I asked Kenny Lin owner of Pieces Of The Ocean what their top 10 Acropora were – he provided me the following list, descriptions and pictures. Viewer discretion is advised – it’s gonna get hot…
The Flamethrower is an Acropora rosaria from Australia we imported in 2015. So it’s been in the hobby for almost 10 years. This along with POTO Goofy Homewrecker are our most famous acros and also our fan favorites. I lost this in 2018 when we moved from my basement to open up the store front. Luckily Graham aka gws3 on R2R had it growing really well and we were able to get it back to grow, and now it is shared with the hobby with almost every serious acro collector having a piece of this in their tank.
The story is that I received this coral as the original Jason Fox Homewrecker, but as it turned out it was something else. When I showed it to someone one day, he said “this homewrecker looks kind of goofy”. And that’s how the name came about. It’s definitely very different from Jason’s Homewrecker, but it has its own charm. Fast growing, and can look completely different depending on your lighting and nutrient level. Overall it’s one of our best crowd pleasers. This coral was also featured in the Grow-Out Contest that was featured on R2R and Reef Hobbyist Magazine (https://www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com/read-magazine.php?slug_id=jjp4grdyer0)
When this coral first showed up, it looked like a cross between the confetti and strawberry shortcake type. But not long after it started to turn and look completely different. One day someone slipped and said how does that “cofefe-looking” acro look when he meant to say “confetti-looking”. The strange name just stuck. It’s got a very bright orange and almost peaking pink when hit with very intense lighting.
This coral came from our 2022 trip to LA to hand-pick corals and was found at Route 66 Marine. It’s like a pinky the bear but with gold polyps. It’s similar to the confetti but it’s gets more red than pink and grows more tall than table. Our customers love this corals for its fast growth and hardiness.
The Afterburner is special to us because it was featured on the cover of Reef Hobbyist Magazine (https://www.reefhobbyistmagazine.com/read-magazine.php?slug_id=phpoxu5vn)
Optimus Prime photo when we first received it in an Aussie shipment in 2015.
The wholesaler wouldn’t sell it unless I carried a bunch of other less than desirable corals with it. We have to thank Graham again for saving it in his system all these years.
We got this in 2018 in a blind shipment from Aussie, meaning we didn’t get to see pictures and only ordered based on species name..
This was a true gem as it came in a $5 frag pack from one of the LA wholesalers. I saw this and knew I had to farm it. Sometimes you just know what the coral can become from just looking at it.
I absolutely love this piece. The original colony that came in came with eggs ready to spawn! I wish I could find those pictures with eggs.
(Last photo credit Pirates Reef Corals)
This coral literally sat for 5 years and did nothing for us. But when it did what a stunner it turned out to be. I can’t remember where this came from.
It’s rare to find one speciosa that is suitable for aquaculture and grows well for us.
