Acropora efflorescens is one of our long time favorite species of Acropora in an aquarium, they have the coolest shape, awesome color, and can quickly grow to large sizes in captivity. These qualities mean that Acro Efflo frags are available through many coral farmers in the aquarium hobby, and there’s the occasional colony that’s grown so large it’s become impractical to work with.
This is precisely the scenario we encountered this week, when we decided to pull the trigger on acquiring a massive 24″ colony of Acropora efflorescens from a local shop in Boulder, Colorado. Aqua Imports is better known for importing many very rare freshwater fish but owner Mike is an experienced reef keeper who’s store has a history of growing many very large corals.
We brought our biggest tote to transport the ginormous Acro Efflo and it barely fit inside, but only at an angle with sheets of styrofoam bracing both edges in contact with the container. After a relatively short 30 mile drive back to the Studio in Golden and the massive stony coral colony was no worse for wear, and it only experienced three small accidental frags in transit.
Back at the studio we quickly identified an ideal spot for the A. efflorescens and placed it in suitable light and water flow and it proceeded to extend polyps in its new home almost immediately. This was a very fun reef aquarium adventure and highlights the importance of being connected with your local reefing community to discover when unique opportunities like this arise. Big thanks to Mike at Aqua Imports for the awesome trade, we’ll take good care of this colony and share frags of it far and wide.
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