This Montipora confusa has a long history in captivity. It was originally
personally collected by Bill Schroer while he was on a diving trip in 1998
at the Solomon Islands. When Bill brought the coral back, it was
fragmented and placed within a handful of captive reefs. Steve Tyree
obtained a large fragment of this coral and distributed a medium sized
fragment to the Stephen Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute. At that time,
it was considered to be an extremelly exotic Montipora species. In current
times a true Montipora confusa species is still considered to be very
hard to find in the captive market. After Bill Schroer's collected M. confusa
was held in captive reefs for a few months, all the fragments unfortunately
slowly bleached white. They all died at approximately the same time even
though there were located in completely different systems. All fragments
died that is except for one. The only surviving fragment was the one held
at the Stephen Birch Aquarium. Master aquarist Fernando had the only
captive system that managed to keep this exotic coral alive. His system
experienced frequent water changes with filtered sea water from the Scripps
Pier in La Jolla California. Fernando grew this fragment into a full colony.
Reeffarmer Tracy Gray acquired a fragment of this colony in the year 2001.
The Stephen Birch Aquarium has also distributed a few of these fragments
to other reefers. In early 2003 Tracy Gray then gave his fragment to Steve
Tyree. Images of Montipora confusa can be found in Corals of the World
by Veron Volume 1 Page 82-83 and Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide by
Allen and Steene page 69. This M. confusa specimen can develop blue/purple
edges and ridges. It can be confused with Montipora spongodes which
tends to be more branching. M. confusa is more laminar and only develops
column-like branches. M. confusa also grows much slower then M. spongodes.
Steve Tyree is currently maintaining this coral for reeffarmers.com in one
of his 125 gallon naturally filtered Tri-Zonal EG Reef Aquariums. In Steve's
captive reef the coral is positoned at about 13 inches from a 400 watt 20,000
K Radium Metal Halide. The coral develops larger blue colored edges and
blue tuberculae ridges under intense lighting. Water current is moderate.
Price is currently $90 per small sized fragment. Due to the corals slow
growth rate we are only harvesting one fragment every two months. The
Bi-monthly limited edition reservation schedules can be found below.
Montipora confusa Year 2009 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Reserved for Y. Cheng
April
Reserved for C. Wong
June
Reserved for J. Gagel
August
Reserved for G. Kaplan
October
Reserved for S. Jen
December
Reserved for A. Eastridge
Montipora confusa Year 2010 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Available
April
Reserved for M. Scwitters
June
Available
August
Available
October
Available
December
Available
Montipora confusa Year 2008 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Reserved for A. D.
April
Reserved for R. Adam
June
Reserved for CK Chow
August
Reserved for K. Talbot
October
Reserved for M. Ward
December
Reserved for A. Beem
Montipora confusa Year 2007 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Reserved for Sean C.
April
Reserved for M. Hopper
June
Reserved for Scott M.
August
Reserved for T. Wasden
October
Reserved for Lawrence L.
December
Reserved for I. Hartwell
Montipora confusa Year 2006 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Reserved for Sue T.
April
Shipped to Charles O.
June
Reserved for B. Moore
August
Reserved for Jerry G.
October
Reserved for A. Andrasz
December
Reserved for D. Beary
Montipora confusa Year 2005 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Shipped to Clint C.
April
Picked up by John M.
June
Shipped to George S.
August
CFM Auction
October
Shipped to Richard C.
December
Reserved for Charles S.
Montipora confusa Year 2004 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
February
Shipped to Paul H.
April
Shipped to DR. Bott
June
Picked up by James K.
August
Shipped to Eric N.
October
CFM Auction
December
CFM Auction
Montipora confusa Year 2003 Bi-Monthly Limited Edition Schedule
December
CFM Auction
To inquire about reserving a limited edition farmed
fragment of this coral please send email to
reeffarmers@aceweb.com.
TM
