Some educated guesses please

[Justin74]

Just when I think I already have a good guess it just grows really funky. To give a better idea of it's growth where you see it budding all the tips on the right use to have an equal size branch as the main left side but had to trim due to the front glass.

another angle:

and heres a tougher one:

Thanks

-Justin

 

[BLKTANG]

I say they are both Milii's

 

[Justin74]

No, the top one is definatley not a milli and the bottom pick has smooth rounded coralites like Atlantis's miralbis which I think is misidentified. And save for the polyps resembles nothing like one.

But for the first pictured acro, Im torn between Acropora cytherea and Acropora hyacinthus, of what I originally thought was an
A. prostrata

-Justin

PS.BLKTANG: Your favia you were asking about is more than likely a Favia speciosa, or Christmas favia.

-Justin

 

[dots]

the first resembles abrohosensis to me, its the distance between corralites and the relative smooth nature of them.

Some macro shots of the coralites would really help on both, especially with the second one.......

Thrown darts at names until then.

 

[Kolognekoral]

Dots does it again. The first one is A. abrolhosensis. The well-spaced, scale-like radials, staghorn branching and hairy polyps are a dead give away. Nice, if typical, colour morph. This is one I wouldn't frag too often as the form gets too compact and looses its grace.

The second one is just too small and one cannot see the structure. Maybe in a month or so. Could be A. millipora----or not.

 

[Justin74]

dots: I came to throw darts I know no scientific ID could come from here, but it's fun to guess??Right?? Brought you in

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11817167#post11817167 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Kolognekoral
Dots does it again. The first one is A. abrolhosensis. The well-spaced, scale-like radials, staghorn branching and hairy polyps are a dead give away. Nice, if typical, colour morph. This is one I wouldn't frag too often as the form gets too compact and looses its grace.

The second one is just too small and one cannot see the structure. Maybe in a month or so. Could be A. millipora----or not.

No celebration yet Ive seen quite a few abrol's and would be nice, but this is no abrol.
http://www2.aims.gov.au/coralsearch/html/001-100/Species pages/59.htm

Acropora abrolhosensis:
Colonies are arborescent with straight cylindrical branches. These may form stands over 10 metres across and 2 metres high. Branches are either widely separated or compact, depending on space availability. Axial corallites are large and exsert. Radial corallites are outward facing, appressed to tubular, with circular openings

What mainly sets it apart besides it not growing in a stag fashion, is theres not one straight branch on my piece, some of the branches are indeed fusing, and there is not one tubular radial coralite anywhere on the piece. Heres a better side shot that displays the almost tabling characteristic, and the second set growing underneath the first set of branches:

The really trippy thing is both the large colony and the little red 'frag' were both aquired at the same time 2 years ago and were both approximately 1". The red one as you can see is a VERY slow grower

-Justin

 

[Kolognekoral]

Justin, oops, I was reading from A. pulchra, not A. abrolhosensis! My bad! If you could see my desk, you may understand (I've been home sick for the last ten days and can't get things cleaned up, not that I'm ever that organised). Thanks for catching that. I'm always upset when I see misinformation and here I am passing it on myself.

Anyway, A. pulchra can be corymbose to staghorn, which I believe this one wants to do. That kind of growth is not typical table. Also, there are no table corals with such scale-like radials. The fat axials are typical of the species, as well as the intense branching from base and axis.

Do you think the red frag is the same species? It could be a deeper water form, which are often red(er), possibly of A. hoeksemai or the same as the blue one. Other than A. millipora, I've found reds tend to grow much slower. No idea why.

 

[BLKTANG]

"PS.BLKTANG: Your favia you were asking about is more than likely a Favia speciosa, or Christmas favia."

Thankx!!

 

[Justin74]

My pleasure BLKTANG :thumbsup:

I dunno Kolognekoral The combryosed version is somewhat similar, the radial coralites just arent as prominant. I think the first pictures with the polyps out may have been decieving.

I know you got it in you though! Check these photos out, I prodded and poked while I thought of you dots
You guys tell me what you think. I hope you can see how oddly smooth it actually is. Where the radial coralites do become more prominant is on the side where its about 8" from a direct stream of about 1200gph

Thanks for the interst/help!

-Justin

 

[Kolognekoral]

Justin,

I ran the attributes through Carden Wallace's Staghorn Corals of the World key and the only two corals that meet the definition after only a few parameters are A. pulchra and A. gemmifera. Now, A gemmiifera is easy to rule out, which only leaves A. pulchra...or any newly described species in Veron's Books. Another species I have seen with these open-spaced radials is A. vaughni. Typically it is shown with slightly tubular corallites, but apparently it can be very variable.

What I find remarkable on your coral is the extreme spacing of the coralites, which does not fit any Acropora. I have seen this type of spacing in aquarium corals and believe it may be a closed-culture phaenomenum. Possibly it is connected to high Alk or current. I have no idea. I try to maintain NSW conditions in my tank and this hasn't happened, but a number of collegues who propagate, one sees this on their older mother colonies. They run high Alk and high NO3 to promote growth.

This is getting very interesting.

 

[Justin74]

Hey thanks for taken the time to cross reference. I whole heartedly believe alot of this corals attributes are close system related, starting from various locations innitially, encountering 2 years flux of various light,flow(direction and intensity) and water chemistry Yup, shes a bruiser:inlove: Thanks again.

-Justin

 

[dots]

You know I blame the pictures, don't you Justin?

 

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11834295#post11834295 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dots
You know I blame the pictures, don't you Justin?

All 6 of em! You wanna take another crack at it too dots? I'll let you recant :lol2:

-Justin

 

[dots]

I going to go old school on you........acropora sp.

This is one of my projects, I hope to get good at this one of these days.

Like I said, throwin' darts.

 

[Justin74]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11843746#post11843746 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dots
I going to go old school on you........acropora sp.

This is one of my projects, I hope to get good at this one of these days.

Like I said, throwin' darts.

Weak!! Hey, I gave you some macro shots, put the dang darts down already

-Justin

 

[Henry Colf]

I've got on that looks just like that

I've got on that looks just like that

[/IMG] except it's pink.Same coralite spacing,looks identical except for the color.

 

[Kolognekoral]

Hnery, if that's on a normal size plug, then it may be the finer built A. loisettiae. Very similar, just half the general size.

 

[Justin74]

Henry, VERY similar the growth is virtually identical in characteristics and looks almost identicle in shape of the mother colony mine came from. Thanks for chiming in. Mine definately takes on different colorations depending on the tank, the mother of mine looked more grey than any color really with a slight hint of pink tips and green base. A fellow reefer that aquired the same piece says hers was much more pink than mine, and doesnt have nearly as much green as mine at the base. The first 6 months, this piece was a very light dull pink and white.


-Justin

 

[Henry Colf]

Thanks,this thing is on of the fastest growing sps in my tank.Sometimes the base looks more like a orange/yellow than a light green and the branches will look either white or have a touch of lime green in them.CRAZY

 

[Henry Colf]

close up of new growth

close up of new growth

[/IMG] sorry Justin for posting another pic on your thread thought maybe a close up of some new growth could help.