Schizoculina fissipara precedes a wave of fresh new corals coming soon from Sao Tome, West Africa
4 Comments
Schizoculina fissipara and S. africana are two West African coral species that are brand new to the aquarium trade. Like so many other new coral and fish species LiveAquaria was first to the scene when they offered the unique S. fissipara for sale for the first time this weekend; the 2.5″ colony quickly sold at $99. Schizoculina is in the family Oculinidae which also includes Oculina and Galaxea but we don’t expect the West African species to have sweepers anywhere near the length of Galaxea. Although Schizoculina is a photosynthetic species, like several of the mound forming stonies in the Caribbean this species will likely need a generous helping of meaty particulate food to grow at an appreciable rate. But wait, there’s more as the offering of these West African stony corals will likely be followed y the importation of other stony coral species from the region such as Astrangia, Dendrophyllia, Madracis and Montastrea species which also come from that area. We wish that Coral Geographic was already up and running as that would make it easier to see what other coral species occur in the West African region. The blueish corallites of this Schizoculina specimen greatly resembles the closely related Arcohelia from Australia but we hope to see this West African species more frequently available.
Two stores in the San Fran bay Area had them for sale last week as well, Dolphin Pet Village and The Aquarium Showroom. I picked up mine from The Aquarium Showroom
December 14th, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I got one of two specimens that Liveaquaria posted Christmas week. So far mine is doing well. It is much browner and duller than the photo suggests. It is not at all attractive, but it is cool to have and I hope for it to grow so I can share it in my area. I have yet to feed it directly, but it has taken many pieces of the fishes’ feedings. Tentacles are barely visible, but it is adept at catching the food.
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:33 pm
This is a good write-up, I was wondering if I could use this piece of writing on my website, I will link it back to your website though. If this is a problem please let me know and I will take it down right away.
April 5th, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Really good piece, this is very similar to a site that I have. Please check it out sometime and feel free to leave me a comenet on it and tell me what you think. Im always looking for feedback.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:21 pm