As soon as we landed in Mackay, Nic from Ultra Coral Australia took us on a dive through the last bit of a good weather window. He took us on a reef that he regularly visits to Harvest Acropora and similar…
Understanding the Ideal Australian Coral Habitat
Having learnt my Acros while living in Indonesia, I’ve grown up as an inshore reef stony coral freak because offshore reefs conditions are almost impossible to find in Indonesia. Even though we can find some of the species there, they…
What Happened to the Symphyllia?
Recently in Australia, a good friend asked us to check some of his very nice rainbow Symphyllia he’s got. We didn’t recall seeing any in Australia yet, so we were very intrigued. We love rainbow Symphyllia, the ones we get…
Tosanoides bennetti, Another Great New Species of Deepwater Anthias
Tosanoides bennetti is the latest inductee into one of the most colorful and dare we say it, bombastic groups of tropical marine fish. Bennett’s deepwater anthias is part of a recent ‘spree’ of new species of Tosanoides from the Western…
Cherry Blossom Acropora rosaria is an Immortal Classic
While exploring inshore reefs of the Great Barrier Reef with our friends from Ultra Coral Australia, we came across many times a popular aquarium coral: The Cherry Blossom Acropora rosaria and were really astonished by its beauty and diversity. Nic…
Behold the Reef of a 1000 Acro Millies!
By: Vincent Chalias Spending time in Australia, we got the opportunity to see with our own eyes, what coral collecting in these waters is like. In another epic day on the bumpy, short sharp swell of Great Barrier Reefs water…
The Montipora That Wanted To Become An Acropora!
By: Vincent Chalias While diving in Australia inshore reefs together with Ultra Coral Australia, we came across some funny looking Montis. Australia inshore dirty, turbid reefs are a Coral disease and parasite paradise. All classic coral diseases are available in…
Seriatopora dendritica, Birdnest Coral Wishes it was an Acropora!
Birdnest corals are fairly common in the ocean and in our aquariums, however we really culture a handful of common species. These include the sharp branch birdnest, Seriatopora hystrix, and the blunt tip birdnest, S. caliendrum and the usually green…
Platygryra Fusion When Colonies Collide
When unrelated corals and colonies grow into each other on the reef, one of three things tend to happen; Coral A kills Coral B, Coral A overgrows Coral B, or they simply come to a mutual standstill. These two different Platygyra scribbled brain…
The Glorious ‘Lifted Reef’ of Evan Luo [Video]
We visit a lot of reef aquariums every year and every now and then, we come across hidden treasures like Evan Luo’s Lifted Reef aquascape. This 300 gallon aquarium is installed in-wall as a room divider meaning that there’s amazing corals to…
