Acropora sirikitiae is the newest species of the popular small polyp stony coral genus Acropora to be described since Acropora rongelapensis. Discovered growing in Western Thailand, Acropora sirikitiae is a medium branched staghorn with appressed radial corallites. Carden Wallace, the world’s preeminent expert…
The infamous Cali Tort & Oregon Tort – classic strains of blue Acropora tortuosa
This week I would like to talk about a coral that is dear to my heart, Acropora tortuosa. I’m not sure exactly why this coral is so well loved and collected within the hobby – Is it because it occurs…
New study finds that biodiversity doesn’t always equal resiliency
A recent study suggests that corals with greater diversity of symbiodinium (aka zooxanthellae) are more sensitive to environmental changes than corals with fewer variety of symbiodinium. Published by the Royal Society Biological Sciences, the research breaks down the corals as…
Acropora suharsonoi – one of the most beautiful and unique deepwater Acro species
We are delighted to welcome Leo den Breejen as the latest addition to our lineup of international contributors. Leo is the creator of such famed aquascapes as the Formosa Forest and Apogon Reef and he’ll be dropping from time to…
Blue Dragon Acro tops the list of must-have Bali Deepwater Acropora
The Blue Dragon Acro, a variant of Acropora walindii, has been available in the reef aquarium hobby infrequently ever since Bali first started shipping maricultured Acropora. With all those cool Mariculture Acros coming out of Bali these days, recently the Blue Dragon Acro…
Zanclea hydroid is an Acropora and stony coral parasite you’ve probably never heard of
Zanclea is a genus of small hydroids that specializes at living on other marine creatures like corals, anemones, sponges and bryozoans. About five years ago we visited a healthy stony coral reef aquarium Seattle that had some staghorn coral colonies…
Red Dragon Acro coming to the trade in greater numbers as Bali maricultured Acropora carduus
The Red Dragon Acro is one of the newer strains of neato SPS corals to gain popularity in the reef aquarium hobby, first as a few singular colonies and soon to be a whole lot more through greater imports of…
Maricultured Bali deep water Acropora colonies land in the US, already in some stores
The incredible Bali deep water Acros that we first heard about in early November and which made top 10 corals of 2011 are now in the US of A. Both Oculus Aquatics and Route 66 Marine received a sizable…
Deepwater Acropora elegans has potential for killer color
Less than a month ago we picked up a small colony of Acropora elegans from LiveAquaria which looked more like wooden branches of Acropora than a colorful coral someone would want to keep in their tank. ‘Deepwater Acros’ are notoriously difficult to…
New study documents increased growth of staghorn Acropora in higher phosphate levels
Acropora corals are a mysterious creature with complex needs and one of those that we thought we’d nailed long ago was their “need” for minimal phosphate concentration in the water. A new study by Dunn et. al. which will be…
