LPS - Coral ID - Hitch Hiker

[fuzed]

Got this growing out of my live rock, have a few of these fella's now, really nice little coral and loves to be fed meaty foods.... the feeding reaction is very quick, it will put the food in its mouth within 30seconds to a minute!!! :)

anyway anyone have an idea on genus? id or anything more about it?!

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2011Q4/IMAG0415.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploader/2011Q4/IMAG0416.jpg

[Hormigaquatica]

Fungia. One of the more common LPS hitchhikers, but always a nice find.

[scapes]

Yes, fungia

[Triple One]

anyway anyone have an idea on genus? id or anything more about it?!


definitely family Fungiidae, almost certainly genus Fungia, and healthy-looking little guys too. they like to be on the sand because they can slowly relocate themselves by expanding and contracting edges of their polyp, like a seesaw, and being on rock can tear their polyp, so if you notice it getting hung up on its journey sandward, feel free to gently help it past the obstacle. you're right about the meaty foods too. according to anthony calfo they can only get about 80% of their required energy from photosynthesis. they also thrive with a little extra available Mg2+, and they can be sensitive to high carbonate hardness (try to keep it around 10 dKH), but it looks like they're doing very well so i wouldn't do anything too drastic because your water is probably just fine. you'll notice a big difference in their color and texture with a little magnesium, but too much can kill some hermit crabs and shrimp so don't go overboard.

what a lucky find! fungia are sweet!

[sqwat]

lucky to have that as a hitchhiker.all i get id bad nudis or aptasia.

[seapug]

While it does resemble a fungia in the photos, I'm not so sure that is one, especially if there's a few of them "popping up" from the rocks. Does it actually have a hard skeleton? Did you place that one on that spot where you photographed it or is that where it initially appeared?

[mkengr45]

sure looks like fungia to me.

[Triple One]

While it does resemble a fungia in the photos, I'm not so sure that is one, especially if there's a few of them "popping up" from the rocks. Does it actually have a hard skeleton? Did you place that one on that spot where you photographed it or is that where it initially appeared?

what else do you think it could be? blastomussas maybe? the tentacles just seem too prominent and the ridges on the disc too pronounced for any blastos I've seen...
Fungiidae can reproduce asexually but they can also broadcast spawn, so it's not impossible for pelagic planulae to settle in an unknown crevice of rock... whether or not it would be able to survive without light I don't know, but maybe these were stuck to the surface?

sure looks like fungia to me.

me too! but i'm not discounting your thoughts SeaPug... what do you think it would be if not a Fungiid?

[seapug]

The reason I'm suspicious is while it is true that Fungiids can develop "babies" from a damaged colony skeleton, they develop as a small "attachment" to the mother coral skeleton. If there are no other Fungiids in the tank and these things are appearing all over the tank apparently from nowhere delicately perched on the tops of rocks that aren't Fungiid skeletons, it's not likely they are Fungiids. Though they can move around the substrate to a degree, they don't climb rocks and perch at the top like hermit crabs as they appear to be doing in your photos.

The first thing to do is check to see if they have a hard skeleton. If they do then they definitely are some sort of fungiid or other stony coral hitchhiker.

If they are completely soft and contract back into the rock when poked, they definitely aren't Fungiids, most likely some sort of Majano/Aptaisia pest anemone.

[Sheol]

Doesn't look like Ap. to me, but that sure doesn't rule out other sorts of anemone pests!

Matt

[Triple One]

The reason I'm suspicious is while it is true that Fungiids can develop "babies" from a damaged colony skeleton, they develop as a small "attachment" to the mother coral skeleton. If there are no other Fungiids in the tank and these things are appearing all over the tank apparently from nowhere delicately perched on the tops of rocks that aren't Fungiid skeletons, it's not likely they are Fungiids. Though they can move around the substrate to a degree, they don't climb rocks and perch at the top like hermit crabs as they appear to be doing in your photos.

The first thing to do is check to see if they have a hard skeleton. If they do then they definitely are some sort of fungiid or other stony coral hitchhiker.

If they are completely soft and contract back into the rock when poked, they definitely aren't Fungiids, most likely some sort of Majano/Aptaisia pest anemone.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcc.hawaii.edu%2Ffacstaff%2Fmiliefsky-m%2FBIO%2520200%2FBIO%2520200%2520PPT%2F011-Reproduction.ppt&ei=p3SzTvevH4qyiQLas5k-&usg=AFQjCNEkIJExz3kN66BVnFMbdzfXpGbteA

this is an old powerpoint presentation from a college in hawaii. there are a lot of good slides in it that talk about fungia and their ability to broadcast spawn, as well as split or regenerate from "dead" skeletons.

depending on how old the rock is and where it's from (could even have happened in an LFS or e-tailer tank), there could be fungia babies that settled on/in the rock during a pelagic stage, migrating towards light as they grew until eventually they "popped" out of the rock (i'd be psyched!)... but you're right, if they're all flesh and no bone, i'm stuffing my foot into my ingate siphon...

are these coming out of the same rock fuzed? ...and if not, were the blooming rocks from the same source?

[seapug]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wcc.hawaii.edu%2Ffacstaff%2Fmiliefsky-m%2FBIO%2520200%2FBIO%2520200%2520PPT%2F011-Reproduction.ppt&ei=p3SzTvevH4qyiQLas5k-&usg=AFQjCNEkIJExz3kN66BVnFMbdzfXpGbteA

this is an old powerpoint presentation from a college in hawaii. there are a lot of good slides in it that talk about fungia and their ability to broadcast spawn, as well as split or regenerate from "dead" skeletons.

depending on how old the rock is and where it's from (could even have happened in an LFS or e-tailer tank), there could be fungia babies that settled on/in the rock during a pelagic stage, migrating towards light as they grew until eventually they "popped" out of the rock (i'd be psyched!)... but you're right, if they're all flesh and no bone, i'm stuffing my foot into my ingate siphon...

are these coming out of the same rock fuzed? ...and if not, were the blooming rocks from the same source?

All very true, I'm not saying it's impossible, but the way the OP describes the way they are appearing from nowhere in his tank is kinda odd. Either way, I'm quite interested in knowing. All depends on the the answer to the "skeleton" question....

[fuzed]

sorry guys... they came in on other corals - the two shown came in on two different zoa rocks... they do have a skeleton. I actually bought a £5 frag of zoas the other day with another one of these guys in it.

I don't think they've reproduced in my tank, but may have done some how... I think they just came in with rocks/corals I'd purchased... They are quite cool and they look very healthy... and are growing very very very quickly... :)

[seapug]

Cool....then there's a good chance they are some kind of fungiid. Have you tried popping them free from their basal attachment and placing them on the sand bed? Will be very cool to see what they grow into, so please keep us updated!

[Triple One]

sorry guys... they came in on other corals - the two shown came in on two different zoa rocks... they do have a skeleton. I actually bought a £5 frag of zoas the other day with another one of these guys in it.

...sounds like you guys just get better stowaways in the UK ;)

if these little fungiids are growing, that speaks pretty highly of your tank's water quality. nice work fuzed! i think seapug is right, though: you should place them on the sand before they tear themselves.

the more we can support the propagation/distribution of aquacultured marine animals, the better. more and more fungia spp. (as well as plenty of acroporas and other corals) are being listed as "threatened" or "endangered" and it is always exciting to feel like perhaps we could use our hobby to positively impact such things (rather than feel like the hobby is the cause of them). those of us who keep corals like these have an obligation to seek and keep them responsibly, and even if it costs a little more, supporting dealers who aquaculture is the better choice, in my opinion. plus, aquacultured corals do better than wild-harvested ones in home aquariums anyway!

so congratulations fuzed! you're accidentally environmentally-friendly (probably)!

here's to reefing responsibly! :beer:

[endlessblue]

Fungia for sure. That's great tho awesome story coral. Man ur lucky

[sqwat]

i wish i got cool hitch hikers like that the best i ever got was some poop brown porites.

[scapes]

i wish i got cool hitch hikers like that the best i ever got was some poop brown porites.

That's better than all the aptasias and flatworms I've gotten

[sqwat]

lol

[fuzed]

thanks all, pretty pleased with these guys... the larger of the two seems to be moving... so I may try and remove it from the rock, but I don't want to damage it...

thanks for the help everyone, this is all happening in a small 24G nano! :) shall get some pics up of the tank once I get a moment! :)

[sbtdark]

Yes, fungia