What is this?

[aaronalam]

Had these on some rock for a while now, finally got round to taking some pictures.

Not the best quality but I think they are usable, any idea what they are?

I'm talking about the brown disc things.

 

[Mjpendrey]

Id say button polyps = coral

 

[carey]

yep looks like buttons to me. Good pull, most people pay for those things lol

 

[aaronalam]

That's cool if that's what they are, I picked the rock because I saw them on there, hoping it was something cool.

The rock is also full of feather dusters!

 

[mr_X]

they look like anemones to me. rock/flower anemones to be exact.

 

[aaronalam]

I just read up on rock/flower anemones and these don't seem to act anything like them?

They just open up in the day, close up when the light goes off, like my polyps.

 

[mr_X]

maybe they are palys, but the white ring around the oral disk and the fact that they are very close to the rock and not stretching out for light makes me think anemone. if these were rock anemones you aren't going to see a ton of activity out of them.

 

[aaronalam]

Thanks for the reply, if they are rock anemones I should be ok just leaving them anyway?

 

[mr_X]

well, to be honest, i've never kept them, so i couldn't tell you how fast they spread. how long have you had this rock and what kind of lighting is it under?

 

[aaronalam]

3/4 weeks now and only kept under 2x20w T8.

 

[aaronalam]

Just found something new now, there's another one exactly the same but.. it's green.

 

[aaronalam]

Ok well, it was green, it's either turned brown again now or disappeared, weird?

 

[aaronalam]

They were streching out from the rock a little earlier, was kind of weird.

I dunno anymore, I'll just watch and see what happens with them.

 

[paulace2372]

I'm gonna go with palythoa's from your explanation of their light behaviour, I see where Mr. X is coming from though and I think it will be interesting to see how these little things develop. from my experience with Paly's I would expect them to cluster together a lot more forming a colony much like zoas, however I have from time to time seen rock anemone do the same in other peoples tanks - I have not kept them myself until recently.

 

[aaronalam]

If it helps, it has 2 sets of "tentacles?" around the disc, an upper and a lower set.

It has a ring of tentacles all the way around that stay down on the rock, and another upper set that stay extended out.

 

[paulace2372]

I'd still say it was between the two, have you looked on ultimate reef? they often have very clear pics of stuff which you may find useful.

 

[aaronalam]

Will check now, thanks.

 

[mr_X]

well, that explains the white on the edges. you need more light. you can't keep much of anything photosynthetic happy under that lighting.

 

[aaronalam]

Even under 10,000k bulbs?

 

[mr_X]

the color temperature of the lamp isn't the issue, it's the intensity. T8 lamps aren't used for keeping photosynthetic creatures alive because they don't have the punch some of the more popular lamps have. i would look into something more potent, like individually reflected T5 lamps.