Even though Anacropora are a very dominant and common coral, covering fields of reef in protected, turbid area, it very seldom enters our aquarium. One of the main reasons is that it’s not very colorful, and a part from a couple of greenish specimen, they never make it into our hobby. We have now in Indonesia found a particular species, new to the industry, that has the potential to invade all of our SPS tanks!
This reddish / pinkish strain of Anacropora reticulata, is not only interesting due to its color, but also to the very particular thickness of its branches and colony growth form. It’s not an ‘invasive/dominant’ species that growth in large fields and covers miles of reef. Instead of it, it produces very nice solitary colonies, sometimes with table shape, in a bit deeper part of the reef. So it’s very uncommon.
The color is not really intense in the wild, but usually the reddish color of some corals like the red dragon Acropora carduus or Hurlock Acropora subglabra tend to greatly intensify under proper LED or T5, in a good old fashion way of reef tank ‘cooking’ with the right lighting.
Another very interesting aspect of this kind of species is that they adapt very well to reef tank and grow very quick, making it a very good candidate for propagation. So this particular special has a great potential to become a very thought after item for hard-core reefers, like the red dragon was few years back.
The fact that is doesn’t arrive with full color potential will turn down most new reefer, and only experienced reefers with a good eye on finding potential crazy new strain will grab these.
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