coral of the week { montipora capricornis }

[shred5]

week #14 coral of the week { montipora capricornis }. This coral is pictured on page 80 of the book the Corals of the world by Jen Veron.

I just want to say alot of what will be posted here probably wont be m. capricornis. It might be m. confusa, m. aequituberculata, m. florida, m. delicatula or m. foliosa plus a few others that are not even motipora. They all look pretty close and are usually sold under the m. capricornis name. That is what this thread is for. May be we can find out for sure what you have. We can also use the ones that are close to help us identify the main coral. So if you are not sure what you have post it and let us help you out. If I did a coral of the week on any of the ones I just listed no one would probably post so here is were to put them anyway.

Every week I will post a new coral and I want you to post everything you know about this particular coral. Everything from common names, how hardy they are, water temp, water flow, lighting, water parameters, fraging, spawning, related corals, scientific names, feeding, best ways to ship, etc. Post your pictures for identification. Please tell us about your system so others can duplicate your success. Also email me for request on which corals you would like to see in this section.

Dave

[Clyde]

ok cool, I know I HAVE a m. cap I ll be taking a pict of it later this evening and follow up this is to pull it to top

[SueT]

I think Veron's books have kind of bewildered some of us as to species of the montipora capricornis type. Me at least...
I have a green with purple rim cap. or what I thought was a capricornis. This coral came from Brian @ Atlantis Aquatics. I'd love to see what everybody thinks. I also got some nice frags, yesterday, from Todd Hillman. Of these, 1 is a montipora tuberculosa-solid purple with purple polyps, a montipora crassituberculata green with a purple leading edge. I have an orange montipora capricornis, pictured on my website. I don't know how to post pics from my website to the BB's so to see them you'll need to go to my website and the page on my local reef clubs site.

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

[jimhobbs]

[Aquaman]

Ok I'll bite! I have Vernons new books but have not yet ID this baby.

[grafxguy]

Aquaman, that is a awesome collection of corals siting there. Where did you get it and how long have you had it? I just can't get over the color. It must really look good under water. eric

[Aquaman]

hehe, Thought I'd better reply to that one. I purchased the purple rim August last year from Robin Smith in Miami Florida for a whopping $400. The acro's were fragged from the rock and the brown cap was not purchased. The acro's are comming back and the purple rim has completed the top layer and is working on the next.

I keep this cap under 3 175watt MH, two 5' VHO atinic blue and one 5' VHO white. I did try a 10K blueline bulb for a while and found that my cap lost its purple rim under the bluer lighting. They also use up alot of calcium!

The bad part about M. Capricornis are they grow FAST! this monster takes up alot of real estate in my tank. It is about 15" or more in diameter.

PS: Robin told me that the Purple Rim grew out from a frag within a two year period.


PSS: check out one of my buddies tanks! He has a about 6 caps growing in his tank. http://www.geocities.com/viggman/


[Edited by Aquaman on 02-28-2001 at 11:22 PM]

[smokinreefer]

holy sheeeeooooooot!!! that is awesome aquaman!
let's see more pics...and how about some specs like lighting current etc. i really like these corals and i want to keep them in optimum conditions.
thanks guys!

[SueT]

Jim, Yes, that's it right after I got it. In the bit of time I've had it, it has already added another layer. It doesn't like the brightest in my 250w 65k iwasaki's, so I leave it off to the side and it's a perfect cup shape. Traded with one of our MARSH club members for it.

Jim, Thanks for doing what I feel like it's impossible for me to do. Also, can you post the green with purple rim from the marshreef site??

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

[Aquaman]

Sue Is this the green with purple rim your talking about?

If so what do I gotta do to get a frag of that pretty little baby????

[SueT]

Aquaman, Thanks, everyone is so computer efficient. Me, I do good to get to the BB's. But, I'm much better with the reef tanks. Thanks for getting that pic up for me. Now as to how to get a frag, maybe we could trade.

check out my 120 sps tank:
http://suetruett.homestead.com/home.html
http://www.marshreef.org/members

[dougc]

I have had a frag of Brian's capricornus since mid-January and am amazed at how fast it grows. I did not realize how much until I looked a picture I had taken when I first put it in the tank. It has since doubled in size. The good news is that if it gets too big, they are easy to frag. They break like potato chips. Keeping the growth rate in mind, I have avoided putting other corals too close to it.

[shred5]

Aquaman
Very nice. That is the color I want. Caps are hard to find here esp. frags. Caps and the purple monster are the only frags left that I must have for my tank. Any one else have any caps, there has to be more than this.



Dave

[Skipper]

Aquaman's friend, Frank, most certainly has some fine ones as seen here:

[SueT]

Hopefully I now have the reciepe for posting pics. Here are a couple more I have.
This is a purple-pink capricornis with blue polyps that I have had and is growing into a really nice shape.
http://www.marshreef.org/members/sue...s/DSCN0789.jpg

This is a cap. of some sort that is just now starting to do something.
http://www.marshreef.org/members/sue...s/DSCN0809.jpg

This is a frag from Greg Hiller that was much more green when I got it but it is growing like crazy. Polyp detail is wild.
http://www.marshreef.org/members/sue...s/DSCN0792.jpg

[Clyde]

sue, none of picts worked

anyway here is my m. cap

yeah yeah I gott clean the glass

but it was a quick pict witht he canon gl-1 trying to learn how to use it.