Check out my new Acan!

[cab395]

Hi everyone. The longer I have a reef tank, the more I realize I'm an LPS lover. I can take or leave SPS, but having a tank with no LPS is out of the question. The swaying of frogspawn, torches, and hammers is so calming, and when I think of coral, I think of fleshy polyps. Not to mention, watching them eat big meaty chunks of fish and shrimp is pretty awesome.

Anyway, I picked up a couple new acans, a torch, a blasto, and a leptastrea on Sunday. I really have not had a chance to get many good pictures of anything, but I did get a nice one of one of the new acans. It was taken with an iPhone so the white balance is a bit off. If I remember after this busy holiday, I'll try and get some other pics up. Enjoy the picture, and Merry Christmas Eve!

 

[Bpb]

Pretty. I've got two colonies of that same color morph. Big fan. They look very happy! Feed them plenty. Mine have feeders out almost 100% of the time. Matter of fact the odd occasion they don't, I worry something is wrong. Lps really are awesome, but for me they're harder to keep than sps

 

[alf03]

Nice acans... They're one of my fav corals... They grow very fast for me... I like to target feed them... Lots of acan morphs to choose from nowadays...

 

[cab395]

Thanks for the comments guys! I agree there really are beautiful and there are so many to choose from. It's funny you say that about the feeders, since this particular frag always has its feeders out for me, too. The other one I bought is not always showing its feeders, only when I feed.

I have only had them for four days so far, and have fed them mysis shrimp and pellets. What do you feed yours?

 

[Bpb]

Mysis and pellets are perfect. For me, acans are the easiest to feed Lps. When the lights are on my favias and candy canes and chalices will not eat. The second any food hits the water during day lights, my acans feeders come out. To the point to where they're out most the day every day since i do multiple feedings. Most corals instinctively will hide feeders and polyps during the daylight as a defense mechanism, but acans can be quickly weened off that instinct. Some people have trouble with them but for me they've been not only the most beautiful but by far the easiest corals to keep.

 

[Whiterabbitrage]

Gorgeous Acans ! I'm jealous!

 

[Meanstreet5150]

Can acans all touch each other without issues?

 

[Reefer54]

Can acans all touch each other without issues?

of the same species, theorhetically yes, but there are accounts of the rare fight.
but for our purposes: Rotundoflora > echinata > lords.
chalices > Acans

 

[aromano]

Agree with you on the order of aggression/victory within the acans but I've seen my green jeans morph echinata fry the edge of my chalice coral. Chalice sweepers not long enough but the echinata mesenteric filaments can run along the rock to their victim.

 

[Tjsmoot]

Wow! Nice acans. I've been searching for acans and torches at my LFS that aren't $200+. How much did you pay for yours?

 

[cab395]

Thanks all! I got a great deal on everything I got because I bought from a local reefer. All the corals I have in my tank were found by looking online for local reefers selling frags. I got the two acan frags for 40 combined (probably close to 12 heads) and the torch has two heads which I was lucky enough to get for 30 dollars.

I think I am really turning into an Acan lover, but unfortunately theres no where else to put any frags to give them room to grow out. All that is left is one or two spots on my substrate where I'd like to eventually have a Scoly or Trachy, or maybe both, but I have to see what to do about the pesky pistol shrimp I have in there that would surely mess with them.

 

[betamed]

nice piece. Acan lords have always been harmless victims in any coral battles. the acan echinata on the other hand is one of the most aggressive lps

 

[cab395]

Thanks for the ID! Now that you mention it, looking at the other colony I got, I cannot tell if it is a lord or enchinata. Can you tell by this picture? Thanks for your help! They were sold to me as Independence Day Acans.

 

[aromano]

looks more lordish to me . my echinata never retracts like that, never see the ridges between polyps. lords will pull back in when bothered or walked on by a crab or something.

 

[cab395]

Oh okay, this one definitely retracts like that. This was during feeding (you can see two pellets on one of the heads) so the snails were trying to steal some food and they retracted.