Euphyllia spp.

[BrianO]

Hi All

Well

Week No.3 of this thread.

As Usual, lets see loads of replies, OR ELSE !!! :devil:



******** Coral Of The Week *******

Week.No.3: " Euphyllia spp."

Common Name: " Torch Coral, Hammer Coral,
Anchor Coral, Frogspawn Coral,
Branch Coral ".


Featured In: " The Reef Aq." Delbeek & Sprung.
Pages 403 - 408.

" Corals A Quick Ref.Guide " Sprung.
Pages 61 - 68.


Please post any information/knowledge you have in relation to the upkeep of this coral.

Such as conditions favoured ie:

Temperature, Water Chemistry, Flow Rates,Lighting Positioning, etc.

Also other comments relating to :

Agressiveness, Hardiness, Colour Morphs, Reproductive Methods, Feeding Of, Fragging Of, Diseases Susceptible To And Treatment Of, Sucessfull Shipping & Transportation Methods, Scientific References, Related Corals, Pictures of for I.D. Purposes, and any other relevant information.

Here are a couple of spp. I have in my tank.

E.Glabrescens

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/023/Ev/2E/oL/yt97413.jpg
(This coral was devastated by an attack of " Brown Jelly Disease ", I managed to frag and save one branch, as pictured).


and E.Ancora.

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/025/ou/Kv/zX/0755132.jpg


Cheers



:biggrin:Brian:eek:


**PS** For any that missed previous installments of **COTW**:lol:.

Click on the addresses below


Week 1.

http://www.ultimatereef.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=1&topic=232


Week 2.

http://www.ultimatereef.com/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=1&topic=182

[Cam]

Don't know much about Euphyllia spp. but I like the look of the maze coral in the top pic:biggrin:

[Doh]

Okay first some pics.. (more to come)

http://www.ultimatereef.co.uk/images/Doh/hammer1.jpg

http://www.ultimatereef.co.uk/images/Doh/hammer2.jpg

Right i've Euphyllia spp pretty easy to keep, i kept my first hammer under 3 NO's for a number of months. *I've never noticed any diffences with changes in temperature or Ca and alk. *Current does seem to make a difference though, they all tend to open out more in medium to good flow, not to say they looked bad being a areas for almost non-existent flow;)

i never feed any of my Euphyllia directly, i'f tryed multiple times with different foods but never actually seen them eat anything:( *Something worth saying is with my original hammer i get VERY slow growth rates - if at all! maybe this is related to feeding, but in the year i've had it i can't say its grown more than 10%http://www.ultimatereef.net/ibv3/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

with regard to agressiveness they regularly send out sweepers:eek: i've kept a close eye on this and kept everyone out of harms way so i haven't had any *problems:biggrin:

hmm.. colur morphs i have 3 different hammers in my tank and all 3 have different colouration, probably best discribed with a pic;)

[huskydog]

Hello

I find that they are relatively easy to keep.Mine have done better under halides than NO.Had a torch under NO for about 6 months and looked like it was wasting away,changed to halides and it came back strong.I do feed my hammer now and again.
IME i think they prefer medium flow and close up with high flow.
They are very aggressive and send out long sweeper tentacles that attach to neighbouring corals stinging them.My caulastrea has receeded lately and i found out the hammer is stinging it at night just after lights off.
I have propagated my branching hammer twice by partly cutting through one of the branches with a small hacksaw and then breaking it of,they tend to grow slow in my setup.

Martin

[BrianO]

Good replies Guy's

Cmonnn lets see more !!


Lisa what about some info/pic of that lovely
(small:biggrin:) Euphyllia that you have, plus the rest of you.

We are hoping to archive these threads for future reference, so lets see those replies:shocked:



Cheers


Brian.:biggrin:

[Lisa Page]

Hi all,

Okay Brian, I have been prodded. I was getting round to replying honest :biggrin:

Right, I have a somewhat small Frogspawn coral, Euphyllia divisa :smile:

I acquired it in '96 at which time it consisted of 3 small heads. I lost one of the heads a while after this due to it being shaded out by the other 2. It presently consists of approximately 33 heads (I say approximately as the heads keep splitting on a regular basis).

When introduced the coral was positioned towards the bottom of the tank in a moderate flow (eg. the current just lifts and plays with the tentacles). Over time it has grown not just outwards but upwards so the crown now sits in the upper third of the tank. Fortunately it has avoided coming into contact with most of the other residents in the tank (more luck than judgement on my part).

It has quite a potent sting to it not just to other corals but also to one's skin. My other half got quite a rash when positioning a new frag for me the other day (he has longer longer arms than me, better for the job, that's my excuse anyway) and brushed up against the tentacles briefly. I tried placing a small Trumpet coral, Caulastrea sp., next to the frogspawn relatively recently thinking I had allowed ample room between the two corals. This proved to be not the case and I had to move the Trumpet to another position. It was on the verge of losing a couple of heads from the sting of the frogspawn. The other coral loser in the battle for space has been my Cauliflower coral, it is prevented from growing onto any rock that the tentacles from the frogspawn can reach.

When first added the coral was a very pale cream colour, almost white. Over the years though it has changed to a rather becoming golden brown with hints of pink. I assume the colour change is due to the increased levels of zooxanthellae.

In January this year I upgraded my lighting system from 175W MH to 250W MH. Even with careful acclimatisation most of my corals took quite a while to adapt. The frogspawn is perhaps the only coral that hasn't really come to terms with the change. It still doesn't expand as much as it did before. In a way I don't really mind this as it's really a tad too large now.

This coral is relatively easy to propagate (I am trying to do so at the moment). Small branches grow out from the bases of the heads (the point at which the flesh meets exposed skeleton). These branches do not fair well on the mother coral but can be quite easily snapped off to form independent 'babies' The problem I have found is that the branches need to be secured to something or they get lost in amongst the rockwork.

Another method of propagation that requires absolutely no effort on my part whatsoever is the formation of septa unattached to the main coral. As these septa grow they become heavy and slowly separate from the main coral. Sometimes they just take a bit of flesh with them which comes to nothing but other times complete small polyps separate. All it requires then is to attach the polyp to a rock and off it goes.

So to close, IME this coral is easy to keep and can form a nice centre piece to any reef tank! It's potential size has to be taken into consideration as it is not really suitable for smaller tanks unless you are willing to split it regularly.

Here's a close up of the 'monster' :biggrin:

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/011/AW/kc/HE/5k42358.jpg

And the whole thing (you've already seen this in a previous thread)

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/024/Mf/XB/hX/xi82983.jpg

Regards

[simon garratt]

Exellent write up Lisa....

Ive recently taken pitty on two Euphyllia Glabrescens (Torch Coral) these specimins I found lurking at the back of the dealers tank, presumably from old stock as they were looking VERY worse for wear, the flesh had completely resceded up from around the edges of the crowns and the colouration was was a dirty milk colour. under normal circumstances I wouldent have touched them with a barge poll in this condition, but as they were going cheap i thought 'What the ####' better to try than to leave to suffer.

Well after placing in a moderate flow (as Lisa describes, just wafting the tentacles) and placing in good but not 'too direct' ie mid level under 5xtubes. Two weeks later, they have both repaired there tissue loss (ie new tissue overlapping the crown) and are colouring up nicely to a mid brown with pale tips.

So although only a short term aquaintance of mine so far. I am suitably immpresssed with this coral and its ability to not only survive very poor conditions (NO EXCUSE) but too come back strong and regenerate in a very short period of time.

Although I have taken Photo's when I first aquired them, I will post these at a later date when they are fully recoverd with fresh photo's I will also include any helpfull tips I find along the way including water perameters..

In ref to E.Divisa and E.Ancora it is interesting to note that these two species can be kept successfully side by side without any problems, even with there tentacles intertwined....... I understand though that these are the only two in this family that can do this.


Cheers.....Si

[simon garratt]

Ok Folks, here we go at some photo's, (still getting the hang of it an all that)

But here as promised are a couple of shots demonstrating the regenerative powers of Euphyllia's.


This one was taken a few days after arrival at home. you can clearly see the lack of colour and general lack of tissue at thr crowns.

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/024/VY/hQ/fW/Dt94986.jpg


And here we go 10 days later. look at that sucker grow. (stung like ####, when I brushed me arm past it the other day.


http://wsphotofews.excite.com/024/VY/hQ/fW/CI32513.jpg




More to follow soon.



cheers......

Si

[BrianO]

Hi All

Excellent replies.

Lisa,

That is one big Momma !!!!:biggrin:
Obviously a seriously well cared for Coral.

Simon.
Fantastic regeneration, looks like a nice coral.


Pete:
Your Euphyllia Ancora, Looks really healthy.


Cmon there must be more of you out there keeping Euphyllia spp. , lets hear about them !!:shocked:



Cheers


Brian.:biggrin:

(Edited by IrishReefer at 12:17 pm on June 30, 2001)

[simon garratt]

Cheers Brian.....Ill do some more photies when its got its full colouration etc back, along with water perameters...




Si...

[dragon]

Not much I can add to the already excellent write ups so instead a couple of pics:
Euphyllia paradivisa

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/023/F4/Cd/96/qL11998.jpg

Eupyhllia glabrescens
This never comes out very much since my angel ate all the heads bar one.

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/011/od/pP/E4/nC34118.jpg

Ed.

(Edited by dragon at 7:32 pm on July 2, 2001)

[wackdownes]

Hi Brian,

Nice picture, in fact all the pictures on this thread look good, congratulations!

Pity I have no camera as my Eupuhilla is 8 - 10" round in circumference, beautiful greenish hammer head tips, I feed it once a week under good flow. I pinch my sweepers off which does not hurt me or the coral, I add iodine, strontium and molybdenum also once a week which I find has all my corals (Blue's Green's and Red's) highly coloured. Some people don't like trace elements but my tank is accustomed to it so why stop now!


Brian: You have seen my Eupyhillia looking good eh?

Regards

Pat:lol:

[ReefAnon]

Euphyllia Ancora. Same as many here: likes low flow, good light. In upper part of my 125g, triple 150w halides; additives: kalk. Tried feeding but doesn't seem interested. About 8 months so far.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/reef/images/photos/euph1.jpg

[BrianO]

First Off

Welcome to the Board, Reefanon !:biggrin:

Beautifull looking specimen !!!!


Cheers

Brian.