Sanctithomae Keepers!

[CherryCorals]

Here is a pic of the last red St. Thomas I had. At one time I had a total of 10, some made it some didn't. I have been unable to get anymore since.

 

[Teeka]

I love the red one. Very pretty. One day I will find me one that bright. I have also seen them in a pretty green.

 

[Burks]

How often have the one's you hobbyist own split? After 1.5 years the one my buddy owns has not split, spit out babies, etc. We think it might have but the mushrooms growing under it do not look like the St. Thomas.

 

[Teeka]

I have had mine since Dec. It is working on it's second babie. As far as the baby looking like the St Thomas neither is mine. But I know it is. When mine first detached it looked like part of the rippled foot that is underneath the mushroom. Then you could see the mouth develop. Then mine took on the round shape, Got it's foot and little bumps on the top. All this has taken about 2 weeks to do. At the moment it is about 1/2" in size. I wish I had pictures of the process.

 

[gooch]

So how much are they selling for per polyp. My LFS has three real nice orange ones. I want to go get one today but they havn't even priced them yet. They are holding them for me until they can figure out a fair price. I tell you they are sweet.

What can I expect to pay? I saw one site selling blah ones for $40 and nice red ones for $60 a polyp. Is this about right?

 

[Teeka]

My purple one I paid 45. plus shipping. I just won a green one one ebay from Donovan's Reef that was 20. plus shipping. Cherry corals earlier int the th=read put the price of his pretty red one.

 

[Coral Morphologic]

Thought I'd drop in and shed some light on these Discosoma sanctithomae. They aren't in fact ricordea, but a species of Discosoma, that come from the Caribbean. We collect many of them in the Florida Keys for our company Coral Morphologic. They are excellent corallimorphs for all aquarists, and very hardy. They are not very aggressive, and show stress very easily. They appear very delicate because as was previously mentioned their tissue is practically see through, and they will puke out their guts (mesenterial filaments) at the slightest disturbance. When we ship them, people often think that they are going to die because of all the guts that they spew out in the bag. However, as soon as the stress is removed and they are settled into their new home, they will pull all their guts right back in again and recover in no time. They are very hardy animals.

We have a few of these mushrooms that are over 7" in diameter, almost as big as dinner plates. They are truly magnificent. They come in a wide variety of colors from yellow-green, neon green, aqua, blue, purple, brown-red, cream, and very rarely fluorescent red (sometimes with fluoro green undertone). The vesicles (warts) on the surface of the polyp can range from perfectly spherical to very branched and warty. There can also be a range of white variegated spots throughout the colored disc. Because of their "delicate" tissue, you can almost see right through them which provides a nice contrast to other more "saturated" coral tissues in the tank. Lots of morphological variation worthy of collecting.

They can handle low to high light. We are growing ours in a 4'x4' vat under a single 400 w metal halide that is raised about 30 inches above the water surface. However, you can easily keep them under much lower lighting. The colors tend to "pop" much more under bright light though.


They also don't need too much water flow. A gentle current just enough to cause the polyp to "sway in the breeze" is best.

I would keep them from overlapping any other corals, or in a place where they might get stung by sweeper tentacles. The aggression isn't always immediate, but when placed next to Ricordea florida, they will both sting each other and cause stress over time. Ricordea yuma seems to be more potent than D. sanctithomae from our experience.

They seem to not be bothered (or bother) by other Discosoma sp. corallimorphs.

For the most part they reproduce by asexual cloning through pedal laceration (They send a piece of tissue off the "foot" that forms a new polyp). I have seen them divide in half like a Ricordea florida, but I think that this is pretty uncommon. They reproduce much slower than Indo-Pacific Discosoma, but once settled into the tank, will spit off new baby clones every couple of months at least.

Hope that this helps. We are getting ready to feature a wide variety of sanctithomae as WYSIWYG polyps on Coral Morphologic this coming week. I'll also post some pics of our collection here so you can see the variety of morphs.

Cheers,
Colin
Coral Morphologic

 

[scp443]

man, i really wish my lfs would get these. I love the ones with the neon green thingies on 'em. they look so cool!

 

[Teeka]

Mine doesn't either. You have to get them online if you want them.

 

[Coral Morphologic]

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Here is a nice shot of a large group of Discosoma sanctithomae that we have in our systems. There is a large amount of morphological variation in this species. We just updated Coral Morphologic with 8 rare WYSIWYG sanctithomae polyps of all colors and morphs. Check 'em out...

Click on the photos to check them out on the site.

Fluorescent Red

Light Fluorescent Lime Green

Perfectly spherical vesicles (formally known as a separate species Orina torpida)

Doesn't this one remind you of one of those "Sno Ball" snack cakes you used to get in your lunch as a kid?

First "butter yellow" morph I've ever come across...really unique.
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more on the site...

 

[scp443]

wooow ! :marv

 

[nuff40]

Just got these beauties last week. There are three, possibly 4, on the rock and they are just gorgeous. I have them under Stunner LED's, 50/50, midway in the tank (biocube14). Have not cared for mushrooms in the past, but these caught my attention and demanded I bring them home! LOL