Acropora vs Acropora Millepora

[dhalderman]

Wanted to see if anybody has good experience with both, was trying to compare the hardiness of both. I know Millepora is an acropora, but are Milleporas any easier to keep than a "conventional" acropora? Live aquaria seems to think so, so I was wondering what anybody else had to say on the subject. Thanks in advance

 

[twon8]

Mille's are slightly above average hardiness but far from the hardiest acro ime


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[dhalderman]

Alright thanks. What would you say is the hardiest Acropora in your experience?

 

[slay]

I've found Green Slimer acros (Acropora yongei) really easy to keep and extremely hardy too. I had one survive a multiple day power outage and a heater that malfuctioned and stayed on raising my tank temp into the 90s (from 78) before I caught the problem. I lost supposedly easy to care for livestock on both occasions, but the worst that happened to my Green Slimer was it withdrew it's polyps for a few days. As a bonus it's a quick grower too.

 

[dhalderman]

Wow those look amazing, just imaged searched some youngei's. Might have to look for some of those in the near future too than.

 

[slay]

Wow those look amazing, just imaged searched some youngei's. Might have to look for some of those in the near future too than.

They are a good test to help tell if your tank is setup to keep Acros IME. If you are successful with one, you should be able to keep species like A. Formosa and A. Valida easily. Once you are successful and comfortable your tank would likely support Acro. millepora too as sort of a next step up in difficulty, but not too difficult.

The lousy thing is all the retailers selling Acros as just "Acropora sp." - it hard to know what you are getting. Generally staghorn types aren't exceptionally hard to keep in a well equipped and maintained SPS system, but IME table type Acros require absolutely excellent conditions. I haven't had much luck with table Acros myself despite over 20 years in the hobby and high end gear/careful husbandry.

Just my experiences. Others might have totally different experiences or opinions.

 

[dhalderman]

Yeah that's part of the problem I was having. Everything I see is either Acropora Sp. or Acropora Millepora, and that's it.