Acropora Spathulata

MIKE NY · May 8, 2013

Rich...at least yours is keeping some color and getting growth...mine has nothing except encrust down...it's right under a 250 Radium and gets blasted with alternating flow too...

aquavista99 · May 8, 2013

Love those spathulatas!
[h=2][/h]

trueblackpercula · Sep 10, 2014

Well this Sps should only be kept by reefkeepers with lots of experiancess. This type of Sps needs high flow high light and needs to be feed with a high quality food such as pappone or reefbooster. They normally do not do well in captivity and almost never keep there color. I have seen a few examples that have done good but only under exceptional water quality. Most if not all Sps keepers fail at keeping this one alive. It's an amazone Sps but not for the less advanced aquarist.

jackson6745 · Sep 10, 2014

Easy to keep alive as the next acro but it does require high light, very high light, in a well fed reef to keep color. I no longer try to keep these. Not worth the effort.

duke62 · Sep 10, 2014

Yeah I tried in the last tank. I won't keep anymore

Squamosa · Sep 12, 2014

jackson6745 said:
The LFS's by me have been getting in quite a few Australian acropora spathulata. I never saw them before, I actually thought they were millis. They look similar except they are thicker branched. Just curious if anyone has experience with them and can comment on growth rate, color retention, longevity etc. I picked up these 2 yesterday (cell pic). The color looks better in person

Hey all
I have 2 specimens in my tank from the barrier reef. The first is coloured similar to the first pic and the second is bluer in colour with metallic flashes of green and orange.

They have been thriving for 6 months now and show good growth under Radion Gen2 pro's with the Warm whites turned down to 50% and overall intensity of 70%.

They have very high, random flow (2 x MP40's and 2 x RW-15's).

They sit about 40 cm from the lights, high up in the reef at PAR of ~500.That being said, I've fragged them and placed some pieces lower down in the reef where they've encrusted and grown (they grow quickly) at PAR values of ~200.

My PO4 varies between 0.02 and 0.04 ppm.

Here is a picture of one, but the colours are so hard to photograph.They are a lovely coral

Cheers,
Tony

trueblackpercula · Sep 12, 2014

Outstanding

Rob&Gab · Sep 12, 2014

Keeping color o. SPATS is like trying to eat cereal with a knife.

no1268 · Sep 15, 2014

Squamosa · Sep 16, 2014

Squamosa said:
Hey all
I have 2 specimens in my tank from the barrier reef. The first is coloured similar to the first pic and the second is bluer in colour with metallic flashes of green and orange.

They have been thriving for 6 months now and show good growth under Radion Gen2 pro's with the Warm whites turned down to 50% and overall intensity of 70%.

They have very high, random flow (2 x MP40's and 2 x RW-15's).

They sit about 40 cm from the lights, high up in the reef at PAR of ~500.That being said, I've fragged them and placed some pieces lower down in the reef where they've encrusted and grown (they grow quickly) at PAR values of ~200.

My PO4 varies between 0.02 and 0.04 ppm.

Here is a picture of one, but the colours are so hard to photograph.They are a lovely coral

Cheers,
Tony

Another look.

Graffiti Spot · Sep 17, 2014

Graffiti Spot · Sep 17, 2014

That's a pic of some new growth on my Aussie spath. Anybody have pics of one that's grown? I have not seen many.

naso tang · Sep 17, 2014

I've got a few that have grown well will try to snap some pics. Never knew there was any issue with these, every one I've gotten has done pretty well.

naso tang · Sep 17, 2014

Here's spongebob. Grew from one inch in about 1.5 years. He's kindof yellow/orange, colors aren't great but he grows great kindof mid tank

This one is unknown from Aquasd, slow grower but encrusting well and starting to project from .5" for about a year. Great color on this one

Now that I look at it, not so sure it's a spat. Might be a tenuis?

ValorG · Sep 17, 2014

I have a Spath that I grew from a frag that has started to explode in growth. Has kept its color this whole time. Maybe avoid buying colonies and just buy frags. Frags may do better.

Graffiti Spot · Sep 19, 2014

Are you sure sponge Bob is a spath? It looks too skinny for a spath, but flow and everything can play a big role. Either way I would love a frag of it! Its beautiful!

naso tang · Sep 19, 2014

Yeah it's not skinny, half inch thick branches, just a lot of new growth. I'm kindof addicted to spats so when they show up and I can afford em I try to pick up frags