New Coral

[rcmike]

Hey Guys,

My wife and I were in Emerald Bay today and they got in a large purple acropora. I asked the price and it was a lot more than I have ever given for a coral. I thought,"Oh, well. Hopefully someone who can take care of it will get it." We left and did some other things. We got to talking and decided it was a nice colored colony that was very large(larger then any other colony I have, and I have some pretty big ones). After much consideration we went back and rescued it from Emerald Bay. I know if I hadn't snatched it up it would be destined to suffer in their front corner tank and I couldn't have that. As most of you know, once it goes in there it isn't coming out very easily. Anyway, here are a couple of pictures and one of the whole tank. The whole tank shot is two photomerged in Photoshop so some of the fish are shown twice. Any ideas on what type of Acro it is?


http://home.comcast.net/~rc-mike/wsb/media/436577/site1007.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~rc-mike/wsb/media/436577/site1008.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~rc-mike/wsb/media/436577/site1009.jpg

[fishdoc11]

Looks like a Humilis to me but I'm not very good at that sort of thing. I must have just missed you. I called and Robert said they had this coral I had to see. I went down to pick up some other stuff I ordered and they said you got it, congrats, it looks nice! You have PM:-)
Chris

[Oldschooler]

Actually, Mike's being too kind. I do agree (now, all of you get ready for this...) that there is NO WAY that thing will keep THAT kind of color under our p.c.s. At least, not until we change the bulbs in another two months or so. I'm very pleased it ended up in capable hands, and I'm HOPING fishdoc's "p.m." regards plans to eventually frag that baby so everyone can love it!

Sean, by the way, is recovering nicely from his injuries sustained from my beating his *** for selling that beauty. :)

~Roberto

[Oldschooler]

Oh, and btw... Great looking tank, Mike. I don't think I'd seen it before...

[reewik]

You tank looks fantastic! I like the aquascaping you have created. The new coral is really nice looking and looks great in the tank. You also have a pm from me :O)

[rcmike]

Thanks everyone. The tank is just about looking how I want it now. It has been a long process. I had to rearrange some things to get this new one to fit. I hope it grows well. I have a purple acro frag and it is one of the slowest growers I have. Maybe the 20000K bulbs will help it keep its color.

[aquaman67]

I know what it is...SWEET!

[kevlouie]

NICE!!! I think its a humilis too, but also maybe a nobilis.

[kevlouie]

Here is an awesome coral ID search engine.

http://whelk.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/coralsearch.php

[Sir Knight]

Very nice tank and coral. I agree with Chris it looks like a Humilis.
If it is a wild colony, when you start fragging it in a couple of months you may be surprised at the different colored frags you may get. When I fragged a wild Humilis I got blue, purple and green frags all from a brown colony. When the frags grew up and I fragged them they retained their color.

Good luck with the coral and please keep us posted

[SRA4031]

My contact for coral has got some good heads in on Acopas. PM me, and I will send the number. I cannot remember the price, so I am not going to quoate him, I know it is very reasonable. Me and Eric use him alot, and you would not beleive how much coral you can afford.

[rcmike]

I think it is probably a humilis also. I am not the best at identifying acros either. The polyps are a light blue color also. I will have to take a picture with the polyps out.

goldeneagle, Thanks, but I don't think I have any room for any more large heads. I had to make room for this one. I just really liked the color and shape of this one. I may talk to you later though.

[SRA4031]

hey, if you need help making room, or need to make that head smaller, I can sacrifice some tank space. LOL

[dos4d]

GLAD YOU POSTED THE PIC. SEAN CALLED ME ABOUT THIS CORAL BUT BY THE TIME I GOT THE MESSAGE YOU HAD ALREADY BOUGHT IT. I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO PURCHASE A FRAG WHEN/IF YOU DECIDE TO FRAG IT. I WENT IN ANYWAYS AND ENDED UP BUYING THE LARGE RICORDIA ROCK (THE ONE WITH 9 POLYPS), THEN TODAY TURNED AROUND AND SPENT ANOTHER $160 ON TWO OF THE NICEST ZOO ROCKS I HAVE EVER SEEN.

[rcmike]

Dang, I am going to have to supercharge the calcium reactor to try to get this thing to grow! I am going to have to start up a waiting list....make it an rcmike limitied edition coral.

I saw those zoos. Only a few were opened at the time and they looked good.

[aquaman67]

dos4d

[welcome]

[Oldschooler]

Hey, now THAT is cool! How'd ya do that gif, aquaman???

[rcmike]

What? This one?

http://reefcentral.com/images/welcome.gif

[cee]

A. samoensis would be my guess, based on the branch diameter and corallite spacing. Nice coral, none the less!

Dave

[rcmike]

Thanks Dave. I am not the best at acro ID. I wish I could get a picture that shows the true coloration.

[cee]

I'm really not either. I think a lot of people have trouble with this, and if you check out

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=366161&highlight=acropora+identification

you'll see why (be prepared to do a lot of reading). My IDs are usually based on other's IDs, since whatever you buy at one place is generally available elsewhere from people who are relatively good at performing IDs.

I would say you have something from the A. humilis group, but identifying the exact species (there are 7 in this group) would be much more difficult. My A. humilis does not display the extended corallites which yours appears to have, but then again who's to say for certain mine isn't one of the other 7 in the group???

Hope this helps.

Dave

[rcmike]

Yeah, I read through part of that until my brain fried. As long as I can keep it happy and healthy I am happy. There were a couple of spots near the bottom that the ends of the branches were broken off and they are already healed over and polyps are growing. It looks like this may be a fast grower(I hope).

[cee]

I should grow fast; my humilis has probably grown 1/2"+ in a couple of months, and has encrusted on to the rock in several places. Actually growing a little too fast for my tastes, but should make others who are interested in frags happy! Mine came brown, but is putting on a nice purple/blue hue with green axial corallites, and continues to color up more every day.

Dave

[rcmike]

:D Couldn't resist

http://home.comcast.net/~rc-mike/wsb/media/436577/site1011.jpg

[fishdoc11]

WooHoo! Did you make those plugs?
Chris

[rcmike]

Yeah, I had some cement they left when they built the house and mixed it with some aragonite. The molds were epoxy mixing cups. I tried some smaller ones but they wouldn't hold together. Hopefully some coralline will grow on them and they won't look so bad. After seeing how fast it healed I wasn't as concerned about fragging it. The polyps came back out on the coral within minutes of fragging.

[fishdoc11]

I think the plugs look pretty good! Did you soak em?
Chris

[reewik]

That is awsome RCMike.

[rcmike]

I let them harden for 24 hrs. and then soaked them in vinager for 12 hrs. You couldn't even see the aragonite before the soaking. The vinager kinda softens up the concrete around the outside and you can then just rinse it off and expose the aragonite. I looked at lowes for white cement but they didn't have any so I just used the gray that I had.

[fishdoc11]

I also look or white anytime I'm in a new hardware store.I have not found any yet.
Chris

[rcmike]

Guess it is like Southdown around here. I think they go hide the stuff in the back when they see us coming.

[Oldschooler]

I can't say I blame ya! LOL