Type Of Montipora, I have NO IDEA!

[Danley]

Hello,

I bought this from a LFS a while back, and the guy told me it was Montipora. Heres the deal, this guy in short sold me crap to make deals and I noticed that after a while and well now he gets no buisness. Im not sure if this guy was right or not, but he said this is montipora. There are a few pictures below. I did a bit o research and it says montipora is sometimes velvety and also extends polyps. I have never seen this extend polyps, and it is very rigid, and i think it has a mouth or something up top. When i turn it upside down it has an opening and very rarely i see a bit of "Coral Poo" come out. Im not even sure if this thing is alive? It seems to be growing, maybe very slowly though, and has not lost a bit of color at ALL. I think its a type of SPS coral. Anyways if someone could ID this, I really need to do my research on it, and would like to see what it will grow into, and if it will spread like I was hoping it would. Thanks. Also, if someone could ID this little crab, i just noticed him on the coral today, its kind of a bad picture, but hes tiny, just making sure he is reef safe. Thanks for all your help guys! Sorry for the GIANT pictures, i thought it would help you oldies out their =P Also, why does it have that weird looking top? Is that normal?

http://filebeam.com/b2079067569973e419942965478f9989.jpg
http://filebeam.com/d6d5c4ff0bb5a575b08e0f1e73c8dab0.jpg
http://filebeam.com/a9df26a63d79e779a0f93f823f8c6057.jpg

[chris88]

Montipora confusa google it

[tompetty]

to me it looks like a red monti cap. a healthy one at that. if the edges are a little white its growing. if you look close between all the ridges you may notice tiny polyps. the sps forums could help you gain some more info about them. as far as the little crab, the picture is blurry as hell but if i had to take a shot i would guess a porcelain crab. i used to have one in my tank, his name was maynard. does it have tiny feather-like arms used for fanning food into its mouth?

[acrodave]

i would say its a red/orange cap

[Danley]

Hmm, do all montipora species have polyps?

[Danley]

Okay Awesome, so its healthy, it does have white edges, so its growing =) The ID on the crab seems to be right, and its a cap montipora, Thank you!

[Danley]

Okay actually now looking a better pictures its not a porcalen crab. It has furry legs and it seems to have bits of orange near it eyes. Its claws are not hairs and it hides when i turn on the lights and comes out on my montipora at night

[iamwhatiam52]

The coral is a beautiful and healthy Monti cap.

Why do you say the LFS sold you crap?

Mine looked like that 3 years ago and this is the picture of what it looks like now.



Don't make the mistake I did of placing it too high up.

[Danley]

Well I said the LFS is crap because the gentlemen sold me (may I remind you I was just starting and he knew that my tank was only a WEEK old) a bleached anemone. I then asked him if he wouldn't mind swapping it out for a different one and he said no. I had taken pictures of it when it was still in histank and I even showed him so he knew I didn't bleach it out. It was actually a tad better when I donated it to a different LFS an hour down south. That to be honest posse me off! He should have never sold me ANY corals within the first week without at least telling me most people wait months before adding anemones. An he should have never sold me a bleached anemone. Then the second thing that ****ed me off was him selling me a carnation coral of which he said was a very easy coral. I looked online and it said it takes an expert, heavy feeding, and even then they normally don't survive longer than a year in captivity. It was partly my fault for not doing my research but still Gould have neve sold me the things. He should have given me the advice not the crap oh just get it so he could get sales. There were nights I would walk in and spend $700 now he gets no buisness from me. Giving someoe a load of crap just doesn't pay because if he would have taken some time to explain things he would have made a ton of money from me because I would still be using him to purchase my corals. Anyway lessons are learned and people move forward. I give him another shot in a year or so. Hehe that's my rant to all you noobs =) just do your research. I know it's hard to not buy a beautiful coral the second you see it but get the name of it and maybe even take a picture ask on RC if it looks healthy and the requirements and go from their. I think people look at me (being 16 years old) and say oh this kid doesn't know anything but in reality I know quite a bit, still much to learn though. Listen don't ever doubt people, especially younger people. We have all heard the stories about a 13 year old in college. Some adults can't even finish high school. Anyways I'm getting way of topic but that's my experience, maybe someone can lean from this thread