M. capricornis - Diverse growth forms

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[Two of my caps, different colors, are growing in a completely different way.

Speculate for me. Is it different flow patterns or different what? subspecies? pure FM?

The orange continues to grow horizontal plates while the green has been growing straight up.

The flow IS different, the orange has the return flowing directly above it, visible in the upper left of the picture.


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Note the left side of the green, with no upward growth, that side is shaded by the orange. The green didnt start that vertical growth at the edge until the halides were added.]
 
[Purely speculation on my part, but basically corals grow in all different patterns. I have two that are side by side in my tank that are doing that as well, growing differently with the exact same flow. The orange is cups, the green is flat. This is a shot from above, so it isn't nearly as obvious.

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Here you can see them from the front. This is from December 04.

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[My green used to be that green.

Im not sure I'm happy with these bulbs I chose. It faded in color considerably from what it was under PC 10k and actinic.]
 
[It really is hard to figure out. Sometimes it is the lighting, the flow and maybe the species. I know Steve had this purple rim, Capricornis, (or so we think) in his tank and it worled (if that's a word) up like crazy. In mine it is growing flat. I have another puple plating montipora that just seems to grow horizontally. Yet I have an orange capricornis, six inches from the purple rim one that worls up like crazy.]
 
[Marc your cap looks great. I am working on bringing my cap into some form over the next year. By then maybe it will look like something to show.

Steve]
 
[
What spectrum did you go with? said:
13k geissmanns. They were expensive too. The color of the tank in general, as far as viewing goes, is perfect.]
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[Just a guess. You mentioned that the vertical growth didn't start until the halides were added. To me it seems that when it is growing vertically, it has less light hitting it. Is it possible that the vertical growth was an adaptation to too much light?
This seems very possible to me since you mentioned that the side shaded by the orange has no vertical growth. From your wording I think this is the conclusion you were leaning towards also.]
 
[As Rick hinted, there are at least 10 members of the family that look very, very simular to capricornus in appearance.

Most of them including cap take on many different forms depending on lighting, flow, etc, etc. They all get lumped in as cap all the time in the hobby. Seeing how difficult ID is (way beyond me) this is no suprise nor is it a big issue considering they all have roughly the same requirements.

Many times though the reason they look so different when they are close like Marc's I would tend to lean toward them being two different types. But there is no doubt the exact same cap can look totally different in different spots, depths, tanks, etc. I have a purple that I got from Peter that was purple rimmed only and very upright and thin in Peter's tank. In mine it's totally purple, thick, and relatively flat!]



Edited By kwl1763 on 1106322898
 
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