TheClark Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 repost from the original as best as I could come up with from caches and notes... Background I was fortunate enough to acquire a special piece of coral from Golden Basket that morphed before my eyes into an amazing and beautiful specimen. This thread's purpose is to document and explain the history and my thoughts on what happened. History 7/6/2013 Purchased '2 Heads Exotic Darth Maul Zoanthid Polyp' From Golden Basket After much 'encouragement' from my son, I added these on to an already large golden basket purchase. Here are the original parents: Live Coral - 2 Heads Exotic Darth Maul Zoanthid Polyp(390620797663) At this point, I put them on the frag rack and kind of forgot about them. Over the next month I started noticing a transformation occurring. First off, the orange was super bright, like the brightest of any zoa/paly I have seen. Very nice looking. Secondly, the previously brown ring started turning green. Here is a pic on 8/11/2013 8/11/2013 - Interesting Colors, So I Posted a Thread ' Dearth maul starting to get a hint of green reminds me of Krakatoa' 8/16/2013 - The Maul Gets A New Name Sasquatch on another forum dubs the newly discovered variety 'The Clarkatoa'. The name sticks as it is quite hilarious and appropriate as a play on Kratatoa and my handle TheClark. 8/21/2013 First Frag Finally I was brave enough to take a frag. What beauties! It was easy on the original plug because the two heads were pretty far apart. Future fragging was trickier as they seem to be growing together in tight clumps. 11/15/2013 Orange Begins To Dominate While they are a far cry from the original GB purchase: 1/7/2014 Breakthrough on Affecting Coloration After racking my brain about what was different an idea comes from someone else. My 13 year old son solved our mystery of why the green is more accentuated at times than others. I had been thinking that after fragging, or when alkalinity dropped was affecting it. Truth is, it was a much simpler explanation. He noticed that the heads facing straight up take on the brilliant cheeto orange color to such an extent that the green is masked out. The heads facing sideways get less light, and the green comes out much more. So as an experiment, we moved some to a medium light location, and the green band is much more prominent. So the conclusion is, much like acans, zoas perform differently under different lighting conditions. Like acans, you can control it by moving them around in the tank. ************************************************** ********************************************** **** If you want more green, move it to a medium light location. If you prefer more bright orange, keep them in higher light.*** ************************************************** ********************************************** Other Clarkatoa Owner Pictures Mike Nickerson - 1/22/2014 Jadams7 - 12/7/2013 Bombertech 1/14/2014 Stylaster 12/5/2013 Updated Pics From My Tank Grown in medium light Parent Under High Light, Oranged Out But Still Beautiful My Theory My theory is that this GB purchase was just a very luck find. The mauls were still acclimating to LED lights when purchased. Perhaps they were maricultured and still adjusting to captivity, hard to say. Just like acans and acropora though, sometimes you get a piece of coral and really luck out as it acclimates to your lights. As presented in this thread, they are definitely affected by different light intensities, perhaps by spectrum. Hard to say but time will tell as more people are growing them out. They reproduce true, and the babies are little clones of the parents, equally happy under LEDs. Clarkatoa Lights Nothing fancy, just a blue and white TaoTronics LED off of ebay. Blues rab about 80% at the time, whites perhaps 50%. Just enough white to take the edge off of the blue. Since then they have grown under T5s, full spectrum LEDs, GU10s in my sump frag rack, custom full spectrum leds. You name it. They still retain the glowing orange coloration. As my son discovered, the theory is that too much light causes the orange to take over. Like many other corals, lights can affect your results with this particular Maul Morph. Well, that is the story, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. No doubt some will find this controversial. I find it a great opportunity to share information about the joy of having a pretty dull piece of coral turn into something quite special. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Sasquatch's Clarkatoa 45% blue 5% white added extra UV bulbs June 2014 August 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanS Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Purdy. Care to know how they look under bargain basement MH? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Purdy. Care to know how they look under bargain basement MH? Iunno.. but care to try? Im sure one of us (squatch) has some for sale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeanS Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Had I any money or confidence I wouldn't melt them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldenbasketreef Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Here you go as promised the GB Krakatoa, close family to Clarkatoa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derbird Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Wasn't this thread like forty pages long (scratch) Great looking zoa's guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted September 9, 2014 Author Share Posted September 9, 2014 Sasquatch's Clarkatoa 45% blue 5% white added extra UV bulbs June 2014 August 2014 Your's are just beautiful Sasquatch! Thanks for doing such a nice job with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 Bumping this up, who still has these bad boys? I have mine still going strong, anyone else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 everyone else including me needs frags Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 everyone else including me needs frags Oh man, no pressure on me to keep the strand alive or anything! hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 7, 2015 Author Share Posted March 7, 2015 Yahoo!! Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 I have yet to acquire some but I plan on snagging some in the not too distant future. All of your corals colors are great Jadams, Sps,Lps,Zoas all look good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sasquatch Posted March 7, 2015 Share Posted March 7, 2015 good luck fragging them.. I would recommend making a few extras so you have back ups if the mother melts on ya.. razor blade in between the polyps before and crack the rock in between.. Or crack the rock and see where it spreads and split up between the polyps in the crack.. once split in half.. angle your bone/wire cutters outside the polyp on one side.. and the other under it halfway down below the polp. it should lift right off with a small bit of rock under the polyp.. perfect single frag you cut off the matte of the joining polyps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Yea I am just going to leave them be, and let them grow off the plug. I don't want to stress and potentially melt them. Just time is all we need now! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitrillion Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Whenever u guys have a frag I'm interested! This story makes me want them more lol awesome story Clark Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 I am so sad to be down to one dying head, not sure what happened. I haven't sold or traded one in many months, its still a mystery to me why. Tried many dips including bayer, revive, iodine, furan2, nothing could bring them back. They sit in a system with tons of healthy zoas. I am very glad Jase still has them going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoobtoSalt Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Mine melted a long time ago. :( good to see someone kept them going Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jadams7 Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 I have yet to acquire some but I plan on snagging some in the not too distant future. All of your corals colors are great Jadams, Sps,Lps,Zoas all look good. Just saw this...thanks man! I hear your setup is a sweet one, I will have to bring ya down some goodies one of these days and check it out . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Jase and possibly two other guys are the only ones I know that could have them anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Just saw this...thanks man! I hear your setup is a sweet one, I will have to bring ya down some goodies one of these days and check it out . You are quite the ways from Corvallis but if you did find yourself in the Valley I would be happy to have a get together of sorts, I love chatting reef...and as far as my setup it really isn't anything special, a little of this, a little of that, I am proud of it though and I would not mind you coming by to check things out. maybe send you home with a cooler full, I love to trade and I always have something that needs a trim. Jase and possibly two other guys are the only ones I know that could have them anymore. I have always done my best to keep the genetics sustained for the next reefers but you can only do your best and nothing more. You Win some and you Lose some. that's what I say about that, I have lost my OG nightmares twice for no apparent reason so I feel your pain. Although I should have made that trade with you long ago for the Clarkatoas, my bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitrillion Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 How do u even make a morf? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Yes Robert, I am regretting not trading them with you sooner, another colony of safety. There is a good chance someone will set me up. They have been selling on ebay for 200+ per head this last year. I think I traded very reasonably with everyone, nowhere near this cost and not once for cash. Like many coral trades, that deal came along with the idea of backups if this happened. So hopefully the line will make it back to the old frag tank one of these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Found one more confirmed source! Stylaster has them too. One more guy to check with out of the 8 that picked them up from me directly. I did hear rumor that Jack The Reefer is nursing one along still. Jack, I still have your efflo frag, very cool piece we traded for. Long live Clarkatoa!! Too cool of a story to see them die out... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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