OG WEEPING WILLOW TOADSTOOL

[christianscorals]

this is my true, real deal weeping willow. nothing comes close to it.

 

[RyanN]

this is my true, real deal weeping willow. nothing comes close to it.

I have TCN weeping willow, aquacorals weeping willow and Whitlyn aquatics weeping willow and you're correct mine are nothing close to that. Nice coral! Will you frag it someday? If you do I'd love a frag.

 

[TCseh]

this is my true, real deal weeping willow. nothing comes close to it.

Is that the og ww? Or what one is it?

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

hey. that’s one of my babies! this is the momma. i have some frags if anyone is interested. although the polyps are longer than a traditional toadstool, this is not a true weeping willow. though it is rare to come across, i would consider it more as a cousin to the willow.

That is beautiful!

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

i apologize for leaving y’all hanging on this thread! I got home tonight and snapped a few shots just as the lights were going out for the night. Keep in mind the radion and both ai primes are only displaying blue spec during this photo. Under full spec during the day this weeping willow has a very nice creamy color overall but up near the polyps under full spec you can see hints of oranges where the polyp hands meet the long strands. Sorry to keep y’all waiting!

(pls ignore the dirty glass and the cyano rocks at the bottom I swear I’m doing a deep clean right after I give ya these updated photos)

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

hey. that’s one of my babies! this is the momma. i have some frags if anyone is interested. although the polyps are longer than a traditional toadstool, this is not a true weeping willow. though it is rare to come across, i would consider it more as a cousin to the willow.

No I didn’t purchase this from you this is bahamalamas lineage

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Those original pics I posted weren’t a great example initially due to how small that frag actually was. I won’t argue whether this is the OG or not because I don’t have any way of truly proving that. I called it that and I was super excited about it because it came from the line bahama lama sold at 1-2 swaps here in Missouri (st Louis) he documented that on his channel. One of the dudes that bought one of his frags grew it out for a while and later on down the road I got one of the 2 lil frags he brought to that last St. Louis swap. I considered it a real og mainly because there was so much hype built up online about bl having the real thing. Ik reef builders spoke on it and some other YouTubers were hyped about it so…. Idk lol. Tbh after all the years I’ve been keeping tanks I just like the fact that this specific lineage has a bit of a story behind it here in the states. Thats good enough for me. If it isn’t the real thing then it’s not lol… oh well

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

here’s a few daytime photos of the toadstool when it was still pretty new. I should’ve waited until tm to post some full spec pics

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

i apologize for leaving y’all hanging on this thread! I got home tonight and snapped a few shots just as the lights were going out for the night. Keep in mind the radion and both ai primes are only displaying blue spec during this photo. Under full spec during the day this weeping willow has a very nice creamy color overall but up near the polyps under full spec you can see hints of oranges where the polyp hands meet the long strands. Sorry to keep y’all waiting!

(pls ignore the dirty glass and the cyano rocks at the bottom I swear I’m doing a deep clean right after I give ya these updated photos)

Very nice!

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Other than dealing with a wave of aiptasia, everything's going great in the Red Sea. I've kicked off a successful berghia breeding project in a dedicated system, but now I'm overwhelmed with nudibranchs. They've done such a thorough cleaning job that I'll have to rehome some soon. Meanwhile, the toadstool coral has grown significantly, to the point where it's overshadowing other corals. While it's become an impressive showpiece, it's definitely time for a trim.

Now that it's really grown out, I have to say, this toadstool from Remy's lineage bears some striking resemblance to a true OG weeping willow toadstool. However, I'm fully aware it's not the authentic OG variety that circulated in the states back in the early/mid-2000s. Among the 4 or 5 different types of long polyp toadstool leathers I have, all marketed as 'weeping willow toadstools,' this one stands out. Its polyps might actually be slightly longer than the actual length of the toadstool's crown and stalk. Unlike the others I own, its polyps sway more freely, even with the heavy flow in my display tank the other “weeping willow” toadstools have fairly stiff polyps when they are fully extended. This variant has free flowing polyps that dwarf the others that I have. While fully extended a good amount of them will lay over the side with no flow but not all of them follow suit. I'm still glad I stumbled across this piece and added it to my collection because it's truly unique when compared side by side with other 'weeping willows' that thrive in the same display. With that said, I'll likely take some cuts from this piece soon. If anyone's interested in a frag, I can let you know when they're available, healed up, and attached to a solid base (either Marco rubble or a standard frag plug). I just wanted to be extra clear that I’m aware that it’s not what was around back in the day but it’s closer than most that are sold as being the real thing on the market right now.

 

[Kigs15]

Other than dealing with a wave of aiptasia, everything's going great in the Red Sea. I've kicked off a successful berghia breeding project in a dedicated system, but now I'm overwhelmed with nudibranchs. They've done such a thorough cleaning job that I'll have to rehome some soon. Meanwhile, the toadstool coral has grown significantly, to the point where it's overshadowing other corals. While it's become an impressive showpiece, it's definitely time for a trim.

Now that it's really grown out, I have to say, this toadstool from Remy's lineage bears some striking resemblance to a true OG weeping willow toadstool. However, I'm fully aware it's not the authentic OG variety that circulated in the states back in the early/mid-2000s. Among the 4 or 5 different types of long polyp toadstool leathers I have, all marketed as 'weeping willow toadstools,' this one stands out. Its polyps might actually be slightly longer than the actual length of the toadstool's crown and stalk. Unlike the others I own, its polyps sway more freely, even with the heavy flow in my display tank the other “weeping willow” toadstools have fairly stiff polyps when they are fully extended. This variant has free flowing polyps that dwarf the others that I have. While fully extended a good amount of them will lay over the side with no flow but not all of them follow suit. I'm still glad I stumbled across this piece and added it to my collection because it's truly unique when compared side by side with other 'weeping willows' that thrive in the same display. With that said, I'll likely take some cuts from this piece soon. If anyone's interested in a frag, I can let you know when they're available, healed up, and attached to a solid base (either Marco rubble or a standard frag plug). I just wanted to be extra clear that I’m aware that it’s not what was around back in the day but it’s closer than most that are sold as being the real thing on the market right now.

Sign me up for a frag!

 

[Big E]

Click pic for video--

Weeping willow 052024 by Big E 52, on Flickr
Any toadstool with very long sweeping tentacles is sweet. I love my fluorescent green weeping willow when the flow is on...........could care less what it looks like when the flow is off. This is still small..........the disc is approx 2.5-3" and the tentacles are insanely long

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Sign me up for a frag!

For sure! I’ll definitely let u know when I’ve got some healed frags

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

For sure! I’ll definitely let u know when I’ve got some healed frags

#metoo

 

[AlyciaMarie]

Oh my goodness...Where do I sign up for the waiting list??

 

[Brandon Lucus]

Any frags available?

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

What’s up, everybody? I held off on making frags until I absolutely had to due to some warfare. The long polyps were driving some of the SPS corals insane, to the point of bleaching, so I finally decided it was time for a trim. Due to my schedule, all of these photos were taken under the blues. I was just excited to see all of the frags and the mother coral looking so good already, so I snagged a few pics just before the lights went out.

Once I see that they are healed up and beginning to grow a bit, I’ll honor the few who asked for first dibs a while back. If they are no longer interested, then I’ll hand them off to whoever’s looking to add a new toadstool to their collection. At the moment, I’m only working with four frags of this piece. I only cut off what was necessary for the surrounding SPS corals in the tank. If I could, I’d grow this thing as big as possible and never chop it down, lol.

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

 

[NE reefer]

Hello everyone
Not sure if this is the same species but I local coral grower in Maine has these. Just fyi

AquaCorals Weeping Willow Toadstool Soft Coral - Tank Raised Soft Coral - AquaCorals Aquacultured Soft Corals!

Welcome to AquaCorals! The largest Tank Raised Soft Coral Aquaculture facility in the US! Over 100 Soft Coral species are grown on "Real Rock" here

aquacorals.com

 

[jtone_philthy_aquatics]

Hello everyone
Not sure if this is the same species but I local coral grower in Maine has these. Just fyi

AquaCorals Weeping Willow Toadstool Soft Coral - Tank Raised Soft Coral - AquaCorals Aquacultured Soft Corals!

Welcome to AquaCorals! The largest Tank Raised Soft Coral Aquaculture facility in the US! Over 100 Soft Coral species are grown on "Real Rock" here

aquacorals.com

It’s hard to say, but they look a little closer to the three small long-polyp toadstools that I have front and center under that ledge. The blue pictures don’t do them much justice, but under my daytime spectrum, they are almost identical, just judging by the photos.
Regardless, thats definitely a pretty sweet toadstool! If anyone picks some up, feel free to show them off.

I’m not in it for sales, so by all means, if anyone would rather go through an official vendor, that’s totally cool.