Acro ID Please (Tort or Austera?)

[CMO]

Picked this up as a no-name acro. Looks like some sort of tort to me. Can anyone confirm what I have here? The photo makes it look more blue than it really is. It's more of a purple with green iridescent body in person.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Looks like austera to me. Too uniform to be a tort but I am no expert and maybe someone knows how to I’d the difference between the two better.

 

[Cassian]

I have one exactly like that. it was sold to me as a tort

 

[Graffiti Spot]

People often call them torts. I haven’t seen a tort imported for a long time but they could still be coming in. I see austera all the time, so most of the time if it’s a random no name it’s going to be an austera. A tort will normally come with a name but even then they get confused with each other so often.
As far as I know torts have irregular branches and coralites and grow longer branches before new ones start forming. Austera have rounder coralites and fatter ends and often cluster at the new growth like in the picture. Not all of this is a good id method but just what I have seen in aquarium settings.

 

[CMO]

Curious on the austera vs. tort designation if anyone can say for certain but so far best I can tell it looks nearly identical to a Miyagi tort.

 

[Hydrahawk]

The Miyagi Tort I got from Steve Garrett looks nothing like the picture above.

 

[Hemmdog]

I’ve seen Cali torts that have looked like that in lower light.

 

[CMO]

I’ve seen Cali torts that have looked like that in lower light.

FWIW, this is actually a frag from my colony which is placed in much higher lighting and is mostly purple. This frag picked up a lot of green when I put it on the rack in lower light.

 

[Hemmdog]

FWIW, this is actually a frag from my colony which is placed in much higher lighting and is mostly purple. This frag picked up a lot of green when I put it on the rack in lower light.

Sounds Cali tortish.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hard to say though. I have an austera that looks similar. The austeras have bigger polyps from what I’ve seen.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

If the coral is purple than I would say austera, Cali tort gets a nice blue when it’s at the top in high light. But color is not a good id method either. I know polyp size is not a good way to I’d stuff either.

 

[Cichlid Dad]

Picked this up as a no-name acro. Looks like some sort of tort to me. Can anyone confirm what I have here? The photo makes it look more blue than it really is. It's more of a purple with green iridescent body in person.

Westside Tort