This Goniopora species has some of the smallest sized polyps of
the entire Goniopora genus. It is often confused with Porites corals.
It has a bright red coloration and polyps extend about 1/8 inch during
the day. At first glance this coral definitly appears to be a red Porites
stony coral. Reeffarmers.com and the reeffarmer Steve Garret
acquired this coral from Pacific Aqua Farms. We did not know what
species it was at the time, but we decided to purchase the massive
encrusting coral and cut it in half. Steve Garret used a Tile Saw to cut
the coral in half. The half at Reeffarmers.com has recovered nicely
and has developed a deeper red coloration. The key to identifying this
coral as a Goniopora is the fact that there are 24 tentacles per polyp.
There was a different species of pink Goniopora that was exported from
Jakarta between 2000 to 2002. Those species are rarely available now and
that Goniopora actually had large polyps that extended farther then this
new Limited Edition species. Steve Tyree is maintaining this coral
for reeffarmers.com in one of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal
EG Reef Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positoned at
about 23 inches from a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide that
was 12 months old on 4/1/03. This coral can maintain its red pigmentation
in moderate to weak lighting. Under intense lighting it will tend to be
more pink then red. Water current is moderate. Starting in
July 2003 ReefFarmers.com is allowed to distribute 1 farmed fragment
of this coral per month. Price is currently $60 per medium sized fragment.
Starting in the year 2004 we are distributing 1 fragment of this coral per
every two months due to its slow growth rate. The monthly and bimonthly
limited edition reservation schedules can be found below.
Goniopora stutchburyi fragment 12 days after mounting. Note encrusting growth beginning to cover the epoxy.
CORAL RETIRED June 2004. Reeffarmers.com decided to retire
the Limited Edition coral Goniopora stutchburyi during the summer of 2004.
This was done for primarily one reason. The coral slowly bleached over a
period of a year. It appears that this species of Goniopora may have long
term issues within captivity. We distrubuted at least 7 fragments of this
coral and the previous Limited Edition shipping history is listed below.
If anyone who recieved a Limted Edition fragment of this coral wants to futhur
distribute this interesting coral, please send us your email or web site link.
Obviously you would need to figure out the long term captive issues with
this particular species. We will add your email or web link to the Limited
Edition History listed below. Reeffarmers.com will not be growing any
fragments of this coral. Reeffarmers.com does not have any plans to
reinstate the Limited Edition distribution of this coral in the future.
Goniopora stutchburyi Year 2004 BiMonthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Cancelled
April
Cancelled
June
Shipped to P. Chung
August
Cancelled
October
Cancelled
December
Cancelled
Goniopora stutchburyi Year 2003 Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
TM
