What do I have, Anthelia or Xenia?

[wombat1]

I think what we need here is one expert opinion to answer everyone's questions. It's very hard to ID a species from a picture.

 

[Garry thomas]

Trust me the first one is Anthelia which wont pulse by the way , second and third Xenia of which if they are happy will pulse like mad, they like movement but not direct and good light. king jason i noticed yours were growing well. a high nutriant tank possibly? GT s wales

 

[delbeek]

I am not sure if I classify as an "expert" ... but IMO the first one is most definitely NOT Xenia nor Anthellia ... it is Clavularia ... the tell-tale feature is the anthostelle where the polyp retracts into. This is clearly illustrated and explained in The Reef Aquarium vol. two as well as in the more recent Fabricius and Alderslade book Soft Corals and Sea Fans.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[delbeek]

Chester, what you have is Tubipora musica, you can id them by the red base they build, on the contrary anthelia doesn´t builds one.

I've never seen Tubipora with polyps that long. The red colour could be coralline or cyanobacteria ... you can't really tell from that picture. My guess would be Anthellia.

Aloha!
JCD

 

[shalegac]

First one IS Clavularia, I have a ton of it, It is very cheap and I decided to make a nice sized rock of it. Looks like crap at first then after it gets situated it looks pretty cool. No pulsing though it will pull it's self back in when it is iritated or the light goes off.