Corallimorphs

[Donya]

My tanks have started growing small populations of corallimorphs...near as I can tell, they are this type (a "white ball corallimorph"?):

http/k41.pbase.com/v3/10/4910/1/48496906...1090x235k6b.jpg

Can't take my own pics, but they are that variety. Similar to the white Pseudocorynactis photo on page 198 of the Borneman "Aquarium Corals: Selection, Husbandry, and Natural History" book, but the bodies of mine are pink.

I am concerned about the way they can throw their tentacles out and catch brine shrimp on the fly, since they are in my pico with my yellow clown goby that is no more than 1". They can also eat pretty big pieces of shrimp meat by closing around it quickly like hairy mushrooms do. Combine the two actions and well...you can probably see why I'm worried. I have one that is nearing the size of goby...fortunately it's on the tank bottom, where they goby never goes. It recently split and produced new ones though, which are moving father up the tank.

Are corallimorphs capable of catching small fish? If so, I would like to evict them from the 5 gallon and move them to my 12 gallon...is it possible to move corallimorphs without injuring them?

 

[Mr Miagi]

I wouldnt have seen that pic and caled it a corrillamorph, but if books say so, it must be true! lol.

Id imagine they are pretty solid creatures who could take quite a bit of stress. If they are on small peaces of rubble etc Id try moving some and see how they go. Just acclimitise a good few in a bag like you would any other coral.

Thats just what Id do though, ive never seen or heard about those before.

 

[Donya]

Thanks for the reply Mr Miagi

Those sorts of corallimorphs are supposed to be pretty rare. There's supposed to be a demand for the larger ones when they show up in the trade once in a blue moon. I guess it figures that I've been "blessed" with many of them by some fluke

The main coralimorph in question is attached to a fairly sizeable piece of rock that is home to lots of other inverts, so I can't really remove the rock or break it. The large corallimorph is on a fairly flat surface and it can "walk" like an anemone, so I'll try to encourage it to let go somehow. Its offspring can stay put until it gets bigger.

 

[Donya]

Just had a though...since these guys are non-photosynthetic and pretty hardy...maybe that's what I can grow in my 1 gallon bowl

 

[Mr Miagi]

Thanks for the reply Mr Miagi

Those sorts of corallimorphs are supposed to be pretty rare. There's supposed to be a demand for the larger ones when they show up in the trade once in a blue moon. I guess it figures that I've been "blessed" with many of them by some fluke

The main coralimorph in question is attached to a fairly sizeable piece of rock that is home to lots of other inverts, so I can't really remove the rock or break it. The large corallimorph is on a fairly flat surface and it can "walk" like an anemone, so I'll try to encourage it to let go somehow. Its offspring can stay put until it gets bigger.

Just had a though...since these guys are non-photosynthetic and pretty hardy...maybe that's what I can grow in my 1 gallon bowl

Win Win! Rare, you didnt buy them, and they are reproducing! That thought sounds mighty fine to me. Have you got any pics of all these bowls and things? Id like to see more!

 

[Donya]

I still havn't gotten around to getting a new digicam (some of that cash got put towards a working cell phone) so I've been attempting to finess my old one back into working. The corallmiorphs come out looking like fuzz unfortunately, so it's hard to make sense of the awful closeup pics.


My futile attempt to geta shot of the corallimorph...

Unless I use a flashlight at weird angles, that is basically what it looks like to the naked eye (slightly more in focus of course)...just a bunch of diesmbodied white balls that wave around and snatch stuff out of the water. It's no wonder it threw me for such a loop identifying it for so long.

My 12g, which I don't think I've posted a pic of before. The corallimorphs are reproducing like bunnies in this tank:

Disclaimer: the LR really truely isn't as sparse as it looks in that pic! The tank dimensions/arrangement was to maximize floorspace for the young conches I'm raising in there. They need stomping space, so it's very shallow for a 12g. The corallimorphs are on most of the rocks.

The bowl's current state:

There's a little hermit sitting in the corner that was trying on new shells until the camera came out. The bowl is going nicely so far:. cycled, wonderfully stable, and cleanup crew being built (limestone is curing on the other side faster where the light is more direct). The weird bumpy rod thing is a feeding stick I've been using for the monster bristleworms. I've also discovered I can put seaweed on the tip and have the hermits chase it all over the tank madly...ok ok maybe that's mean but it's so dang funny I can't resist makes good distraction when I should really be doing workinstead.

Working on new 5gal pico pics...lighting is being a PITA and making the camera act up. Argness.