Difference Between Acans, Blastos, Micromussa, Favia, & Favities?

Andi · Jul 6, 2016

Hi, folks!

Newer to the reefing world and thought I was getting a hold of the basic coral identification until (cue the spooky music) I realized that "fluffiness" was not a very helpful point of differentiation when I didn't have two or more different corals to compare. Can someone give me a Corals for Dummies version of how to tell the difference between acans, blastos, micromussa, favia, and favities? (Pictures are always a plus!) Thank you!

Diesel · Jul 6, 2016

Oh girl.....
You putting a lot of work on us.
Did you try to Google yourself or log in to a few of our sponsors websites to find out.
Acans and Blasto's I have to give that to you as still today many ppl think they are the same, but they're not.
Let me see what I can drum up for you.

[HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG]

Andi · Jul 6, 2016

A TON of work, I know! I've tried a number of sites and forums and even asked at my local shop, but keep running into "look for level of fluff and poof" haha. If I could even learn the difference between some of them, I might be able to ask better questions, or at least have a better starting point.

Humblefish · Jul 6, 2016

I would start here: http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/aquarium-fish-supplies.cfm?c=597+321

And there's some acans listed here: http://aquarium-fish.liveaquaria.com/search?w=acan

Sabellafella · Jul 6, 2016

Ok so lets start off with blastomussa. Theres 2 common types, merletti witch tend to have smaller polyps, and welsi witch are larger. I always tell a new hobbyest when their not sure, to feed the polyp. It should close up like an inside out umbrella compared to acans/micros have feeders that push food to the mouth

Sabellafella · Jul 6, 2016

Sabellafella · Jul 6, 2016

Favia/favites (sorry i cannot tell the difference as some morphs are way too similar, tend to encrust forever, but dont have puffy puffy polyps like acans do. Favia cannot stretch a polyp out when the lights are dim but they could send a sweeper to devour her neighbor

Sabellafella · Jul 6, 2016

acans aka micromussa are basically now classified as the same witch honestly i dont blame them. Ive had micromussa polyps blowup to the size of large banki polyps. Acans tend to have donut looking polyps with a mouth and feeders that protrude from the middle. They encrust skin like everything else

Sabellafella · Jul 6, 2016

Theres also echinatas bowerbankies wilsonis. Now as for care, theyre all different, not just the different species but each different piece you aquire. Generally they all like low to medium lighting. I dont think you can under light them. They do appreciate medium to higher flow but prefer lower flow, just make sure the skin is not pushing against the skeleton.

reefwiser · Jul 6, 2016

http://www.meerwasser-lexikon.de/kategorie/94.html#Acanthastrea

Best place to find out is the meerwasser lexicon.

If you can not read German when using chrome right click translate.

jsker · Jul 6, 2016

When I started back into reefing 1.5 years ago, and mind you I have had many saltwater tanks since the 80's. I walked into a store when I started up again, and the guys was like "what kind of corals are you going to put in the tank?" "sps, lps, softies?" I look at him like he is from another planet

. After a year and a half back into the hobby, and some 50+ corals in my tank and helping other. I know what they are but still can not pronounce some to the types of corals. Also the trend seems to be to name corals other than what they really are. Here is a simple coral ID site like reefing in general take you time for the reason you are not going to learn over night.

You can also throw a picture up and we will help try to identify it.

Andi · Jul 6, 2016

You are all amazing! Wow. Thank you. I owe you all brownies/cookies/my first born.

Susan Edwards · Aug 26, 2021

can someone tell me if this is a blasto? I bought it thinking it was but now not sure. It doesn't appear happy at the bottom. Lights out, it does put out feeding tentacles. Other blastos I've had were more puffy.