My DFS Purple Asterospicularia Coral.

No good reason! I just thought he was worth showing off , one of the nicer soft corals I seen, he is small now, but I am sure I will be frag trading with him in no time.

 

Very pretty, is it NPS?

 

HAHA! I think this is what you mean " It contains the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae from which it receives the majority of its nutritional requirements through photosynthesis " I love the Carnation Soft Corals, my #1 favorite off all time, they are NPS I know that, I think their beyond my skills, so I got this guy, and I agree I think their quite attractive.

 

You are right I was wondering if it is non photosynthetic. Very cool. I agree on the difficulty. I would do a tank specifically for NPS like inwall has if I had those corals.

 

Even though I just got this thing, I am pleased to see new growth already, he is going look good I think.

 

Very nice indeed!!

 

its filling out nicely, just not getting much taller, kind of growing like a short tree with lots of brush

 

It's not a "carnation", and its not an NPS coral. It requires moderate lighting.

FWIW NPS (non photo sythnetic - lacking the symbiotic algae zoonxanthellae)is the exact opposite of "It contains the symbiotic algae zooxanthellae from which it receives the majority of its nutritional requirements through photosynthesis" but kudos for quoting DFS

Saltwater Aquarium Corals for Marine Reef Aquariums: Purple Asterospicularia Coral - Aquacultured, Asterospicularia sp.

 

Will he sure has grown a lot, this is the latest pic of him, one of the heads I will call it moved off the plug it was on and Managed to work itself on to the neighboring rock. good enough for me

 

I think these are a pretty neat coral that from what I have gathered in my searches seems to be "fairly new" to the hobby like my current 2nd favorite coral "blue sympodium"

I really like the way this coral looks as it reminds me alot of the giant pom pom xenia but it has that nice deep purple color to it, My concern about it however is that aside from looking like xenia everything I have gathered about it says it also GROWS like xenia which is a NO NO for me as I already have had to totally break down my reef tank once and get new live rock because of a massive xenia plague "I've beaten hair algae and Bryopsis easier than xenia"

I want to add this coral to my tank but not if it's going to infest my tank like xenia did, so I have a few questions

1) Do you/have you keep/kept xenia before?

2) If you have kept or currently keep xenia do you find that this grows as fast and plague like as xenia does?

3) Is this sensitive to swings in salinity like xenia?

4) Have you noticed anything about this coral that is unique to this coral in how it grows or does it also grow like xenia in that it spreads,tears and then splits or will this drop babies that then turn into new stalks?

Thank you for any help you can give me I do appreciate it