Blue Hammer coral (anchor style)

[Logzor]

I just picked up a blue anchor coral and was wondering if anyone has pics of theirs fully expanded.

Mine is about 4-5 inches long and its polyps are beginning to extend. Got it for $30! Could not resist.

Also, are these a rare item?

 

[Logzor]

Anyone? I have kept the branch type fine, but do the anchors require anything different?

 

[jcjstl]

They do not require any different treatment and i wouldn't call them rare .. but not really common in the Midwest cant speak to the rest of the country my lfs has only had one small frag of it in the past year... i happen to have about 20 heads of the the branching type in this color.

 

[250G]

Best way to find out if you have something unique is to post a picture of it. I have never seen a true blue one. I am going to go out on a limb and say that for $30, it is not a rare item like you were hoping. Hope I am wrong though - post a pic of this baby!

 

[Logzor]

There should be a picture on the first post. Is it not visible?

It may be too large. I will post a smaller pic of it.

 

[Solitaryensis]

This issue comes up a lot, particularly with the euphyllia corals. Although that might look blue to your eyes, and in fact, it might be blue, most in the hobby don’t consider it "blue" and the price you paid reflects that. I would personally describe it as brown, with white tips but I definitely can see how you could describe it as blue. I am mostly speaking on experience and not necessarily trying to start a debate about the color of your coral or the existence of exotic euphyllia corals â€"œ this seems to be an oft debated topic. If its blue to you and you like it, great! But to answer your question, those in the hobby, particularly wholesalers and retailers would not describe it as blue. Hope that sheds some light on your question. Looks great and healthy though!

 

[Logzor]

I understand what you say. It looks blue to me and I like the color a lot.

I was hoping to see if anyone could post if there is a "real" blue hammer coral of this type. It was sold to me as a "blue" hammer. In my eyes I see no brown, although, I have not seen a brown anchor hammer.

 

[zeppelin]

Looks more of a tan/brown with lighter green/aqua tips to me. It does look like there is a blue reflection in it, like the lighting it is under is 20K, or has actinic supplementation. Even the rocks behind it looks to have a blue cast to some of it. That may be why it looks bluer to you. There is a pic that pops up sometimes of what was supposed to be a blue hammer, but those polyps looked a lot darker blue. Maybe someone else will find it and post.

 

[LFS_worker]

I see hundreds of euphyllia ancoras a year and that one is pretty nice! I have a blue based ancora with the green/yellow tips. I think for $30 you found a pretty good deal ... I would have bought it for that price

Brian

 

[Logzor]

Yeah I see'em all the time and I talked the guy down to $30 for it, so I could not resist.

Never seen one in the anchor form, let alone this color!

 

[Shawnts106]

Its not really blue.. it will turn pink/brown in a few months...
The Blue coloration is probably due to shiping stress and zooxanthellae being expelled some...

Wont stay blue..

 

[Thhitman]

I have a 8" colony of branching hammer very close to the same color and have had it for over a year, its stayed that color the entire time.

 

[Logzor]

This coral was not a recent shipment from the vendor. I bought it from a coral greenhouse near where I live. The coral does not seem to be stressed, or else it would not be extending polyps let alone keeping them.

Considering that it was under natural light I predict that it will color up and become even more blue.

 

[taylor t]

I have an anchor hammer I've had for 2 years (now 3 seperate corals). It's doubled, from 6 to 12 inches. I've now got 3 pieces same as the parent, also gave 1 away. Very easy coral to maintain. Your pic doesn't look blue, but looks very nice anyway. I know pics don't show true color...My pics do the same. They look much better in person. Here's a pic of mine. It's only 6 inches, a quarter of the original. Lights went out 30 minutes ago, pic 2 minutes ago. This thing gets over 8 inches with lights. 150 MH.

 

[roblack]

The colors in all my pics are awful compared to real thing and never represent how my corals actually look. And my camera skills are very limited. Even the best seem to have trouble with this. But I have seen a torch coral that appeared deep blue. Not sure if the pic was doctored or not. I believe it was from Tonga and was sold on Ebay. They may exist.

 

[Logzor]

Yours looks very similar to mine. It is probably the same color. It may just depend on the lighting and how the coral responds to it.

 

[Al G Blenny]

As many have said it is not really true blue. It looks nice but it mostly looks blue because of your lighting. It is mostly lacking color (sort of clear) so it takes on the main color its exposed to. If you put something red behind it, it would look red. If your lighting was mostly orange, it would look orange.