Jimbo’s CDA 250

[Jimbo327]

I had these 2 favias next to each other. I think there was coral warfare, and bottom one sent our sweepers. When I woke up and saw half of it was just skeletons. I had to move the yellow one away.

Before:

After:

 

[Jimbo327]

Here it was back in Feb 2025 when BJD nearly wiped out my torches, I had to dremel cut this from like 6-8 heads and only 2 were left and 1 was barely hanging in.

Today, I can see the flesh band is starting to grow back down the stem again. Especially the back one has always been more healthy of the 2 remaining heads. The one in front is still loose and half detached, but I also see more small tentacles so hopefully it is trying to regrow.

 

[Smite]

Have not updated in awhile. After having a terrible experience with a local SPS vendor a couple months ago, I’m enjoying more of the reef community aspect of the hobby instead of the transactional part. So the tank has mostly been on cruise control.

I enjoy collecting plate corals. Here is my plate alley. The latest one is a black with red tentacles that I got from Ali’s Amazing Reef LFS.
View attachment 128496And long tentacle plate is looking healthy. It’s huge too. It’s at least 6” in diameter. I keep it in the front corner of the tank.
View attachment 128497

Badass. I've always been a huge fan of these plate corals. Looking good

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks Matt.

I remember one of my first corals in the hobby was a bright orange fungia plate. And ever since, I've always loved plate corals.

 

[drexel]

Thanks Matt.

I remember one of my first corals in the hobby was a bright orange fungia plate. And ever since, I've always loved plate corals.

Plates and tongue corals were quite common in the 90's to early 2000's, then they kinda disappeared for a while. I saw a few heliofungias at RAP, which was nice to see. I saw an orange herpolitha at Vivid a while ago and I didn't buy, which I regret.

 

[Jimbo327]

Plates are just not as popular as other corals because they grow slow, hard to frag and not as profitable for a vendor. Yeah, I saw awesome plates at RAP like the TCK insane plate and the rainbow diaseris plate. but most were selling booger sized for much dinero.

I've been lucky to have gotten many of my plates from local reefers and LFS. The biggest risk is that they are usually tiny or baby plates. Most of mine were smaller than the size of a dime, and I've found that gluing them onto a flat frag plug has been the easier way to prevent them from moving or flipping over.

 

[Jimbo327]

Got this button scoly at the OC Coral Show from Shawn. It doesn’t look too healthy. I hope it will recover. This is my first scoly, so not sure if it is as hardy as plates. Maybe I should have skipped getting this since it looked like this at the show, and I wasn't too sure if this was just it being deflated or if this was recession. We'll just have to wait and find out.

I also won this Rainbow Loom at the raffles from Money Pit Corals. Woohoo! Almost struck out at the raffles. Nice chunky frag. Not sure why it is called rainbow loom since it’s fairly green with purple base. I like it because it is bright.

 

[JojosReef]

Got this button scoly at the OC Coral Show from Shawn. It doesn’t look too healthy. I hope it will recover. This is my first scoly, so not sure if it is as hardy as plates. Maybe I should have skipped getting this since it looked like this at the show, and I wasn't too sure if this was just it being deflated or if this was recession. We'll just have to wait and find out.View attachment 129627

I also won this Rainbow Loom at the raffles from Money Pit Corals. Woohoo! Almost struck out at the raffles. Nice chunky frag. Not sure why it is called rainbow loom since it’s fairly green with purple base. I like it because it is bright.View attachment 129628

Technically not a scoly. Buttons have been reclassified as Micromussa, kind of like a solitary Acan, from what I've gathered.

I would feed it some small pellets mysis and ensure it eats. That's what I always did to my button scoly when it was looking like that. Ultimately died during the tank transfer from the 40 to the 83 (lost in the sand and dug up as a skeleton later). But they are typically pretty hardy if you feed them.

 

[drexel]

Yeah, these micromussa don't have a long track record for living long term. I got a few from Unique when they first started to bring them in and I didn't have any luck. They lasted a little while, but it was a slow decline. I agree with Jojo, feed 'em. I might try them again once I whip all my tanks into shape.

 

[JojosReef]

Yeah, these micromussa don't have a long track record for living long term. I got a few from Unique when they first started to bring them in and I didn't have any luck. They lasted a little while, but it was a slow decline. I agree with Jojo, feed 'em. I might try them again once I whip all my tanks into shape.

Mine also came from UC. Was a shame when I lost it during the tank transfer--got knockled over and ended up face down in a highly disturbed sand bed--but yeah, it was a very long term roller coaster of ups and downs with that coral.

 

[mescobar]

Interesting to hear about your guys' struggle, I had a button scoly from AquaSD that was healthy initially but slowly declined over the course of a year. I had attributed the decline due to maybe not getting a healthy specimen, but it sounds like it might not be unique to a specific vendor. UC tends to have bulletproof coral.

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks guys!

I will try to feed it some pellets or frozen mysis. But I think my fishes will not let them have it. Might need to come up with a contraption to keep the fishes away during feeding.

It looks rough, I think the edges look more recessed. Should have done a bit more research before getting it. It is very beautiful tho.

 

[Jimbo327]

Interesting to hear about your guys' struggle, I had a button scoly from AquaSD that was healthy initially but slowly declined over the course of a year. I had attributed the decline due to maybe not getting a healthy specimen, but it sounds like it might not be unique to a specific vendor. UC tends to have bulletproof coral.

Did you spot feed yours?

 

[mescobar]

Did you spot feed yours?

I would on occasion but struggled keeping my Tang and cleaner shrimp from stealing the food

 

[JojosReef]

I sometimes have to guard my corals with the feeder pipette while they swallow their food.

 

[drexel]

Feed the corals at night when the fish are sleeping and the polyps are ready to feed.

 

[bakbay]

Nice score on the Rainbow Loom! Hope it will color up for you.

I’m also looking for one to replace mine that died several years ago. That or a Pikachu

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks! I just realized that my tank has crossed the 2 years mark! Woohoo!

I have to say, the 1st year was pretty tough especially starting with all dry rock and dead sand. But I think the tank has really stabilized recently and getting into its groove now. The SPS grow on a few sticks are actually picking up.

 

[Jimbo327]

Checked out Calikids live instagram sale last night, and won a $50 GC during a giveaway. Pretty entertaining, 1st time watching a live sale. It's like having a hype man selling corals...LOL...lots of "shhhheeeesh" and "daaaannnng, waaattt???". The corals were fire, but most were a bit higher than I wanted to pay.

I'm at the stage where I'm buying/trading small selective frags here and there, and letting things grow out. I find myself spending more money on making my life easier and reduce upkeep.

 

[joeoliver]

congrats. I was on the live too. large and nice pieces, but prices were too high. a lot of the coral were still available after the sale. if you can use the gc during their auctions, you might get a better deal there.