Coral ID please/pics???

[dcflyers7]

I just purchased my first coral for my 37g from a LFS, and they called it a colt coral. I searched but couldn't find any good pictures/descriptions to confirm this....

This was my first time buying from this LFS, as I usually go to a more reputable place further down the road. Its not a bad store, except they only have one person who knows anything about reefs, and not much at that.... Anyway, he said it was an easy coral to keep for my setup, so I got it... Right now its under Dual PCs in a moderate current.

 

[heat]

It looks like the coral I have that was sold to me as a cauliflower colt coral. Try searching for cauliflower colt coral.

 

[RothChyld]

Definitely looks like a colt to me.

Click here if you want to see a description

 

[mogurnda]

Looks like capnella to me, but these days everything looks like capnella to me. Here's an old pic of mine:

 

[dcflyers7]

I found this link, they list it as Alcyonium... I'm just so confused now, there are so many different pictures of cauliflowers, and capnella, each one looking different than the last... It looks closest to the picture that Mogurnda posted, except obviously a different color...

 

[zog]

Definitely Capnella. That's the genus name, it also goes by Kenya tree coral and Cauliflower soft coral. It is also sometimes called Nephthea, which it closely resembles. The Cauliflower Colt coral is in the Cladiella genus. It's easy to get all these corals mixed up.

 

[dcflyers7]

whats the best flow for this coral? right now i have it in a moderate flow, enough that it sways nicely, will this work?

 

[mogurnda]

Gentle swaying is perfect.
The coral I posted has a long history, and has been identified by "experts" as Nepthea, Litophyton, and Capnella, and probably others as well. Borneman has finally decided to call it Capnella. I won't argue.
I have had several colonies of this coral (it tends to frag itself when it gets to a certain size), and the color is usually more like what dcflyers posted than my picture.

 

[zog]

Mine does that too, it pinches off branches and they drift around and annoy everyone else. I always try to pick them off just before they drop so I can pull them out of the tank.