What am I? I.D. me please (1 Viewer)

[t0mmy108]

O.K., now I need professional help naming these guys. Just got them from Donnie.
Number 1

Number 2

Number 3

Number 4

Number 5

Number 6

Number 7

Updated shots of my whole tank...
Thanks to all my fellow reefers for their contributions, Kevin, Quoc, Sherri, and Edward. And Thanks to Donnie, David, John, and all the other LFS. I'm officially grounded by my other half and forbidden to spend anymore money on corals Now it's time to grow out and trade away......ya right.

 

[fishcraze]

You are getting to close to the issue i'm facing w/ my own tank now: RUNNING OUT OF SPACE & any new addition must be accomodated by the removal of existing corals
For the IDs:
1==> mille or prostrata.
2, 3, 4 ==> tenius.
not sure about the others (some look like horrida). To identify Bali culture sps, you can check the pics on Reefscience.com. Nice corals.

 

[t0mmy108]

oh no. I'm no where near where you are. I'm still shooting for that. One day though...

 

[Guest]

Nice tank, sure is big compared to mine hehe.

Not sure if im right but I think number 1 is a Millepora.
and number 5 is a Staghorn.

 

[Guest]

We am with Fishcraze on not knowing what number 1 is until we see the polyps.

The rest, we have know clue yet. Need more practice to get better.

 

[t0mmy108]

6 and 7 have the most unusual growth form. I'm extremely curious to know what those are. It's my first time comming across those two. 7 reminds me of a rice coral texture.

 

[Guest]

#1 definitely a A. millepora with polyps withdrawn
#2,3,4 A. tenuis, different color morphs.
#5 some kind of staghorn
#6 ????
#7 "maybe" A. chesterfieldensis

 

[Niko5]

I think I picked up Number 1's brother yesterday I really hope it makes it some of them really looked bad. I love the way milleporas look and the only other one I have is about the size of my fingernail haha

 

[jamesw]

Sorry guys, but no.

There is absolutely no way to tell a species of Acropora from a photo. The best you can do is say that it's a coral of the genus Acropora that looks like the coral on page XXX of "Corals of the World." Without looking at the skeleton anything else would be just a guess and probably wrong.

Cheers
James

 

[Guest]

i hope you're kidding james.

 

[t0mmy108]

Just purchased my set of "Corals of the World" by Jen Veron. Three volume Hard copy with the box for $100 brand new. This book is AWSOME! Let you know after I read through Volume 1

 

[Guest]

James, you know that one can see a lot of the
skeleton on the acros, by looking at them.

Tommy,
tell me how the books are, heard they were
awesome but havent looked them up yet.

 

[Cakepro]

Didn't any of you pay attention at Eric Borneman's last presentation?
James is dead serious. Eric totally stressed that it's a waste of time
for anyone to try to ID acropora or otherwise without looking at the
skeleton, often microscopically, and even then sometimes it's impossible.

Awesome tank, Tom. I can't wait to see it in person.
Will you be charging admission? Those are some sweet pieces
you picked up from Donnie.

~ Sherri

Oh yeah, when that milli's big enough to frag, please put me first
on the list of buyers. Hehehee

 

[Guest]

Cakepro, we know what Eric said, but no we did not
attend the presentation given by him. But a milli is
easy to see, and certian others are to, where as others your right are definitely not easy to see.

Besides if we only called stuff Acro spp. for every
one we have, color is very much an eye of the beholder kind of thing.

Ok, we will stop, for this is just a waste of time, for
we all know both sides of this debate. No use us
beatting a dead horse for days.

Besides we like nice civil conversations.
Tommy you know what I want to be put on the list for, that browned out purple and green you have.

 

[Cakepro]

You can argue all you want but you might want to do it with someone who is not working on their doctorate in this field.

 

[Guest]

Doctorate is a nice thing to have, but still doesn't
mean that it proves you have the best way to do
things in a "practical" sense. We have been around
to many Ph.Ds to not understand that aspect.

Practical vs Acdemic, in a practical world, normally
means the professor just walks off shaking thier
heads.

And we don't know about ye, but we live in a world
where people like the easy way. And since we
live in that world, we have to deal with those
people, and since we have to deal with those
people, we do so in the most effortless way.
Normally meaning thier way, so commincation
can happen in the least confusing manner.

And if that means no following the way of the
incorrectly name of things, well that is what we
do, we do not go around telling others children
that that is not a potty, but a toliet. We just
conform.

 

[jamesw]

In a practical world, you just want something to call your coral so that other people know what you mean. But why purposefully say something that you know is wrong? That just makes you look silly, in my opinion.

Take the coral that you call A. millepora - there are 3 other Acropora species that look just like it and you can't tell the difference without killing the coral and examining the skeleton. So when you say "I have a nice A. millepora" there is a 66.7% chance you are wrong. Personally, I like to be right (dunno if you guys have noticed, lol!) so I don't say stuff like that.

I don't think this is much of an "argument" we're having because most of the authorities in the hobby have already decided this one. You can go on doing whatever works for you though, and the only real harm done is that people who know a lot about corals will keep thinking that aquarium hobbyists are just sloppy/careless.

Cheers
James

 

[t0mmy108]

Tommy,
tell me how the books are, heard they were
awesome but havent looked them up yet.

Very detailed information. I highly recommend it. I spent the whole day just looking through volum 1 and I'm still not done.

 

[Guest]

Hey james, could you give me pics of the three that look alike, or at least name them to me.

And could you tell me the others that get Tenius confused with, or the humlius (sp?).

I am not saying all are identifiable, but I do think some are more likely to be.

And even in Erics own book, he ids some of them, but I didn't see where he put the note that he tore off a bit of it, to kill and look at the skeleton.

So sloppy, nah, I don't normally consider myself sloppy. I refer to what level a person is, there is little reason to even put a subname if you are talking to a person who is a softies only person, nor is there a reason to even say acros if the person is not even into corals at all, just call them corals, for going into details will only bore them.

But hey, know ones minds will change. And experts, funny how they will think little of you no matter what you call them, for the only real experts are the ones that realize how little they know.

 

[AggieBrandon]

Is the horse dead yet?

Nice corals Tommy....wish I would have stopped by City Pets Monday....I was in Houston and everything