Texas Pride Goniopora sp. Reeffarmers seed. This amazing coral has some bright colored
polyps that appear pink/red under 20 K and blood red under 10 K. The surface detail of this Reef
Building Stony coral is also simply amazing. We hope that this coral can survive long term
in captivity unlike the Goniopora stutchbuyri we had to retire in June 2004 due to bleaching.
When Brian Jackson of Texas sent Reeffarmers our seed section of this coral in the fall of 2006,
it literally took us a couple of days just to figure out the genus of the coral. The very strange
surface detail of the coral (see image below) and closeup images of the polyps revealed that this
was a Goniopora species that contained 24 tentacles per polyp. Polyps are very small for a Goniopora
and they only extend out for about 1/8 of an inch. The polyps are brilliantly colored pink/red.
Under 20 K lights they appear more pink/red while under 10 K they appear more red/pink. What really
makes this coral interesting it that its small polyps and encrusting nature make it first to appear
similar to an Astreopora coral. When the polyps are not extending fully it also appears similar to a
Porites coral with bright red polyps. The surface detail is also fascinating and is easily visible
as can be seen in the images above and below. Brian found the coral in a local reef shop within
Texas and he split the coral with reef aquarist Todd Endersby. Reeffarmers tried to indentify the
specific Goniopora species, but we were not successful. We do not believe it to be a G. stutchburyi.
It is certainly different then the Reefarmers retired G. stutchburyi which had polyps that were
slightly larger and would extend much farther. The surface detail of the retired G. stutchburyi
was not visible because of the polyps would completely obscure the surface.
Steve Tyree is maintaining a farmed section of this coral for Reeffarmers.com in one of
his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal Reef Aquariums. In Steve's captive reef the
coral is positoned to recieve moderate light under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide.
Limited Edition Reservation price is currently $60 per small sized fragment. The bimonthly
limited edition reservation schedules can be found below.
Please note - this coral was retired in March 2008 because it did not do well for us in captivity.
We suspect a minor element additive was the problem.
Closeup of the Reeffarmers Texas Pride Goniopora seed section. The surface structure of this
coral is simply amazing. The relatively small size of this Gonioporas polyps and their
short extension range, helps to make this amazing surface detail visible.
TM
