New Coral, Who dis? Montipora? With hermit crabs?

[Brit’s Fish]

Hi Reefers!
I just picked this coral up from a $20 bargain bin yesterday. The kid working at the store didn’t know much about it and when I asked if these were little feather dusters and hermit crabs or clams on the coral, he said, “oh no, that’s just cone stuff on there” without really looking. No big deal to me, I thought it was cool and it was only $20!
I have it in my tank now and the lights have not come on yet, but I’m wondering if anyone can ID the coral and possibly the little guys living in the rock?
The critters coming out of the raised parts look sort of like pods but definitely not Christmas tree worms & probably not feather dusters. The other ones are in the holes which are not raised and they are bluish, matching the color of a blue legged hermit crab.
Any thoughts welcome!!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Looks like a Christmas coral

Thread 'Christmas tree rock care' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/christmas-tree-rock-care.286444/

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Two more now that the lights are coming on

 

[Sleeping Giant]

Nice bargain bin pick up, not easy to get.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Nice bargain bin pick up, not easy to get.

That’s what I thought too! I’ve been wanting a Christmas tree worm coral for a long time. Thank you & thank you for the link to the care guide!

 

[Sleeping Giant]

That’s what I thought too! I’ve been wanting a Christmas tree worm coral for a long time. Thank you & thank you for the link to the care guide!

I want to get one too, they look so beautiful when they open up

 

[Brit’s Fish]

I want to get one too, they look so beautiful when they open up

I’ll post more pictures when the lights come fully on

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I’ll post more pictures when the lights come fully on

Can't wait to see if they come out

 

[Sosuke]

I don't really see any Christmas tree worms or their holes. Can you circle what you're talking about?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I don't really see any Christmas tree worms or their holes. Can you circle what you're talking about?

See pictures above, if not a Christmas tree worm coral, then what do you propose it is?

 

[Brit’s Fish]

I don't really see any Christmas tree worms or their holes. Can you circle what you're talking about?

I don’t know that they’re Christmas tree worms. I have not seen any come out at least. I do think this is a Porites after looking at it more but not sure what the little guys are. If you do happen to know what the little critters are that are coming out of the rock though, I’d love some suggestions.

 

[Sosuke]

The holes in the coral look like barnacles, not sure about the raised structures however. Heres a picture of my porties rock with worms and you can see a similar barnacle on it.

 

[Brit’s Fish]

The holes in the coral look like barnacles, not sure about the raised structures however. Heres a picture of my porties rock with worms and you can see a similar barnacle on it.

yes, that’s exactly what these look like! Thank you!
still just gotta find out what the other dudes are.

 

[Waynerock]

Dang dude 20 bucks??? They go for 200-400 online right now. Sweet score make sure you feed small particle foods often for the x mas worms. They will starve quickly

 

[Alexopora]

The holes in the coral look like barnacles, not sure about the raised structures however. Heres a picture of my porties rock with worms and you can see a similar barnacle on it.

+1 barnacles. I have had them hitchhike acros, torches and live rocks. In my own experience they dont last long especially in sps setups since we dont normally heavily and regularly feed the tank with small particulate food which the barnacles need. However that is just my own personal experience, just try to broadcast feed some rotifers or coral foods tailored for sps. I myself recently got a christmas tree worm rock in which the host coral is porites. Was more excited for the porites than the worms as they are not the most common coral readily available. I’ve had porites for more than a year, its my first sps and I must say they are really light loving and high flow loving sps. However, gradually acclimate to prevent bleaching and ramp up the flow. They really really grow faster and better when they are in really strong and turbulent flow.

 

[F i s h y]

There is a species of hermit crab that lives in the old barnacles and holes from Christmas tree worms. Very very cool find and def worth more than 20 bucks. Spot feed the barnacles or dose the tank with phyto. I believe (but am not 100 percent sure) the hermit crabs are likely filter feeders as well. There was a thread not long ago that a guy posted his Christmas tree rock, it was polite and you can see the hermits that live in it.

 

[dedragon]

agree with above about the hermit crabs although one of the pics makes me believe there may also be some vermitids so just monitor those little holes and lets see what pops out. Very cool pickup nonetheless

 

[F i s h y]

Christmas Tree Worm Coral

Recently, I purchased this amazing Christmas Tree Worm Coral. It's truly one of the coolest animals/corals I have ever kept. It looks great from a distance but when you come closer you start seeing so much more. Small hermit crabs, the numerous Bisma worms, the coral, and so many other critters...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Thanks all!
I have not seen any vermetids & no slime trails from this coral so far.
The only little guys that come out of those raised holes look like the guy on the left side in this picture. They have been occasionally catching some of the very small pieces of food that pass by in the water column but I feed LRS Nano Reef Frenzy and I target feed this coral & its inhabitants a healthy dose of the cloudy water (not sure what else to call it lol) from the thawed food before broadcast feeding the rest of my tank.
Are those guys what you're thinking are hermit crabs? They're cool to watch & if a fish swims by, they dart back into their holes. Each of them had those two little antennae & kinda look like amphipods or something.

The barnacles have very fine little "feather dusters" also that remind me of my porcelain crab's little "fan hands". Or maybe those are not the barnacles that have those little feather dusters? I'm starting to thing there could be 3 different guys in this rock. I'll try to get a better picture soon.

All in all, everyone is doing well, so far!

 

[Brit’s Fish]

Thanks all!
I have not seen any vermetids & no slime trails from this coral so far.
The only little guys that come out of those raised holes look like the guy on the left side in this picture. They have been occasionally catching some of the very small pieces of food that pass by in the water column but I feed LRS Nano Reef Frenzy and I target feed this coral & its inhabitants a healthy dose of the cloudy water (not sure what else to call it lol) from the thawed food before broadcast feeding the rest of my tank.
Are those guys what you're thinking are hermit crabs? They're cool to watch & if a fish swims by, they dart back into their holes. Each of them had those two little antennae & kinda look like amphipods or something.

The barnacles have very fine little "feather dusters" also that remind me of my porcelain crab's little "fan hands". Or maybe those are not the barnacles that have those little feather dusters? I'm starting to thing there could be 3 different guys in this rock. I'll try to get a better picture soon.

All in all, everyone is doing well, so far!

Coincidentally or not, the clearest picture I could get right now is with this nosy guy sitting on it. Typical Hawkfish.