Dendronephthya Baby

[CarmieJo]

When I was looking at my tank tonight I saw that my dendronephthya has dropped a polyp!

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f198/CarmieJo/DSC_2793.jpg

This is a coral that I got by accident. The clerk at a lfs that I thought was reputable sold me the thumb size frag as dendeophyllia. I should have came home and researched it myself but the store was some distance away and I took their word for the ID. After getting home and doing some research I thought that it would probably die in short order. The store has closed but the coral is still alive. :)

[graveyardworm]

The polyp dropping, or polyp bailout is generally a last ditch effort for survival.

How long have you had the dendronepthya? Typical survival in aquaria is up to a year. There are some reports of them lasting longer.

Dendrophyllia is a large version of a suncoral with a hefty price tag, but you probably already know this.

[CarmieJo]

I've had it about 6 months. It is a little bigger than it was and I see regular polyp extension. It is a tough coral to feed IME. The one I have immedialely retracts its polyps the instant the flow is interupted. When I ended up with it I was advised to feed it in a bell so that it could get all of the food possible. But it just won't open with the bell around it no matter how long I've waited.

I now know quite a lot about dendrophyllia even though I don't have one. :)