Softies

No Stony Skeletons Here

Softies have a bad rap. They're often easier than stony corals, though there certainly are exceptions to this rule like dendronepthea, scleronepthea, various gorgonians, and so on. Still, the ones I have are pretty hardy and I hope will serve as a colorful backdrop for the more striking corals in the tank in years to come.

Corallimorpharia
Actinodiscus ferrugatus
Red-brown Mushroom
Some of the first corals I ever owned, these have been with me for years upon years. They've grown slowly, but steadily in various tanks and under various lighting. They now occupy a large rock on the left side of the tank in an area I call Softie Central.
Arrived 2002
from The Reef Tank
Ricordia Yuma
Mushroom Anemone
My wife can't stand these. Okay so they're a bit warty, but pretty cool looking nevertheless. When I got them, they only barely covered the rock they were on, now they've spread to cover the entire thing.
Arrived May 3, 2005
from fellow reefer
Actinodiscus sp.
Purple Mushrooms
Picked these up from a fellow reefer. They've been through some hard times (upside down in the sand) but continue to do well.
Arrived July 16, 2005
from extreme_tooth_decay
Actinodiscus cardinalis
Dark Red Mushroom
I picked these mushrooms up as hitchikers on live rock from a reefer moving out of the area. These dark red mushrooms are scattered in various locations in the tank still attached to the same original rocks.
Arrived May 3, 2005
from fellow reefer
Actinodiscus sp.
Green Mushrooms
I picked these mushrooms up as hitchikers on live rock from a reefer moving out of the area. These dark red mushrooms are scattered in various locations in the tank still attached to the same original rocks.
Arrived May 3, 2005
from fellow reefer
Octocorallia
Sarcophyton sp.
Leather Coral
Since my beginning in this hobby, I've had a leather coral in my tank. It started out quite huge but suffered a relapse and started receeding at the edges ending up much smaller. Eventually it regrew and started dropping children (pic at left). Right now it's hidden behind Softie Central. I also have a large yellow sarcophyton that now looks just like the baby one of the purple parent. I don't get it.
Arrived, 2002
Qty 1; from The Reef Tank		 FRAG: to "steveoutlaw" in 2005.
 
Litophyton sp.
Tree Coral
This was sold to me as "Nepthea sp." but based on reading, I don't believe it is. What I have is often referred to as "kenya tree" as well, but that coral (Capnella) seems very slightly different in growth pattern. The whole lot of these species under family Neptheidae can be a bit hard to differeniate. In any case, it's grown like wildfire and is living in my sump at the moment.
Arrived, 2003
Qty 1; from The Reef Tank
 
Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata
Gorgonia
Members of the family Gorgoniidae are like the trees of the ocean, except some of them seem more like trees in the winter. I believe I have a Pseudopterogorgia bipinnata -- a bipinnate sea plume, just based on reading and descriptions.
Arrived July 14, 2006
Qty 1; from Wally's Aquarium		 Having difficulty with one of the stalks -- the horizontal one tends to attract algae and this seems to cause tissue loss down to the core. Seems recoverable if I keep an eye on it. Granted the coral is supposed to be perpendicular to the current...
 
Xenia sp.
Xenia
A favorite and a scourge. I've always liked Xenia as they bring life to the tank with their swaying motion in the current and constant pulsing behavior. I have two kinds commonly refferred to "white pom pom" and "silver branch." It's grown profusely over the years though at one point the former kind "crashed" for no good reason. It has since started to regrow/repopulate. The trick with this coral is to ensure you're keeping tabs on where it's going and keeping it from going places you don't want it to go. This is more difficult than you might think. Still, it has grown well and I've given away many many free frags of this along with selling some larger colonies to the Marine Scene for store credit.
Arrived 2004
Qty x; from The Reef Tank
Zoanthidae
Zoanthus sp.
Assorted Zoas
Blue Ribbon Koi was running an auction on WAMAS for this small collection of Zoas, and I managed to get my winning bit in at the last moment. Not much yet, but a nice diverse collection of zoas.
Arrived February 22, 2007
Qty 1; from Blue Ribbon Koi
 
Palythoa sp.
Cotton Candy Palythoa
Just a few polyps on a reef plug at the moment, but these polyps are already quite good looking. Bright pink on the inside with a darker exterior.
Arrived November 15, 2006
Qty 1; from Fraggle Reef
 
Zoanthus sp.
Red/Orange
These deep orange/red zoanthids are really striking. They had been in a tank I had the office until I broke down that tank and returned them to my main display.
Arrived 2004
Qty 1; from The Reef Tank
 
Zoanthus sp.
Dark Green
These dark green zoas have been with me as long as the favia sp. sharing this rock. Not my absolute favorite zoa, but nice dark green color.
Arrived early 2004
Qty 1; from The Reef Tank
 
Palythoa psammophilia
Button Polyps
Picked these up with a variety of other items from a reefer moving out of town and breaking down his tank for the move. Initially my wife couldn't stand them and with the 180G they were relegated to the back of the tank. Recently, however, she's expressed interest in perhaps having them moved into sight. Interesting story: one day they started spreading to a rock I didn't want them on -- so I grabbed three of them and pulled them off. A tingling sensation soon traveled up my arm leaving behind numbness. Wouldn't you know -- members of the Palythoa and Zoanthus species can carry palytoxin. How exciting! Feeling returned 3 hours later.
Arrived May 3, 2005
Qty 1; from fellow reefer
 
Zoanthus sp.
Radioactive Dragon Eye
I got these in a trade with another WAMAS member, though I no longer remember who. Turns out he needed a resevoir barrel and sure enough I had one that would hold bteween 40 and 50 gallons of water. In return I got this sizeable collection of awesome zoanthids; though I didn't know their worth at the time.
Arrived July 30, 2005
Qty 1; from fellow reefer