TM

Auctioned Edition
Montipora sp.
Fire Engine Monti
Montipora sp. Fire Engine Monti Reeffarmers Seed Colony December 15th 2006.
The Fire Engine Monti has large brilliant Fire Engine orange/red polyps that contrast
well with its lime pigmented base coloration. The First Edition fragment will consist
of approximately half of this seed colony. This seed replaces the Fire Tip Monti seed.
Image Copyright © 2006 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.
This new Fire Engine Montipora seed AE coral replaces our Fire Tipped Montipora seed AE coral which was lost due to bleaching. Both corals came from Tonga. After losing the Fire Tipped seed we received the Fire Engine Montipora from Jim Adelberg in the fall of 2006. Jim has spent some time in Tonga and knows this particular coral very well. He stated that within Tonga the coral occurs across depths of 5 to 15 meters. Water was very turbulent and was generally turgid being filled with plankton. The coral is often found on the vertical walls of drop offs. He recommends medium light levels, high flow rates and regular plankton feedings. Jim had maintained the coral at the Reef Store New Alameda Aquatics for 4 to 5 months prior to Reeffarmers receiving our seed section. Reeffarmers believes this is the same morph or a very similar morph to the Fire Tipped Montipora. We had previously distributed only a first edition fragment of the Fire Tipped before it developed a bleaching problem. We believe the coral is sensitive to prolonged exposure to strong light levels and/or strong UV levels. Here are some excerpts from our previous description of the Fire Tipped or Fire Red Montipora we had been distributing. This very rare Montipora sp. massive coral has uniquely pigmented polyps. The corals polyps are also extremely large for a Montipora and are similar in size to the Limited Edition Sunset Corals polyps. The first thing ones notices when observing this coral is these large polyps which extend during the day. ...The corals large polyps are now a solid fire red pigmentation. This intense color is holding in captivity and the striking fire red polyp tentacles are why this coral is called the 'Fire Red Monti'. ...This coral has lots of interesting potential for developing some exotic pigmentation patterns. The polyps themselves are incredibly striking. ....The Reeffarmers seed fragment colony is being exposed to moderate to intense light and the main body has now lightening and turning an interesting intense lime green. New growth on this coral is lime green and the new growth polyps are fire pink/red. This makes for a spectacular color contrast. See image below. This coral has also now demonstrated to Reeffarmers that it has an ability to quickly develop new encrusting growth. The colony was found by coral exporter and collector Eddie of EcoReef Farms in Tonga. Eddie found this coral and immediately recognized that the pigment pattern within the Montipora corals large polyps was very rare and had not been seen within the captive US market before. One of the unique qualities of the Fire Engine Monti is that orange polyps can also develop a single bright white tentacle (see lower left of above image). Steve Tyree is maintaining a farmed section of the Fire Engine Monti for Reeffarmers.com in one of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal Reef Aquarium. In Steve's captive reef the coral is positioned to receive moderate to weak light under a 400 watt 20,000 K Radium Metal Halide. The Auctioned Edition opening bid for each new auction is currently $90 per small sized fragment. The bimonthly auctioned edition auction schedules can be found below. Reeffarmers plans on producing bimonthly auctioned fragments of this coral.
Original Montipora sp. Fire Tip Monti. Unfortunately Reeffarmers experienced bleaching problems
with this original seed. It has been replaced by the Fire Engine Montipora seed from Jim Adelberg.
Both seeds came from Tonga and we believe these are either the same corals or very similar morphs.
Image Copyright © 2005 by Reeffarmers All Rights Reserved.
Please note - Reeffarmers will only distribute this Auctioned Edition via auctioning. Reeffarmers.com will not sell any fragments of this coral as surplus or as a cancelled item. No fragments of this coral will be traded on the side by Reeffarmers for Limited Edition Corals. We do reserve the right however to possibly trade a fragment of this coral to help acquire a new Auctioned Edition coral. The Reeffarmers facility is closed to the public.

Montipora sp. Fire Engine Monti Year 2008 BiMonthly Auctioned Edition Schedule

March
Auction
 Fifth Edition Auctioned for $80.00 through CFM Auctions
June
Auction
 Sixth Edition Auctioned for $88.00 through CFM Auctions
December
Auction
 Seventh Edition Auctioned through CFM Auctions
Runs December 2008

Montipora sp. Fire Engine Monti Year 2007 BiMonthly Auctioned Edition Schedule

January
Auction
 First Edition Auctioned through CFM Auctions for $90.00
March
Auction
 Second Edition Auctioned through CFM Auctions for $152.00
May
Auction
 Third Edition Auctioned through CFM Auctions for $90.00
July
Auction
 Fourth Edition Auctioned through CFM Auctions for $75.00

To inquire about the auctioning of this farmed fragment please send an email to reeffarmersauctions@aceweb.com.
Copyright © 2005 by ReefFarmers All Rights Reserved.
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