Turbinaria spp.

[simon garratt]

Hi Folks.

Just thought Id take time to resurect this old chestnut and what better way to start than with one of those lovely corals that just seems to sit in a corner of alot of tanks and often gets forgotten about, which is a shame really as most Reef tank owners have had/got one of these lovely corals at some stage or other.

So here goes.

Genera: Turbinaria

Species: Include around 10 true and around 80 variants although the following are most commonly kept in aquaria. T. peltata / T.mesenterina / T.reniformis

Distribution: Indo-Pacific/Red Sea/Marshal islands/and French Polynesia.


Growth pattern: Commonly plating or bowl shaped, but also occasionally as massive encrusting or columner colonies. Although seen rarely, a meandroid growth pattern is also whitnessed in shallow areas.

Captivity: Most colonies seem to prefer a fairly moderate flow which blows the large polyps about a bit bringing food however close attention should be played to bowl shaped colonies to avoide accumulation at the base of the bowl which will lead to tissue recession. Lighting can be from moderate to strong depending on the degree of pigmentation present in the colony at the time of introduction. Supplimental actinics seem to encorage the production of florescent green pigments which can look quite striking. Due to the relatively large polyps, quite sizable food may be offerd including mysis/brine shrimp/ or even bloodworm, although normal coral foods and the regular feeding of any fish present will usually be enough to keep most colony's happy.

Water perameters: As with any other stony corals. low levels of NO3/PO4 etc, stable temp around the 77-82 range good levels of Ca are nessessery as well.

Fragging potential: Quite easy, by cleanly cutting through the surface tissue and then breaking any part of the colony off, this can then be attached with Milliput or super glue to a relevant new location with the same perameters as the parent colony.

Some pics.:

My 5yr old plating colony

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSCF01901.jpg

The same colony first thing in the morning notice the green pigmentation.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Turbinaria%20Actinic.JPG

A closeup of the open polyps.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/Turbinaria%20160303.JPG

A different 'column' growth pattern.
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSCF00051.JPG





Ok folks.....Its your turn..........Experiances. (good or bad) recommendations, likes, dislikes spawning etc etc..........(have a look closely now, im sure youll find one somewhere in there that youve forgotten you had. :) And if you can rattle off some shots then all the better...........


Kind regards

Si. :)


'''''Fish of the month''''' to follow soon........ :D :D :D

[Lemans]

I agree Simon

I love my turbinaria - my polyp extension is massive - nearly 2" at times - people look at it and ask if it is a gonipora!

I have attached an image of mine just beginning to close up as the main lights are off - you can just see the polyp length.....and this is part closed! :D

Cheers

[Garry thomas]

I dont know why, but my turbineria never had any polyps on it?

[BrianO]

Oh Yes it did Gary :)

Was it T.Reinformis ?


Brian.

[Garry thomas]

Sorry brian i dont know what type they were. I have since sold them.

[simon garratt]

Bri......You raised an interesting point there....In that T.Reinformis and T.mesenterina both have quite small widely spaced polyps in comparison to T.peltata (ie below 5mm compared to 5-10mm in T.peltata). Ive rearly seen these two species imported but they are very attractive in a delicate kind of way compared to Peltata.....But they do tend to be a little bit more withdrawn on the polyp extention side in a lot of cases.

Kind regards

Si. :)

[Lemans]

Here's a better one of my Turbinaria

The chap on the right is my pipe fish being nosey :lol:

Cheers

[Garry thomas]

Si as said i did'nt know what sps they were, but they never had any polyps on them at all. But the animal it self was allways brightly coloured. Very strange.

[pps]

[COLOR=blue][COLOR=blue][COLOR=blue]I have 2 pieces of what I beleive is turburina the first extends to only this(1st Pic)
2nd pic is under acitinics
3rd pic is other piece which 'm not sure that it is turburina or not, more of a daisy like polyp. All seem happy and the 1st has grown remarkably since I first got it!

[pps]

Sorry have to bear with me not sure yet how to add multiple photos

[pps]

last one .....promise

[Martyn]

Hi all
My T.Reniformis has very good polyp extension however this can change over the lighting period.
I have had it for around 4 years now.
The frags grow well from it also with good polyp extension more so than the mother colony there are a few reasons for this that I won't go into here.


My T.Reniformis Pic taken by Kevin Ling today thanks mate :)
LOL typical the polyps where not out when the pic was taken opps I forgot to ask kev to take pics of the frags the polyp where out on the frags hehe typical still kev now has a frag and can get a pic of it in his system.

http://www.ultimatereef.net/forums/uploads/post-12-1053813368.jpg

Regards
Martyn.

[les]

Wooops missed this posts, a bit late but here is one of my 2 T.reniformis. A very nice strong yellow colour and quite large at around 9" long and almost 5" deep with lots of twisted shapes to it. The polyps are not quite out in this shot. Les

[Martyn]

One of my T.Reniformis frags pics taken today by Andrew Thanks mate (aka Sparky) with polyps partly out :D

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost/data/500/287Dscf0082-med.jpg

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost/data/500/287Dscf0084-med.jpg

http://www.thereeftank.com/photopost/data/500/287Dscf0013-med.jpg

Mother colony and frags are under 400w 10k only lighting no additional actinic or blue lighting hydroponic reflectors with no cover glass in front of the bulbs.
Water flows are medium.
Food is mainly live natural self substainable Prop systems own plankton.
The method of growth is interesting in how the mother colonys and frags produce polyps all around the edges at certain stages but it is so much more noticeable in frags.

Regards
Martyn

PS
Les
Very nice T.Reniformis would like a frag of it nice colour but a very strange yellow mate :D

Simon any chance of a frag from your stunning T.peltata.

[les]

Martyn,
The colour of the pic is due to the lighting at the time it was taken. lots of blue in there and you can tell, if you care to look close by the surrounding fauna.
However when peeps say yellow or red or blue etc they don't often mean it is a very pure bright yellow,blue or whatever. :rolleyes:
You can call it whatever colour you like really as long as it is approx it will do. So what colour would you like to call it then? :rolleyes: How about PINK :wacko: Les

[Martyn]

LOL Les you over reacted there mate was just funning with you.

As to the colours of corals I class the colours of my corals to how they look under the real sun and daylight wich is pretty close to the colours they are under my lighting.
My T.Reniformis is a pinkish brown with yellow polyps the same as in the pics of the frags.

Regards
Martyn

[les]

Originally posted by Martyn@May 26 2003, 17:34
LOL Les you over reacted there mate was just funning with you.

As to the colours of corals I class the colours of my corals to how they look under the real sun and daylight wich is pretty close to the colours they are under my lighting.
My T.Reniformis is a pinkish brown with yellow polyps the same as in the pics of the frags.

Regards
Martyn
Narr Martyn not me m8. Just having some fun back. ;) Hmm interesting about looking at your corals colours under similar Kelvin to the REAL sun. I thought the real sun had a kelvin around 5400k. B) OK so with depth the red end of the spectrum is quickly filtered out then orange and yellow. Most peeps I know use 6500k upwards, I think you do too. :unsure:
Regarding T. reniformis, pinkish brown. :( Looks golden yellow to me, then again I have seen different shades of this coral like most corals. Perhaps the weather down in Cambridge gives them different colour apparance then :wacko: T.reniformis is the colour yellow, I mean gold, I mean golden yellow or is it golden brown? You can call it what you like :unsure: Narr it's YELLOW. :lol: ;) Borneman describes the colour of reniforms as "Yellow". But then again what does he know? ;) Mine looks yellow to me but does it really matter? :unsure: I will bring you a frag or two when I come to see you. You never know they may just change colour to your yellow. :lol: Les

[Martyn]

Les I use 10k mate.

Slightly different situation for me as I am not setting up a show tank to just please what colours I like when I remove frags that people want they see the colour also when not under my tank lighting and they see the colour before adding into there tanks with there lighting.
so what they get is a true colour and not just the effects of actinic or 20k lighting etc and as soon as you view under daylight or place under say 6500k or 10k the colour is totaly different.
Of course my frags will go into a different verity of lighting but what I find by using 10k I have never used 6500k is that when I open the door to the garage and the sun or daylight hits the tanks when the tank lighting is not on the colours are very similar to when the lighting is on.
The other thing I notice is when a mother colony is removed from the tank and I view it under sunlight or day light the same for mounted frags I am selling they are very similar in colour to when uder the tank lighting.

Species will have different colour morphs also colors can change over the lighting period also colours and that includes most of my sps will change a few times over a period of a year.

Also the colours are very different when looking from a distance to when you get right close up or magnify.

Does it really matter what colour no so long as you like the colours you see in your corals.
It does matter when selling frags as many people are looking for certain colours.

Regards
Martyn

[les]

Originally posted by Martyn@May 26 2003, 18:35
Les I use 10k mate.

Slightly different situation for me as I am not setting up a show tank to just please what colours I like when I remove frags that people want they see the colour also when not under my tank lighting and they see the colour before adding into there tanks with there lighting.
so what they get is a true colour and not just the effects of actinic or 20k lighting etc and as soon as you view under daylight or place under say 6500k or 10k the colour is totaly different.
Of course my frags will go into a different verity of lighting but what I find by using 10k I have never used 6500k is that when I open the door to the garage and the sun or daylight hits the tanks when the tank lighting is not on the colours are very similar to when the lighting is on.
The other thing I notice is when a mother colony is removed from the tank and I view it under sunlight or day light the same for mounted frags I am selling they are very similar in colour to when uder the tank lighting.

Species will have different colour morphs also colors can change over the lighting period also colours and that includes most of my sps will change a few times over a period of a year.

Also the colours are very different when looking from a distance to when you get right close up or magnify.

Does it really matter what colour no so long as you like the colours you see in your corals.
It does matter when selling frags as many people are looking for certain colours.

Regards
Martyn
Hmmm think that was what I was saying, more or less. ;) Les. :)

[simon garratt]

Many thanks for the input guys.


Martyn. real nice frags there......How quick do they settle and start to grow out?


Les.....Im a very very jeleous man.........Absolutely beautiful....... :wub:




Regards


Si.

[kenneth_halley]

Just got a really nice one of these today at Calico- sold as a Cup coral I beleive that it is Turbinaria Reniformis. The polyps are almost like lumps and widely spaced- I already have what I beleive is a small T. peltata. Very yellow- with a scrolled cup at the back

Anyway I have had a look at Bornemans book- and some of your pics here- but am still a bit undecided-
Should I lay it out flat - polyps up like a plate- or upright with polyps sort of facing forward (this was the way it was on display in Calico.
Also whats your experience- lighting wise- under direct strong light or is it not fussy.
The book suggests plate forms come from deeper darker waters.

I for now have placed mine high up at the back upright- adds a nice bit shape to the back of the reef- but want to place it optimally for its health- I bought it actually to cover some of the lower rocks at the front but its going to be difficult to get it to stay put.... any advice?

[simon garratt]

Hi Kenny......


idealy they should be placed flat, as this is their natural growth pattern. The main things to watch out for though is a good flow across the crown ofthe coral so that it cant collect detritus/sand etc. This will kill off sections of tissue and possibly lead to infection..................he downside to placing them vertically is that they try to grow in a normal fashion (ie horozontally) from the edges, so you end up with a deformed coral..........As far as lighting goes, they will adapt to just about any intensity within reason by producing pigmentation. as long as the adjustment to high intesity is taken slowly........but they are equally as happy, at lower levels within the aquarium.

Hope this helps.



Regards

Si. :)

[gerontius]

Hi Simon.

Must say some superb photographs...keep up the good work.

Cheers

Dave

[kenneth_halley]

Just another comment aboyt my plate Turbinaria- its really doing well high up, the edges have started to change colour to an amazing flourescent yellow/ green though oddly looks like bright orange in normal light. This pic prolly does not do it justice (though it shows up my turf algae problem!)
http://www.ultimatereef.net/uploads/DSCF0001.JPG