Will the real RPE please stand up?

[Creetin]

I have seen 2 morphs of the RPE one is like mine with the blue circle, and one doesent have the blue center circle.
Heres mine for refferance, I had both at one time, Just got this morph back. This one is more red.IMO
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/uploads/1150028730/med_gallery_30_23_92497.jpg

[greystreet41]

I'm finding that asking for the real anything to please stand up is quite difficult given the vast changes in appearance that can easily occur in different setups, particularly the lighting. I have aiptasia that resembles PPEs. ;)

[Creetin]

LOL Too funny, aiptaisia that look like ppe.
Yeah i hear ya. These are just like the ones i got from blain peruna few years ago so i would put money on these.

[msman825]

lmao: lmao If aiptasia looks like PPE's everybody would have them and the would not cost so much. post a pic of the aipPE'S

[jessiesgrrl]

Grrr stupid aiptasia... killed my yellow/red gorgonia this week I think.. :( Found a few on him the other morning, where there had been none before. I boiled some hot water and LET EM HAVE IT!!!
Mebbe the aiptasia genocide carried out in my tank woth mass graves in the trash can made your aiptasia mad, so now they are 'red hot'.. or soon should be, imo...

:lol:
Laurie

[surfnvb7]

this is a terrible representation of the actual color, as the picture is very faded. the kind i have is the one with the stripes. this is by far the redest zoa/paly i've ever seen.

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ayoung/Pictures/Aquariums/zoanthid%20inventory/RPE%20closeup.jpg

[Creetin]

Youres look to be the real deal.
Heres the ones i got from blain perun a long time ago. RIP EMP angel took them out. :(
But the definate blue dot around rhe center of the paly. 10k lighting. No actinics.
http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/uploads/1129816716/gallery_30_23_122832.jpg

[cardgenius]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7624801#post7624801 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by surfnvb7
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ayoung/Pictures/Aquariums/zoanthid%20inventory/RPE%20closeup.jpg [/B]

Wow, those are different from the RPE's Ive seen. They almost look like RPE and Armor Of God had babys.

[surfnvb7]

this is what they looked like when i added carbon and 10k lighting.... :(
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ayoung/Pictures/Aquariums/zoanthid%20inventory/red%20people%20eaters.jpg

[Creetin]

All my reds do great under 10k lighting. Nice pic surf!

[surfnvb7]

i think in that last pic they looked like absolute crap. :( faded centers, and almost transparent skirts. not the way they should look IMO. i hate anything less than hamilton 14k lighting, never again.

[Biogirl361]

how does one go about getting ppe/rpe from perun? I looked at his website and although i see other zoas and a paragraph about the ppe, I don't see where they are for sale...

[Creetin]

He was culturing them, and used to give them out with frag packs. I dunno if he does them anymore, But i suspect he still would. They come free with a 6 frag pack. Well they used to.

[copps]

All of these above pictures are the nicer morph... Here is one of my frags (old pic... now grown out more) of this same morph that is now being aquacultured...
http://xs78.xs.to/pics/06172/RPEfrag.jpg (http://xs.to)

An aquacultured piece of these has been for sale and is now ON SALE at http://www.reefermadness.us/RMD06010004.htm a bit pricy but it has quite a few polyps...

On www.zoaid.com these are referred to as OPE (Orange People Eaters) while RPEs is used for the generic dark maroon red RPE that lacks the purple oral disk and has nowhere near the color of these guys...

[surfnvb7]

i dont really agree with the OPE stance. never paid attention to that on zoaID.

the price for those on reefermadness is absolutely ridiculous, i dont care what kind of top customer service and shipping you get. waaaaaaaaay overpriced. but if some people only feel comfortable spending top dollar to get the best service, more power to them.

i got my RPE's well over a year and a half ago. and at $5/polyp, and were sold as RPE's (well before zoaID was up and running). and i thought that was rather over priced at the time.

IMO people are trying to pass off lightened up RPE's bleaching under 10k lighting as "orange people eaters" so they can profit off of the rarity of the orange enveys. "hey, look at me, i got an orange people eater!" seen several instances of this on ebay in the past.

even when my RPE's lightened up significantly, a couple of people said that in my picture they looked orange. well, regardless of the picture, and compared to other orange zoas in my tank, i can say they are still a LONG way off from being orange. and are still more of a "true red" than safecrackers and other red zoas.

so personally, my stance is there are a couple (~3) different morphs of RPE's. if its red, its an RPE. regardless of the stripes, if its dark or lighter colored, or dark color around the oral disk. red is red. and a green mouth is a green mouth. :)

[surfnvb7]

oh yeah, i think this issue is pretty pointless until someone claiming their "OPE" under 10k metal halide lighting, puts up a picture with a true "RPE" (as shown above) in the same picture, under the same tank conditions and tells me there is a difference b/w the two.

i just looked at the "OPE" on zoaid. those pics are under 10k lighting w/ PC actinics. not the most ideal lighting for zoas. the morph looks exactly the same as the morph i have, and i can vouch mine are anything but orange, even when they were under 10k lighting.

[Creetin]

My pics are under 10k lighting. I agree the orange pe are these with some color enhancement to look more orange.
Now i have some orange ones just like these with no green mouth.
I'll get a pic up, Maybe tonight or tomarrow early afternoon.

BTW the second pic i took is of plane peruns red people eaters so the drab ones are not them, and the orange pe's are these with a photoshop class.;) IMO

[surfnvb7]

yeah, yours look red to me creetin. i'm specifically referring to the pics of the OPE on zoaID.

the same can be said of GPE's. i've seen several different morphs of these. again, my GPE's have the stripes in them. but i've also seen ones that are a completely solid green. but i'm sure as history dictates...someone will come along with some 6,500k lighting and GPE's, and claim they are latest craze......YPE's (yellow people eaters). :lol:

btw...speaking of ebay. i've noticed alot of PRPE's being sold as RPE's. there is a SUBSTANTIAL difference b/w PRPE's and RPE's....

PRPE's have a purple center, and a very light red, almost pink skirt. like so.....

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/ayoung/Pictures/Aquariums/misc%20pics/comparing%20PE's.jpg

again, my digi cam is 6+ years old, so it doesn't pick up color very well, and everything looks "washed out".

from left to right (RPE's) (PRPE's w/ very dark vibrant purple center) (PRPE's from the SAME colony that were put directly under 10k lighting and lightened up considerably.)

so just to make this absolutely clear, the people eaters in the center and right, are from the same exact colony. this is what 10k lighting and carbon can do if you are not careful...

i'm 100% sure i could sell those 2 frags as something named completely different ;)

[Creetin]

Well if you ever want to trade something i would like the purple red people eaters. I had some as well, But lost them from a mean zoa eating fish. I lost a ton of zoa's in one day a few mos ago and trying to regain my old collection pieces.
A huge hungry emp angel can do some damage to zoa's.

[mtiknoles]

I picked these up from my LFS today. Not sure if they are RPE's, but I thought they were nice.

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a276/tdonson/000_0412.jpg

[surfnvb7]

TDonson,
hard to tell what yours are from that distance. most likely its the darker version of the RPE's w/out the stripes. still cool looking IMO. just give them alot of light. what are your lights? best IMO is MH.

Creetin,
i had no idea until about a month ago how *rare* the PRPE's were. now all of a sudden i've got a bunch of trades lined up which will cut my colony down by 2/3 :( just couldn't resist some of the trades people were offering. (pink elephants, purple deaths, armor of gods etc.) the only thing that will convince me to make another frag is a polyp for polyp trade of PPE's. cuz i STILL dont have those. ;)

...recently...a 6polyp frag of PRPE on ebay went for $220. :) make sense, it looks EXACTLY like the purple people eater, except with a pink/red skirt. i think they would look killer side by side.

[mtiknoles]

I have them under 250W 20K MH with vho supplementation. I have started them in the bottom of the tank and will slowly raise them towards the top. You can't tell by the photo but they have a florescent green mouth. The rock cost a whopping $30 and it probably has 90 polyps on it.

Tonya

[surfnvb7]

IMO you dont need the VHO on at the same time with the 20k's ;) it will just make stuff look look more "purple". and kill the true color of the reds (make them look maroonish).

i can see the green slit mouths. they are definitely zoanthid gigantus (i.e people eaters) ;)

i dont think they are the same RPE's as we posted above, but none the less.......they are red, and they are people eaters...thus RPE's :)

[Creetin]

No biggie i know how it is chopping up your colony, Just got the ppe back myself, and a couple new morphs i havnt seen yet. (From some friends)
(One is the orange ones i talked about earlier, They have white skirts, But who knws what it will turn into with my lighting) I'll post pics once they settle down.
The thing with the purple red ppe i have heard of alot of people saying they died real easy, or for no reason. I have never exp that, But mine were mowed down.;) I had them for a year.

[surfnvb7]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7635104#post7635104 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Creetin
No biggie i know how it is chopping up your colony, Just got the ppe back myself, and a couple new morphs i havnt seen yet. (From some friends)
(One is the orange ones i talked about earlier, They have white skirts, But who knws what it will turn into with my lighting) I'll post pics once they settle down.
The thing with the purple red ppe i have heard of alot of people saying they died real easy, or for no reason. I have never exp that, But mine were mowed down.;) I had them for a year.

thats interesting tid bit. but that just makes them more rare and desireable to get ;)

i got mine from a guy who had them under PC's in a 46bow forever. they had no color to them at all. he still has them and they have grown lots more under 10k lighting. also know someone with a frag of them in a low nutrient sps system for almost a year now. no problems there either. i think i just have a very hardy strain ;)

i'm still trying to figure out what kind of lighting will keep the purple at its brightest, and the red skirt its brightest, seems to be one or the other right now for me.

[twon8]

here are mine, same as surfnvb's
not a good picture, but it shows the growth.
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y78/twon8/Corals/rpespoorpic.jpg

[surfnvb7]

yeah, yours came from me. those are an awesome red in your tank. mine still look a little faded to this day :(

maybe I'll just call mine OPE/RPE mutants from now on to ring in the big bucks :lol:

[SuperFishy]

http://www.cvreefers.org/gallery2/d/26128-2/rpe.jpg

[Creetin]

Surf, Thats just what i heard from the people that got them. Like i said i never had a problem with them.
Just like the ppe grow very slow bull that went around when they couldnt be found. I had 2 polyps turn to 30 in 6 mos roughly.
The reds now grow slow for me now, My fist frag took me a year to get 10 polyps from 4.
However as much i love my zoa's, My micromussa, lords and sps are my true addiction. I am surprised more zoa nuts arent micro nuts.

Hey there superfishy, Is that the mother colony of the ones ya sent me?
Also what lighting did ya have yours under?

[MarvinsReef]

here's my version of RPE...

under 96w quad 50/50 PC
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/Marvins_Reef/12%20Gallon%20Office%20Nano/Zoas%20and%20Palys/06-23-06/PEGroup_1.jpg

w/ flash
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b197/Marvins_Reef/12%20Gallon%20Office%20Nano/Zoas%20and%20Palys/06-23-06/PEGroup_1Flash.jpg

Marvin

[surfnvb7]

I'd like micro's if I could find any honestly. I just got my FIRST small acan frag a couple of weeks ago. Just a small red/green one, nothing special.

By living up in the mountains (aka middle of no where near west virginia) we dont see any of the hot ticket item corals come around here, unless someone spends some big bucks to have it ordered or drives several hundred miles to the nearest saltwater store.

[gflat65]

This is by no means a glory shot showing the redness, but here is what my RPE's look like under 250W DE AB 10K's (seems like 8K) and VHO's. The VHO's don't get much penetration... You can see the redder ones near the top. These have all speckled due to the lighting. The ones facing away from the lighting are much darker in the center. I meant to check them before coming back to the computer, but the MH are off, so I can't verify to myself that the color in the pic is the same as you see with your eye. They are probably not quite as dark, but are dark none the less.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/gflat65/RPE.jpg

These are the same under VHO's (white and 03).
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/gflat65/Zoas/RPE01.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c131/gflat65/Zoas/RPE02.jpg
Same camera-same lighting for bottom two pics, no touch up... Interesting how they differ (to the camera, anyway).

[surfnvb7]

wow. yeah, its gonna be hard to tell what they truely are under 10k AB's. i honestly cant beleive you have alot of zoas with lights like that. you MUST have alot of sps in there. ;)

[gflat65]

Well, used to have alot of sps (AEFW treatments took care of that). I am restocking SPS. I will be changing to a less yellow bulb when time comes to replace these. I was running (2) 175W on the ends of a 125 and the 250W DE AB 10k's in the center and liked it (except the drastic color changes from one to the other). When I upgraded to (3) 250's, it really turned yellow... SPS color up nicely, though (look like they get some sunburn going, though). The zoas stay on the bottom for the most part...

[Creetin]

From what i read on the AEFW zoa's nudi's are a walk in the park.
Youre morph looks pretty cool! VHO's do tend to make colors pop!

[SuperFishy]

yeah, those are the same ones i sent Creetin.

[Monkey_Bone]

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/RPEcloseup.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/Dsc05045.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/Ppes.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/GPE1.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/Dsc04738.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y129/DuaneJ/Corals/Dsc04767.jpg

[Creetin]

Well i will have large 2 colonys of red ppe coming in, One i believe is the purple with red skirt ppe.
It looks like surfs dark morph., and the other is all bright red no ring. I'll post a pic when they are open.

[beansbro1]

here's mine. lighting is 150w 14k pheonix
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b196/beansbro1/DSC03988.jpg

[heuerfan]

I believe the ones that have the black/blue circle and green mouth in the center were the original RPE's when they first came out. I had a huge colony of them and made lots of frags. I unfortunately lost this colony. They seem to like SPS conditions.

http://www.manhattanreefs.com/gallery/files/1/3/3/funkyredpe.jpg

BTW, if anyone has these forsale please let me know. I sure do miss them :)

[twon8]

yeah, mine have been a foot under a 400w 20k, have gone from 3 to 10+ in six months

[reefrookie76]

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j15/reefrookie76/reefrookie04.jpg

http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j15/reefrookie76/reefrookie01.jpg

here are both of my colonys of rpe.,.,they are real deal however I have whent through a ton of imposters!!!!!