my plate coral looks like a bent baseball cap

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phoenix20

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I picked up a plate coral from my LFS last week, and dropped him into the 65G on the sand.

He "formed" to the plastic baggy from when I transported him from the LFS to the house -- was in the bag for about 20 mins.

After a week, it still hasn't lost the plastic baggy form. I've been waiting for this guy to lay flat on the sand and spread out, but he hasn't yet. Two awful / blurry pics are below. Is this normal behaviour for the first few weeks? Are plate corals supposed to lay flat, or do they like water circulating underneath them?

Here's the first top-down pic:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesvoboda/2944967900/sizes/o/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesvoboda/2944967900/sizes/o/</a>

This second pic, was shot through two tanks (both tanks are back-to-back) but you can see the "bent baseball cap" v shape...
[IMG]http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesvoboda/2944967890/sizes/o/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikesvoboda/2944967890/sizes/o/</a>
 
From what I read online, placing these guys on rocks damages their underside. I had him on a piece of LR, but did some rearranging to get him a patch of sand.

Have you ever heard / seen one inflate? I think I also read somewhere that they can fill a bladder with water and float around.
 
they're pretty basic...if you see it looking like a skeleton, it's most likely upset. If it looks like what dawgdude described, you're most likely fine. Try feeding it too, that may help him out if you're concerned.
 
I've got one too (same color scheme as yours) and it is a little bent. It was like that at the LFS where I got it and he is still bent but tentacles are fully extended and when he grabs food, he moves it straight to his mouth. He seems happy (as does yours judging by the pics) and I wont worry about it until its behavior changes.

Dawgdude is right as usual-- you can put them on rocks and it might produce a little fungia factory. Just beware that they can move (albeit slowly) and might fall off an edge, thus injuring themselves.

Nutshell: I think you're fine. Just monitor its behavior and give dawgdude a frag if/when it starts making babies.
 
Yeah, when i've been feeding the fish, I'm trying to do it over the guy so the extra food the fish miss falls on him. Usually, the cleaner / fire shrimp end up trampling all over it for scraps.

I've been spot feeding it plankton, but so far, I haven't seen its mouth open.
 
try feeding it something larger...like brine or mysis. Once it has food, put a cup over it...see though so you can see when it's done eating. That way it'll have time to eat before anything else comes along and steals the food.
 
thats a good idea. i'll give that a shot with a tupperware container and see what happens. thanks! :)
 
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