ID and Care Information?

Catfish · 03-01-2005, 08:21 AM

I was given a piece of coral and I'm not sure what it is, or its care requirements. I'm at work so I didn't post a picture, but I'll describe it and hopefully someone can help me ID it...if not I will post a picture later tonight. The coral is in a piece of rock that is shaped like a cone. From the open end are these purple/gray arm/tenticles that reach out, and each one has a neon green tip. Each arm looks like it is liquid filled because when its startled, it deflates the arms and pulls back into the cone. It looks to me like and anemone, but I know its not since its attached. When its fully open, it waves in the current. I was told to feed it a little piece of meat....brine shrimp, etc occasionally, but thats all I know about it. I hope someone can help me out because I'm not sure if its doing well in my tank, or if its struggling to survive. Any help would be great. Thanks.

Jeremy1973 · 03-01-2005, 08:25 AM

Well, my first thought that it might be a torch coral, but, attached to a rock? Are you sure it is a rock, and not maybe a skeleton that is covered in coraline? How big is the head with the tentacles? About how many tentacles would you say there are?

Catfish · 03-01-2005, 08:33 AM

Well its not attached to a rock...it lives inside this cone so I am assuming it is a coral skeleton that its living in. Well its a smaller piece so when its fully opened its about the size of a silver dollar, but when it pulls back in, its about the size of a quarter. When it pulls back in, you can see dividers within the cone. They look like car spokes, arranged in a circular pattern, all coming out from the point in the middle, but go all the way down inside the cone if that make sense. I would estimate it has around 30 arms give or take a few.

Catfish · 03-01-2005, 08:36 AM

Actually I looked up the torch coral and thats exactly what it is. Thanks for the help! Maybe someone can give me more information on caring for it. Right now its looking a little weak, with only a few arms out each time. I'm going to look up more about it, but any expert info would be great. Thanks

Doug1 · 03-01-2005, 08:52 AM

Torches are fairly hardy, moderate light, gentle current and an occasional tidbit of meaty food should do it fine. They are one of the "Large Polyp Stony" coral(hobby distinction) and will extract calcium from water to build their carbonate skeletons, so they need more calcium access than soft coral types