hitchhiking coral id help

this guy has been growing on a frag i got for awhile finally a nice size to take a pic. any clue what it is.


from the pic it looks like a xeniid, cespitularia specifically, or kenya tree.

[quote=“addicted2reefin, post:2, topic:2273”]
from the pic it looks like a xeniid, cespitularia specifically[/quote]

For sure not in the xeniid family at all.

Hard to tell from pic, but it may be Capnella(Kenya Tree) or Litophyton. Take a picture of it after batting shaking it a bit or putting higher flow on it.(Do the polyps retract?) Could possibly be Cladiella(Finger leather) as well… I’ll look again tomorrow.

These sort of corals are very difficult to identify. It is for sure a fast growing softy. If it is a Kenya tree it may become very prolific in most aquariums. I’ve never heard of anyone calling them a pest, but you may have to get used to either giving them away for free or trashing them.(locally they can be difficult to get rid of)

It could be a type of Claudelia, Did i spell that correctly ? the light colored striation on the trunk, the shape and form, and color and polyps look very much like my colt. time will tell as it grows a bit bigger.

Did you get the Caulastrea(Candy Canes) from another reefer or an LFS? It may be easier to track down the name of the hitchhiker if it was from a reefer.

[quote=“kaptken, post:5, topic:2273”]
It could be a type of Claudelia, Did I spell that correctly ? the light colored striation on the trunk, the shape and form, and color and polyps look very much like my colt. time will tell as it grows a bit bigger.[/quote]

I was kind of leaning that way to Ken, but it looks a lot darker then the one I got from you. Actually the colt we have may possibly be from the genus Alcyonium. Actually that is what Eric Bornemen said in his book that it was possibly from that genus. I repeat not easy to identify these guys even for someone with a microscope, a lot of free time, and a doctorate in coral identification, lol.

Looks like my colt coral, my kenyon is alot more brown.

I was thinknig colt coral but the polyps look to be considerably different then mine.

thanks guys i guess ill call it a colt. i got it at the fish bowl.