Geothermal Aquaculture Research Foundation

PICTURE OF THE WEEK

THESE TWO PICTURES SHOW THE TYPES OF CORALS THAT YOU CAN KEEP IN YOUR REEF AS IT MATURES. THE FIRST PICTURE IS OF TWO OF THE BEST CORALS FOR A NEW REEF AQUARIUM. THE SECOND PICTURE SHOWS SOME OF THE RARE CORALS THAT GROW VERY WELL IN A REEF AQUARIUM AFTER IT HAS AGED ENOUGH TO BECOME VERY STABLE. The soft coral in the upper left corner of the picture is a Sarcophyton from Palau. This fast growing hardy coral is one of the first invetebrates that we add to all of our new reef aquariums. We grow many of these corals for sale in our REEF STARTER BOX this box of 5 hardy corals is often the first thing people purchase after they have added the Reef JanitorsTM and GARF GrungeTM . We glue these corals in the center of the reef near the surface so they receive bright light. The lower coral is called Wood's polyp in the our part of the world. The most common name in reef books for this coral is Athelia glauca , but the name has been changed in some of the newer books. What ever you call it, this coral is a winner! The wood's polyp grows very large for a pulse coral, it often grows to almost 6 inches long. The waving polyps never fail to get noticed by anyone when they look into the reef aquariums. This is a very hardy, rapid growing, easy to sell coral. Many people are able to grow enough of this coral that they can pay for their lighting upgrades as their reef matures.

THIS PICTURE SHOWS SEVERAL SMALL POLYP STONY CORALS (SPS ) AND SEVERAL NICE SOFT CORALS THAT ARE HARDER TO FIND THAN THE TWO ABOVE. The bright green Acropora in the lower right center of Sally Jo's reef aquarium is the same one that she cut back so much two weeks ago. You can see how much it was cut on page one of the January 1998 Reef Aquarium Farming News. You will find a link to Sally Jo's January Update on our Home page. I did not believe that any coral could grow this fast. Not only did all of the cuts heal, but several new branches started on all sides of the coral. This Acropora called the GREEN SLIMER is from Fiji. The Green Slimer is brighter than any coral we grow and it has been very hardy in all of the reef aquariums we have sent it to. The polyp extention is what made us fall in love with this coral - it really does look fuzzy.

THE RARE CORAL OF THIS GROUP IS THE ORANGE RICODIA IN THE LOWER RIGHT CENTER. We are growing many types of Ricordia. They can no longer be harvested on live rock in U.S. waters so they are now hard to purchase. The light colored coral in the center of this picture is Pavona cactus the Potato chip coral - A great one to grow in Idaho :) - it has very thin blades instead of branches. We have 4 types of this coral. The round purple polyps with the green centers are Zoanthids and they come in many colors. Our REEF STARTER BOX always has several colors of these fast growing soft corals on each plug. This is a great way to get extra types of coral for no extra money. The yellow coral on the right is Porites  a slow growing sps coral. .