Help with this coral? (Chubby Pink)

[WBrian]

Hi,
Yesterday I get a piece of coral from a LFS as a gift. (hooray for me!)
Anyway, they tell me it was called a "Chubby pink plate coral" and was told it didn't sting. It was displayed on a piece of LR at the LFS. Well I came home and acclimated it and placed it on my LR in a place of apparent comfort.

I've been trying to find info on a "chubby pink plate coral" and have had no luck. Mostly I have found articles on plate corals; they describe stinging and needing to place the coral on the bottom of the tank.

Does it need to be on the bottom or can it stay on my LR? I have a queen conch that roams the bottom too much for this critter. Does it sting? How do I feed it? (I'm new to the coral thing.)
Thanks for any info. Here are some images I took after it "woke up" this AM...

thanks again,
Brian

 

[SnowManSnow]

Chubby Pink hahaha... Never heard of it.. What you have is a pretty LT Plate Coral. These guys need moderate illumination (Mine sits in partial shade half under an overhang under my 250WMH setup), Moderate current, and yes they do need to be on the sand bed. Here is a "general" rule of thumb. If the bottom is smooth and kinda "skinlike" like the bottom of a sand dollar or plate coral.. it needs to go on the sand bed.

As for stinging.. it won't hurt YOU, unless you have an algery of some sort to it, but if the tenticles touch other corals it could sting them (most corals sting in order to keep others from encroaching on their home turf). You can handle it with no problem.

As for feeding it... I feed my plate coral about 1x month.. just a mysis or somthing. I really don't think it is nessissary though.. it's just fun. Another GENERAL rule of thumb - The lower your lighting the more you will have to spot feed your corals. They derive a lot of nutrition from the light.. so the less light.. the more food they need (just a GENERAL rule).

I would keep an eye on your angel fish.. I'm not sure how compatible it is with coral. I'm sure someone else can chime in on this.

BTW what is your lighting / filtration setup?

 

[Anonymous]

Yep.

Heliofungia (sp?).

I run a bare bottom tank and mine does just fine on it. If you put it on the LF, it will eventually, probably sooner than later, inflate and push itself off the rock.

Watch the flame.

 

[reefland]

Did you happen to question the LFS on why they called it "Pink"?

If that does look pink to you, then I have some great blue acro you'd love... ignore the folks who claim its brown. :lol:

At least the "Chubby Pink" one you got looks very healthy. Remember to feed it regularly. I tend to keep them on the sand instead of rocks. They can inflate to clean themselves of sand that may got on them as well.

 

[fungia]

it is a fungia!!!!!!!! your polyp has very long tentacles but it is a fungia. very beautiful coral and very easy to care for too, doesnt need a lot of light and you can feed it by putting small foods on any tentacle. you dont have to feed it if you dont want to. it stings other corals but i dont think it has ever killed a snail in my tank.

 

[Anonymous]

it is a fungia (often called 'chubby plate coral' in the biz, and NOT a heliofungia -'long tentacled plate')

all corals sting-the fungia is not that aggressive-but here shouild be a distance of about 4" at least between all corals anyway

 

[WBrian]

Did you happen to question the LFS on why they called it "Pink"?

If that does look pink to you, then I have some great blue acro you'd love... ignore the folks who claim its brown. :lol:

There were several in the display tank. This one was a little lower on the reef. The gal at the shop said it was the same as the others (but wasn't too sure as they had recently come in). The others had a pinkish coloration to them and this one being more of a green was thought to be related to distance from the lighting. I thought at the time that this one seemed to be a healthier, larger looking specimen; so I chose it, thinking it would "pinken up" if placed higher in my tank. But it is a pretty green!

now about that blue acro...

On another note, would a clownfish treat this as an anemone and host in it?

Thanks,
Brian