8 macro shots

Here are a few pictures from two days ago....

First of all, my Montipora capricornis frag is finally doing something exciting!
I got a chip of a frag last year, and it just never did anything. Then I got
this nice orange piece last August, but algae grew on it, it fell into my
Milleopora several times, each time stinging the crap out of it to where a chunk
would bleach and die..... Finally I used a zip-tie strap to hold this piece on a
boulder of LR and it has been growing for me.

I took this macro shot today, and look what I see deep down in the ridges:
POLYPS! I never get to see them and it was exhilarating to find a few.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/mcap_polyps.jpg


About the same time last year, I got a very nice piece of Green Slimer. However
it got knocked around in my tank and Cyano got ahold of it and caused parts to
be smothered. I was fed up with the twig, but left it alone. I've been watching
it slowly grow more tissue over the coralline covered branches over the past
couple of months, and in the last few weeks it has burst out with new tiny
branches that, given time, will make whole new sections if I keep up the good
work.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/...mer_021204.jpg


This little staghorn frag has been in the same spot for the whole duration. I've
not bumped, touched, or dropped anything on it yet, and I love how it has
encrusted the area near the base. New branches are popping out of the horizontal
branch.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/staghorn.jpg


I love this purple/pink acropora. The tips are bright green, and it is very
tough to get a shot of it. I took this with my top down photo box, and the
colors are pretty accurate. The base is encrusting outward, and one little twig
grew outwards from one branch and connected with the other branch so it will
become a thick bridge in that space. If all goes well, that will be the mass
that is a trunk one day.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/purple_acro.jpg


When I bought this Acropora sp. it was so light yellow that I pretty much
believed it was a fake. However, little acro crabs were in the trunk, and they
don't typically take up residence in dead/fake corals. Here it is today, shot
with my top down photo box. It's really beautiful from above.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/...cro_021204.jpg


This is a top view of a Pocillopora damicornis, the green fuzzy kind. It has
done very nicely, even though it has been moved at least 5 times since I got it.
Each time a new coral shows up, this guy had to be relocated.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/...ora_021204.jpg


Not much to look at, but this tiny blob is where my Milleopora touched the LR
and left a gift. It is just doing its thing, and maybe one day I'll have a chunk
of coral to look at. The coral in the foreground is the proud parent.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/blob_021204.jpg


and the last image.....
This frag is some type of Acropora sp. I don't really know what it is, but you
can see the growth of multiple tips all over it. At night it extends clear
fleshy polyps for feeding.

http://www.melevsreef.com/pics/0204/acro_frag.jpg

Marc



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