main tank), it has fully recovered and the polyps have all grown back and fully expanded.

Thanks for the input, guys.

Nothing to worry. Only a temporary setback. This happens all the time in this industry. Someone gets fined and the others lay low for some time before coming out again and this process repeats itself again at intervals. Its a cycle all too familiar.

Red slime = Cyanobacteria - caused by nutrients in water - very prolific and can form thick mats in just a few hours Tanzy addressed this issue on Oct 27 Starfish Hope this helps answer all your questions.

Yup, you can find them in SG and yes they command premium price. <_< Here's a pic of mine in blue and green. Easily recognisable by the hyalin organ peppering the edge of the mantle and are somewhat bigger than croceas. The blue one on the far right is a crocea. Sorry, image a bit blurred..Surface turbulence...

Hi all, I have just removed my bicolour cherub & Flame angel from my reef tank and would like to put in a bunch of anthias. Saw the above at Hong Leong. Anyone has the experience with these anthias. Are they easy to sustain and, more importantly, do they feed readily on frozen mysis & brine shrimp?

How long did you toured Morocco? Boy, the harsh desert conditions are not cam safe eh? Can't imagine if you had brought both your d.cams there...you'll be squirming in tears now. You mean I have to like bring a sacrificial cam for every desert visit. Kinda expensive, don't ya think so. But your Nikon (although an antique) did churn out some great pics. Its a pity to junk it. Why don't you have it serviced instead for your next trip to Morocco...and perhaps spare your d.cams the agony? On the the other hand, I think its gonna be costly if you have to replace your scratched lens though and being an antique, they may not have the parts avail. by now. Oh well... 4WD in the desert must be some experience but sure does sound lonely and eerie. I bet when you returned that truck of a car, the air filter must be choked full of sand and dust! The air/fuel combustion ratio must be way off tune. And was the aircon blowing fresh cool sand into the car for your breathing pleasure?

Hahaha You'll get used to it in time. That's a great d.cam actually. AT has a G2 too with Ikelite underwater housing. Cool Was thinking of getting the housing for mine so that I can dip my cam into my tank and take macro shots like never before but then the idea was shelved later as I plan on upgrading to a Nikon 5700 come early 2003 if Canon does not come up with a 5 MP cam in the light of G4 by then.

Hi hawkfish, Is there some red slime coating one of your coral or sponge (can't make out). If it is, I suggest you take it out ASAP. If it gets a foothold in your tank, it may become a perpetual problem and can be quite difficult to eradicate. Always better to be safe esp. where big tanks with big volumes are concerned. Nevertheless, an impressive tank. Good effort!

I don't know much about whether shellfish can help remove the metals you mentioned. Maybe someone here with the knowledge can help. But why don't you use Polyfilters or even Cuprisorb (Seachem) to help take out metals in your tank instead of putting up with what you call ugly cockles or taking chances that they might leech back some of the metal ions in them. JMO

Hi Loonz, I normally hover around 1/40th of a sec. with a f stop of 2. That's the safest without serious blurring. If I am feeling confident, I may use shutter speed of 1/25h of a sec with a f stop of 4 just to be able to get a clearer depth of field but with some support like a tripod or leaning against something. And you?...You using digital cam?

Nice cars...but with a reef hobby these cars are nothing but a dream. Sigh... heh AT, you have some kinda charm here. How did you manage to get those girls pose for you ever so willingly. Don't tell me you used the same method you did to those crustaceans in your refugium.

Saw some of your pics of Morocco and must say their quite interesting. Especially liked those birds eye view landscapes. Too bad its quite hazy. Would have been better if it was a clear day. The land is expansive indeed and the whole place seems to look very...well...sandy. Most waterfalls can be found amidst lush greenery but the one you took was like sitting in the middle of a desert with sand and clay. Quite a unique change of perspective. Looks like an oasis to me. I wonder what would have happened if you had reduced the aperture to the smallest and compensate for the reduction in exposure by slowing the shutter as slow as you can possibly go without over exposing. You might just get a cotton wool effect of the cascading water. In fact, you almost had it in Cascades D'Ouzoud but the effect could have been exaggerated even more. It could have looked naturally unnatural...cool, I think. Also like that silhoutte shot of Rampart tower. Tricky one. 11 rolls? What film camera were you using for those shots? SLR or compact? Yeah, I love taking slides too. The noise level is very low and the colours are amazingly rich esp. the ISO 50s slide film but need to shoot in bright lighting conditions for best results and can be quite restrictive on your shutter speed the moment the weather starts getting cloudy. I was caught a few times in this situation and instead of wasting the precious slide film on dull overcast scenes, I have another standby cam loaded with normal film or higher speed slides for muti purpose shots. From the looks of your pic, it seems like you are using Fuji slide films. The blues are very pronounced in most of your pics. BTW, any reasons why did you pick Morocco of all destinations?

Definitely photosynthetic. Should be a Sinularia sp. Very undemanding. Will thrive in medium & strong light. I have one in mid tank under MH and it seems more colourful (green fluorescence) than its daughter at the far side taking indirect MH light. However, do give the coral some height as it grows upwards more than it does sideways. Once it senses it has reached the surface, it might start growing sideways. Very prolific grower and after a couple of months, you might yourself having to prune its branches regularly so that it does not "umbrella" those corals lower in placement and deprive them of precious light.

There are some at Hong Leong. Mostly green ones.