Coral ID - is this even an LPS?

[SauceyReef]

Curious if it could be an acan echinata....

At this point I am thinking Acan, Blasto, or Acantho personally, and ive also been suggested it could be each of these by others. You are the second person to say Acan, so definitely a big possibility.

The skeleton formation behind it would make sense with it being an acanlord or Acan echinata.

 

[SauceyReef]

Could be for rock shape reasons. It's still small and can grow out better as it matures. It's basically a bud establishing.

I have no idea how the op obtained the coral, if it was an accident or what.

Got this new live rock as I am setting up a Mangrove Vase, and reef bowl. I added the links above if you want to follow the build. Traded a Lepto for like 10-15 lbs. It has quite a few corals on it, but this is the only one I am struggling to ID. I posted the tank that I got the rock from above. You can see multiple acanthos and other LPS.

 

[Goaway]

At this point I am thinking Acan, Blasto, or Acantho personally, and ive also been suggested it could be each of these by others. You are the second person to say Acan, so definitely a big possibility.

The skeleton formation behind it would make sense with it being an acanlord or Acan echinata.

100% not a blasto. they dont have feeding tents

 

[CrunchyBananas]

looks like a favia or favites to me, with mouths and feeders like that, it rules out mushrooms.

Definitely not a blasto, looks like an encrusting type lps that encrusted over a nub of rock, giving it a different shape.

 

[Goaway]

Got this new live rock as I am setting up a Mangrove Vase, and reef bowl. I added the links above if you want to follow the build. Traded a Lepto for like 10-15 lbs. It has quite a few corals on it, but this is the only one I am struggling to ID. I posted the tank that I got the rock from above. You can see multiple acanthos and other LPS.

You have blastos in your build thread. Blastos slurp up their food.



Can you tell if it has more than one mouth?

 

[Goaway]

looks like a favia or favites to me, with mouths and feeders like that, it rules out mushrooms.

Definitely not a blasto, looks like an encrusting type lps that encrusted over a nub of rock, giving it a different shape.

Favia/favites i forgot about those guys. Theres that one as well.

 

[SauceyReef]

100% not a blasto. they dont have feeding tents

Good call. That was silly of me to not realize that seeing I’ve had a blasto for near a decade.

looks like a favia or favites to me, with mouths and feeders like that, it rules out mushrooms.

Definitely not a blasto, looks like an encrusting type lps that encrusted over a nub of rock, giving it a different shape.

Favia is definitely an option. An encrusting LPS would make sense.

You have blastos in your build thread. Blastos slurp up their food.



Can you tell if it has more than one mouth?

None of the rock came from my fluval evo! But yes it has multiple mouths I am pretty sure.

I will try feeding in a bit and documenting the response.

 

[SauceyReef]

 

[Goaway]

Good call. That was silly of me to not realize that seeing I’ve had a blasto for near a decade.

Favia is definitely an option. An encrusting LPS would make sense.

None of the rock came from my fluval evo! But yes it has multiple mouths I am pretty sure.

I will try feeding in a bit and documenting the response.

Multiple mouths remove acanthos

 

[SauceyReef]

With the flipper mag and two different light settings

 

[SauceyReef]

Multiple mouths remove acanthos

I was literally just about to post this!

Personally it looks like an acan lord to me, but time and some feeding will fully tell.

The interesting part and what is throwing me off is the dark green / orange tissue on the top left that is encrusting and not extending out at all. Doesnt seem very "acanlord" like. You can really see it on the more blue photo right above this message.

 

[F i s h y]

Curious if it could be an acan echinata....

This was my thought

 

[Goaway]

Let it grow out and see. Sometimes that's what has to happen to get a real id. The colors look nice.

 

[SauceyReef]

Let it grow out and see. Sometimes that's what has to happen to get a real id. The colors look nice.

Making this new tank even more exciting!! Agreed - pretty colors. Hopefully its not just all from damage.

 

[Goaway]

This was my thought

My strongest guess. Acan echinita. I never seen favites form a fleshy skirt. But, i couldnt keep one more than a month...

 

[SauceyReef]

My strongest guess. Acan echinita. I never seen favites form a fleshy skirt. But, i couldnt keep one more than a month...

I personally have an orange crush acan echinata, and have seen a few. The shape, and extension of the tissue seems a bit off, but way to early to tell for sure. Definitely a possibility, especially from the color patterns.

 

[Cell]

Looks more like a chalice to me than acan.

 

[SauceyReef]

Tried feeding it chopped up mysis. It seemed more so to stress it out than cause a response. You can see someM. filaments coming out the mouth, and really get an idea of the size as that is small mysis chopped up.

One thing noticeable was the tissue closed up rather quickly when touched. It than opened back up quite quickly. The response time was remarkably fast.

I’ll give it more time to acclimate to the tank before trying to feed again. the tank is still a week old and will probably going through a small cycle especially with the lack of flow in the tank.

 

[SauceyReef]

It seems to be a coral that makes multiple polyps/heads. You can almost see a third head / mouth on the top left dark green tissue growth

 

[Goaway]

Its a very pretty piece. I'd feed once a week at least to promote growth. Seems to like mysis.